Divine kingship
Topic: Post-Mauryan India: Shungas to Kushanas · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 2 "Kings, Farmers and Towns"
Meaning
Divine kingship means a ruler claims to be like a god, or close to the gods. From the post-Mauryan period onwards, several rulers used this idea to win respect. Many of them came from obscure or foreign backgrounds. The Kushanas show this most clearly. Later, Gupta court poets also compared their kings to gods in prashastis, which are poems of praise.
Example
The Kushanas placed huge statues of their rulers in a shrine at Mat near Mathura and in another shrine in Afghanistan. Many of them also used the title devaputra ("son of god"). Some historians see this as proof that the Kushanas thought of themselves as godlike.
Don't confuse with
- Ashvamedha: this was a Vedic horse sacrifice. Rulers such as Pushyamitra Shunga performed it to claim the position of supreme ruler. It was a ritual of power, not a claim that the king himself was divine.
- Kingship through public works: Rudradaman won respect by repairing the Sudarshana lake without taxing his subjects. That was a claim of good rule, not of godhood.
Related concepts
- Kushanas
- Kujula Kadphises
- Vima Kadphises
- Kanishka
- Huvishka
- Devaputra
- Kanishka's coins
- Rabatak inscription
- Kanishka casket