 The king was instructed in four holy treatises.“After carefully extracting the quintessence of the treatises by his experience and understanding of the mysteries, this brahmin contrived the magic rites bearing the name of Devarāja, for increasing the prosperity of the world.”  But the description is sufficiently enigmatic that scholars cannot agree on the cult's function.The term means obviously "king of the gods," in the sense that one god, generally Śiva, was recognized as higher than others in the Hindu pantheon and through his authority brought order to heaven.