Explain rules and practices related with kingship in ancient India, specially from 600 BCE to 600 CE.
According to rules and practices of the ancient Indian society kingship belong to second Varna of the society i.e. Kshtriyas. They were to engage in warfare, protect people and administer justice.
In Purusha Sukta, ( Primeval Man) a hymn in rig veda we find that The Brahmana was his mouth, of his arms was made the Kshatriya. His thighs became the Vaishya, of his feet the Shudra was born. Which makes brahmanas the top of all four varnas and kshatriya second, and so on and so forth. Each varnas were assigne there own roles and had their own duties to perform. And duties prescribed by the varnas were suppose to be done by the one who were born in that varna. Now when it came to kingship and becoming kings, it was in the hands of Kshatriya. Other varnas were not to be kings.
But we find that there are discrepancies in the rule prescribed by the Brahmanas. for example, the origin of Maurya is debated, some believe them to be kshatriya while other see them as having low birth. There are cases for example brahmana being kings. Thus we can see that rules and regulation mattered little when you could muster support and resources.
But according to the Brahmanical law it was the ksatriya that could be king.
