The First King

When Yudhishthira asked the sages about the very origin of kingship - what a king is truly for, and how the office of the king first came to be - they told him the story of Vena and his son Prithu, the first true king, after whom the Earth herself is named.

There was once a king named Vena, who came of a good line but was wicked beyond measure. From the throne he ruled with cruelty and pride, and worst of all he was an enemy of religion and righteousness. He forbade his people to perform sacrifices or to worship the gods, declaring that he himself was the only god worthy of worship, and that all offerings should be made to him alone. He overturned the sacred rites, oppressed the holy and the good, and let injustice and impiety spread unchecked through the land. Under his misrule the whole order of the world began to break down, for when the sacrifices cease and the king is wicked, the bond between heaven and earth is broken, and ruin follows.