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SOCIAL LIFE AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 165
queen consort (aggamahesi), who was to be of the same caste as the king, were considered legitimate heirs to the throne, the eldest or fittest of them being chosen for kingship. But this legitimacy was not always regarded as an essential condition. In one instance, we find that the reigning king appointed the son of a woman wood-gatherer as the Uparājā, who duly succeeded to the throne. The Mudupāņi. Jätaka offers us an instance where the king made his nephew (sister's son) and son-in-law his successor. During the reign of king Bhatiya of Magadha, his son Bimbisāra ruled the newly conquered kingdom of Arga as his viceroy.
In the absence of the Uparājā appointed by the deceased king, the kingdom usually devolved on his son, preferably on the eldest son, by his chief queen. When a king died without an heir, the duty fell upon the Purohita to find out a worthy successor. In all cases, the formal anointment of a person as king depended upor the consent and combined will of the courtiers o: the deceased king and his subjects.
The king was freely recognised as the foremos of men (rājā mukham manussānam). The fan, diadem, sword, umbrella and slipper constituted the five regalia (pañcavidhakakudhā)
Fick, op. oit., p. 123. 3 Ibid., i, p. 323f. 6 Vinaya Mahāvagga, vi, 35.8.
% Jätaka, i, p. 133; iv, p. 148 4 IVid., ii, p. 238; cf. iv, p. 3!
