Brahmins were assigned an important role in the state. They were the foremost among those (surram) on whose assistance the king relied in his daily work, and the highest praise of a monarch was to say that he did nothing, which pained the Brahmins. Agriculture was the mainstay of polity and the basis of war, and a good king was believed to be able to command the course of the seasons. The ideal of the ‘conquering king’ (vijigishu) was accepted and acted on. Victory against seven kings meant a superior status, which the victor marked by wearing a garland made out of the crowns of the seven vanquished rulers.