Social Life in Ancient India: Studies in Vatsyayana's Kamasutra c7.32

c7.32

Of the second caste in the social order, we find the Rājā playing a prominent part in society in Vātsyāyana's days, but it is evident that the Rājā or king, though generally a Kṣatriya, was not unoften derived from other classes like the Ābhīras, and sometimes perhaps he was a Brahmin. The word *Kṣatriya* is used by Vātsyāyna only once, and even there, as the special designation of a class of guards employed by the Ābhīra monarchs. This passage tells us that the seraglios of the Ābhīra kings were guarded by sentries who bore the designation of *Kṣatriyas*¹. This shows apparently that the Ābhīras themselves were not Kṣatriyas, but were outside the fourfold classification of Indian society, and that they emyloyed these Kṣatriyas considering them to be more trustworthy in guarding the harem than their own tribesmen