History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c8.27

v1.c8.27

We will now speak of the Vaiśyas whose caste was then and is still the third in rank. They are always treated as Aryan in race for the word Ārya occurring in the Vedas is always interpreted by the commentator Sāyaṇa as meaning Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaiśya. Vaiśyas, however, generally speaking had perhaps not preserved the purity of caste as much as the other two higher castes, and some of them had sunk into the position of Śūdras. But the Vaiśyas of the days of Hiuen Tsang, from his description were traders and merchants, bankers and money lenders and these might be taken to have formed themselves into a restricted group. The names of modern Vaiśya subcastes again had not yet come into being and Maheśris and Agarvals were then unknown. The modern Vaiśyas of Nothern India divide themselves into 12½ castes and are also separated by an unbridgable barrier from the Vaiśyas of the south. But in the seventh century probably like the Brahmin and the Kshatriyas they also still formed one caste only throughout India. Their distinctive appellations or suffixes were Gupta and Bhūti according to the Smritis already quoted and other words were also used such as Vardhana. And lasty as regards profession some of the Vaiśya families had raised themselves still higher than traders and merchants and become kings by following the profession of arms. Of these remarkable families, the Guptas of Magadha must be taken to be the premier family. The greatest king in India in its post Buddhist history next to Aśoka who was a Śudra was Samudra Gupta and he must be taken from the name ending to be a Vaiśya and similarly the greatest king next to Samudra Gupta after him was Harsha and he was undoubtedly a Vaiśya. The suffix Vardhana taken by his family indicated the Vaiśya caste and the testimony of Hiuen Tsang that Harsha was a Vaiśya is conclusive. Some Vaiśya families in those days therefore gave birth to heroes and statesmen and they were even distinguished by letters also as both Samudra Gupta and Harsha were certainly learned men. In mediæval and later history too, many Vaiśya families distinguished themselves on the battle-field and it seems that the modern Bais Rajputs of Oudh may be looked upon as the descendants of some of the heroic Vaiśya families of mediæval India though they derive their descent from the mythical Salivahana king of Paithan in the south. The Guptas were spread over the whole of Northern India and names of warriors and statesmen in those days usually ended in Gupta, showing their high qualification for military posts.