Customs and rituals related to the coronation of kings in ancient South Asia

Abstract

The institution of kingship had originated as a result of a gradual development in Sri Lanka and as well as in India. When the Aryan settlements expanded in those countries the tribal leaders were called as Rajan or Raja. They became a special group. Then the coronation was regarded as an occasion which illustrates their power. There were some customs and rituals related to the coronation. The major objective of this research was to identify those customs and rituals connected to the coronation ceremony and their applicability. The research methodology was the comparative study of primary sources belonging to India and Sri Lanka. The researcher was able to find out that the tribal leaders who were more powerful among the others of their region, tried to display their powers and as a result of it the coronation ceremony was started and it became customary. Hence some customs and rituals originated and developed gradually. Among those customs and rituals were belief that the powers of kings were divine and to acquire that power they followed some activities and customs related water. Although the coronation ceremony in Sri Lankan has been greatly affected by that of India, the Sri Lankan society was capable of forming an identity of its own. Buddhism has played a vital role to maintain this identity as substantiated by the research.