Brahmins and Kings examines some of the most well-known and widely circulated narratives in the history of Sanskrit literature, including the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, Visnusarman's famed animal stories (the Panchatantra), Somadeva's labyrinthine Ocean of Rivers of Stories (the Kathasaritsagara), Kalhana's Chronicle of the Kings of Kashmir (the Rajatarangini), and two of the most famous plays in the history of Sanskrit literature, Kalidasa's Abhijnanasakuntala and Harsa's Ratnavali. Offering a sustained close, intertextual reading, John Nemec argues that these texts all share a common frame: they feature stories of the mutual relations of ksatriya kings with Brahmins, and they all 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 Arthasastra and related works - the counsel in question elaborates a model of action that synthesizes views found in both, recommending a kind of virtue ethic that suggests one may do well in the world by being good. Doing well involves succeeding in both worldly and otherworldly affairs; being good involves following Brahminical teachings and upholding the dharmic norms they regularly articulate in text. This ethic encompasses all human action and practice, defines the counsel offered by these texts, and seeks with it to engage the king, his princes, and queens across the spectrum of their subjective experience: intellectually, emotionally, and humorously.

Ultimately, this book argues that, just as the rulers in these narratives receive moral instruction, their audiences do, as well. By putting metaphorical flesh on the proverbial bare bones of doctrinal ideals and ideas, these texts seek to shape not just their readers' thoughts but also their emotions and cultivated instincts, intending to transform their very way of engaging the world by immersing them in the dreamworld of stories.