Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c31.59

c31.59

Another conclusion follows from this exposition. Bhārgavas and Ātreyas became priests first to Aila kings in W. India, but, broadly speaking, brahmans did not become priests to Aila kings elsewhere until about the time of Duṣyanta and Bharata; and the table on pp. 144-7 shows that by that time the Ailas (Aryans) had dominated the whole of N. India (excluding the three Mānva kingdoms) and the NW. Dekhan, that is, they had reached their full expansion except in distant outlying regions. The brahmans thus had little to do with the Aryan conquest, and in fact it proceeded in great measure against them while they were associated with non-Aryans. It was the Aila kṣatriyas who achieved the whole, and the brahmans joined them when that was practically effected. Hence one reason is clear why, as noticed above (pp. 8, 9), it is kṣatriya genealogies, and they alone, which give an account how the Aryan domination took place, and why the brahmanic literature has really nothing to say about that great transformation. Where the brahmans did claim some credit, as in the story of Māthava, king of Videgha (Videha), and his priest Gotama Rāhūgaṇa,² it does not refer to the Ailas, for Videha was a Mānva kingdom.