The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c39.s4.134

v2.c39.s4.134

Of the origin of kingship itself we have variant versions, while the condition of anarchy is once vividly described.⁴ On one theory⁵ Indra owes his kingship among the gods to Prajāpati's favour, who at first made him the most inferior, but later conferred on him his own lustre and made him overlord, of the gods. Another version⁶ makes him the chosen of the gods, including Prajāpati, by reason of his eminent qualities of mind and body. Yet another⁷ makes the gods choose Soma as their king, because they felt that they owed their defeats at the hands of the Asuras to their lack of a sovereign. Or again they consecrate Varuṇa,⁸ their brother, because they see in him the form (*rūpa*) of their father, Prajāpati. Among men the rule of the Rājanya is explained⁹ on the ground that he is the representative of Prajāpati, thus being entitled, though one, to rule over many. It is, however, dubious whether this should be regarded as precisely a doctrine of the divine origin of the kingship in any specific sense; at any rate there is no effort to expound a doctrine of hereditary divinity in the Brāhmaṇas, and the ceremony of the Rājasūya, or royal consecration, hints at recollections of an elective kingship by the consent of the people.¹⁰ The inviolability of the king is asserted,¹¹ and his duty to assert and defend the law,¹² Dharma, but no grounds of a philosophical character for his obligations are alleged.