Page:History of India Vol 1.djvu/172

132 "The priest then pours the holy water over the king's head and repeats the following: 'With these waters, which are happy, which cure everything, and increase the royal power, the immortal Prajapati sprinkled Indra, Soma sprinkled the royal Varuna, and Yama sprinkled Manu; with the same sprinkle I thee! Be the ruler over kings in this world!' And the ceremony concludes with a drink of the Soma wine which the priest gives to the king."

We are then told that with this ceremony priests invested a number of kings whose names are already known to us. Tura, the son of Kavasha, thus inaugurated Janamejaya, the son of Parikshit. "Thence Janamejaya went everywhere, conquering the earth up to its ends, and sacrificed the sacrificial horse." Parvata and Narada thus invested Yudhamsraushti, the son of Ugrasena. Vasishtha invested Sudas, the great conqueror of the Rig-Veda hymns; and Dirghatamas invested Bharata, the son of Duhshanta, with this ceremony. All these allusions have some historic value.

We have another excellent account of the coronation rite in the White Yajur-Veda, from which we quote a remarkable passage in which the priest blesses the newly crowned king: "May God who rules the world bestow on you the power to rule your subjects. May fire, worshipped by householders, bestow on you supremacy over the householders. May Soma, the lord of trees, bestow on you supremacy over forests. May Brihaspati, the god of speech, bestow on you supremacy in speech. May Indra, the highest among gods, bestow