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AT LIFE AND EGONOMIC CONDITIONS 169 o f their ancestors as princes of the Okkāka
So, under the pressure of circumstances, man ir own sisters. The legend records only ne thout implying that this form of marriage stomary among the Sākyas. The prevala d s, as a pre-historic custom, is presuppos e d, by the DasarathaJātaka ? and that of Yama and Yami in the Ķgveda.
The princes of the roya en generally eager, at the instigation of to secure the throne at the expense of their others, the reigning kings. When they showed such a tendency or when their intrigue was detected, the king either imprisoned them or sent them to exile, or made them Uparājās, allowing them to actively participate in the administration of the kingdom, or a part of it. In the Buddha's time, Prince Viļūdabha seized his father's throne with the aid of the general, Dīghakārāyaṇa.
In the Pali Suttas, kings are distinguished as belonging to three ranks: cakkavattī or overlord, issara or adhipati, and padesarājā. In all the three ranks, they were absolute rulers or despots, benevolent or otherwise, so far as the internal administration of the empire, kingdom or province, was concerned. The main
1 Jātaka, v, p. 426; Sumangalavilāsini, i, p. 268. 3 Ibid., iv, p. 123f.
