Brahmins and Kings examines some of the most well-known and widely circulated narratives in the history of Sanskrit literature, including the Mahabharata, the Ramaya?a, Vi??usarman's famed animal stories (the Pañcatantra), Somadeva's labyrinthine Ocean of Rivers of Stories (the Kathasaritsagara), Kalha?a's Chronicle of the Kings of Kashmir (the Rajatara?gi?i), and two of the most famous plays in the history of Sanskrit literature, Kalidasa's Abhijñanasakuntala and Har?a's Ratnavali. Offering a sustained, close, intertextual reading of these works, John Nemec shows that these texts all share a common frame: they feature stories of the mutual relations of k?atriya kings with Brahmins, and they depict Brahmins advising political figures. More than this, they not only narrate instances of royal counsel but also are composed in a manner that renders the stories themselves as instances of counsel. Based in the technical literatures on Hindu Law and on statecraft-the Dharmasastras and the
