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216 INDIA AS DESCRIBED IN DARLY TEXTS
the world forthwith leaving the throne to his son, Nimi, who along with the long line of successors, , the Janakas of Mithilā, followed in the footsteps of his great father. The Brahmadattas of Kāsi appeared to have vied with the kings of Videha in this matter.
If the fall of an apple was important to Newton who reflecting on it, discovered the Law of Gravitation, the appearance of a grey hair on the head or the fall of a withered leaf from a tree was no less important, as the Jätakas 1 tell us, to the Indian hermits who reflecting thereon, found out the inner world of spirituality, immortality and tranquillity.
The retirement of several kings of the same line from the world and the distinction obtained by them as hermits enhanced the family prestige of their successors. It was with some amount of pride that Khāravela was introduced in his inscription as a scion of a family of royal sages (rājisi-vamsakula-vinisrita), all of whom belonged to the Cedi royal house. Similarly the Janakas of Mithila and the Brahmadattas of Benar... represented two ancient lines of royal sages.
The great Brahmin hermits became noted as Brahmarşis. Among them,« mention is made in the Jätakas of the sage Sarabhangle who
1 Jätaka, Kp. 247f., Mahar . , p. 450. 2 Sarabhanga Jātaka, Jataka, v, p. 126f.
