Studies in the Epics and Puranas c7.s2.37

c7.s2.37

The Rām, in its historical setting, represents the expansion of the Aryan culture over the Deccan and South India. It shows that there was a very close co-operation and harmony, and not discord, between the Brāhmaṇa and the Kṣatriya in effecting the Aryo-Dravidian cultural synthesis. The spread of the Aryo-Dravidian culture into the south originated from Kosala and Ayodhyā under the leadership of Rāma. The Aryan conquerors, being few, would have been speedily absorbed had the Brāhmaṇas not come. The Brāhmaṇa brought with him the Aryan civilisation and traditions and introduced the caste system. Brāhmaṇa missionaries paved the way; they accompanied the conquerors; converted Dravidian potentates and enabled them to intermarry with high-born Aryans. The Aryan spirit was kept alive by the Brāhmaṇa. With all this, however, without the protection of the Kṣatriya the Brāhmaṇa was powerless; and it was not Brāhmaṇa's "peaceful penetration" but the military exploits of the Kṣatriya that enthralled the popular imagination.⁶⁶