State and Government in Ancient India c12.15

c12.15

The caste system had not become rigid in the Vedic period and so we cannot, strictly speaking, talk of the caste of the Vedic king. Later on when the caste system was fully evolved, the king usually used to belong to the Kshatriya caste. In the course of time however non-Kshatriya *viz.* Brāhmaṇas, Vaiśyas and Śūdras and non-Aryans *viz.* the Scythians, the Parthians and the Hūṇas established their own dynasties and the term *rājan* began to be applied even to non-Kshatriyas who were actually ruling over a kingdom.¹