Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c28.15

c28.15

There were two differences between these kṣatriyan brahmans and Viśvāmitra. First, he relinquished his kṣatriyahood and kingdom to become a brahman: they relinquished nothing and assumed brahmanhood. The combination however was not stable, and the members gravitated to one or the other status; thus the eldest princes, who succeeded to the throne, became mainly kṣatriya, and their successors gradually dropped their brahmanic character, while among the junior scions the latter predominated and they developed into pure brahmans. The other difference was that Viśvāmitra established a separate brahman family as noticed above, but these kṣatriyan brahmans were admitted into, and their descendants formed gotras in, one or other of the great brahman families, especially the Āṅgirasas and Bhārgavas.