Kingship (Hinduism)


In Hinduism, kingship was a monarchy institution guided by the religious laws of Hinduism, with a corresponding complex and hierarchical structure. Hindu monarchies headed by Hindu kings were widespread in South Asia since about 1500 BC and later in Southeast Asia. Hindu monarchies went into slow decline in medieval times, with most gone by the end of the 17th century, although the last one, the Kingdom of Nepal, was abolished only in 2008. Modern countries with Hindu majority population, like India, Nepal and Mauritius, practice state secularism.
The notable Hindu empires in India included the Guptas, The Kushan Empire, the Chola Empire in Tamil Nadu, and the Vijayanagara Empire. At different points in time, Hindu kingdoms and empires had dominated in Southeast Asia on the territories of the modern Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, Timor Leste, Brunei and Thailand.

Seven limbs

A Hindu kingdom was described as formed from seven "limbs":
  1. the king himself. The king typically represented the kshatria, a class of warrior aristocracy in the four varnas caste system. Hindu kingships usually did not have a priest-king, as the priestly duties were mostly performed by brahmins;
  2. king's ;
  3. nation ;
  4. army ;
  5. forts ;
  6. treasure ;
  7. allies.

    King's divinity

The later Vedic era saw the introduction of religious ceremonies intended to affirm the Hindu king's supernatural powers: rajasuya, ashvamedha,, aindrī-mahābhiṣeka, and punarābhiṣeka. The introduction of these expansive and expensive rituals was a probable cause of persistent tensions between the Hindu kings and Brahmins; as a result, the Hinduism views on the divinity of kings varied with time. The end of the Vedic era with its proliferation of alternative religions was characterized by rapidly diminishing attention to the deification of the kings. The Laws of Manu marked a revival of the kings' divinity; simultaneously, the Kushan Empire was worshipping also the deceased rulers. This upswing culminated in the Gupta Empire.