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 Pancatantra), 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 of these works, John Nemec shows that these texts all share a common frame: they feature stories of the mutual relations of ksatriya kings with Brahmins, and they depict Brahmins advising political figures.