Kingship in Ancient India and Rama Exiling Sita
Let us assume the Uttara Kanda is legitimate for sake of argument. Now first we need to understand what was the ancient Indian political thought regarding the function of Kingsship. In the Shanti Parva Bishma narrates the story of King Vena and Prthu and why the institution of Kingships existed [1]. " At first there was no sovereignty, no king, no chastisement, and no chastiser. All men used to protect one another righteously. As they thus lived, O Bharata, righteously protecting one another, they found the task (after some time) to be painful. Error then began to assail their hearts. Having become subject to error, the perceptions of men, O prince, came to be clouded, and thence their virtue began to decline. When their perceptions were dimmed and when men became subject to error, all of them became covetous. O chief of the Bharatas! And because men sought to obtain objects, which they did not possess, another passion called lust (of acquisition) got hold of them. When the...