India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s1.5

India as Known to Pāṇini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashṭādhyāyī c8.s1.5

Language: English

c8.s1.5

*BRĀHMAṆA.* The Brāhmaṇas formed the highest caste. There were four principal castes which Kātyāyana mentions as *Chāturvarṇya* (V.1.124). These were to be mentioned in their order of status, as pointed out definitely by Kātyāyana in a *vārttika* on Pāṇini II.2.34 (*varṇānām ānupūrvyeṇa pūrva-nipātaḥ*), as Brāhmaṇa-Kshattriya-Viṭ-Śūdrāḥ (*Bhāshya*, I. 436). Thus the Brāhmaṇa was the highest caste.

Previous: c8.s1.4
Next: c8.s1.6
Up: c8.s1

Linked texts (1)

Aṣṭādhyāyī — Pāṇini, Sanskrit