A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, so far as it illustrates the Primitive Religion of the Brahmans c6.182

c6.182

Now, under circumstances of this kind, when the Brahmans were still labouring to establish their supremacy over different parts of India, it can hardly be believed that the different castes and their respective duties and privileges should have been established as strictly as in later times. In later times it is considered a grievous sin to recite the hymns of the Veda in places where a Śûdra might be able to hear them. In the Rig-veda we find hymns which the Brahmans themselves allow to be the compositions of the son of a slave. Kavasha Ailûsha is the author of several hymns in the tenth Book of the Rig-veda; yet this same Kavasha was expelled from the sacrifice as an impostor and as the son of a slave (dâsyâḥ putra), and he was readmitted only because the gods had shown him special favour. This is acknowledged by the Brâhmaṇas of the Aitareyins² and