A History of Hindu Political Theories from the Earliest Times to the End of the First Quarter of the Seventeenth Century A.D. c7.82

c7.82

n † XII. 7. 3. 12. The doctrine stated above, namely that the Brāhmaṇa is the source of the Kṣatriya, finds expression in a remarkable theory of the origin of the four classes which occurs in the supplementary portion of the Śat. Br. (XIV. 4. 2. 1 = Brihadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad I. 4. 11-15). “Verily in the beginning there was Brahman, one only. That being one, was not strong enough. It created still further the most excellent Kṣattra (power), namely those Kṣattras among the Devas,—Indra, Varuṇa, Soma, Rudra, Parjanya, Yama, Mrityu, Īśāna. ......He was not strong enough. He created the Viś (people), the classes of Devas which in their different orders are called Vasus, Rudras, Ādityas, Viśve Devas, Maruts. He was not strong enough. He created the Śūdra colour (caste), as Pūshan (as nourisher)...... Among the Devas that Brahman existed as Agni (fire) only, among men as Brāhmaṇa, as Kṣatriya through the (divine) Kṣatriya, as Vaiśya through the (divine) Vaiśya, as Śūdra through the (divine) Śūdra. Therefore people wish for their future state among the Devas through Agni (the sacrificial fire) only; and among men through the Brāhmaṇa, for in these two forms did Brahman exist." S. B. E. Vol. XV, pp. 88-90. In this account of cosmic creation it will be observed that the First Cause is represented as successively creating the divine prototypes of the Kṣatriyas, the Vaiśyas and the Śūdras, while nothing is mentioned about the creation of the Brāhmaṇas. Indeed it is declared that while the original creative principle is manifested directly in the form of the Brāhmaṇa it manifests itself as Kṣatriya, Vaiśya and Śūdra through a derivative order of gods. [^asterisk]: * VII. 26.