Hindu Administrative Institutions c8.s2.38

c8.s2.38

The social ascendency, if a real fact, is due to *śrotriatvam*, i.e., learning and force of character, and to nothing else. The learned scholar seems to think that he is not altogether correct in his own statements. For says he in another later paragraph ‘The question as to how Brahmans ultimately succeeded in overcoming the resistance of the ruling class receives but little light from the contemporaneous records. Later legendary accounts of sanguinary struggles between the two classes and the final overthrow and even annihilation of the Kṣatriyas can hardly deserve much credence. Perseverance and tenacity of purpose were probably the chief means by which the Brahmans gained their ends.’ He seems to be laying himself out for establishing an imaginary fact. If the Brahmans had been really avaricious or ambitious they could have easily aspired to the imperial and royal offices. If they had only wished they could have easily adorned the thrones of many a state. But instead they sought voluntarily hard and strenuous life of fasting and penance.