A History of Hindu Political Theories from the Earliest Times to the End of the First Quarter of the Seventeenth Century A.D. c8.s3.113

c8.s3.113

The view stated above, namely that relating to the interdependence of the two powers, represents one aspect of the Arthaśāstra thought. We may approach the other aspect through some remarkable pretensions which the priestly pride of the authors led them to advance on behalf of the Brāhmaṇas. In the first of the three verses quoted above from the address of the Wind-god, it will be noticed that the Brāhmaṇa's lordship is made to vest in him by birth-right. The contrast between this verse and the following one which charges the Kṣatriya with the divinely ordained duty of protection is significant. In the following lines the Brāhmaṇa’s pretension is pushed further so as to involve his ownership of all things, the king’s sovereignty not excluded. There the Wind-god states, “Whatever exists in the world is the property of the Brāhmaṇa on account of the excellence of his origin—this is declared by those that are versed in the Sacred Law. The Brāhmaṇa eats but his own food, wears but his own apparel, bestows but his own in alms, for the Brāhmaṇa is the chief of all castes and the greatest and the best. As a woman in the absence of her husband accepts the hand of his younger brother, so this earth makes the king her lord after the Brāhmaṇa.”[^asterisk] As the first two verses of this extract are nearly identical with Manusamhita (I 100-101), we have a corroborative evidence of their antiquity. In a similar manner the reference to the custom of ‘niyoga’ in the third verse stamps it as belonging to the early times. According to the above view, then, the Brāhmaṇa is the universal owner, and the king rules by his sufferance. The spirit of priestly arrogance which breathes through the above manifests itself in another series of verses attributing divinity to the Brāhmaṇa irrespectively of his merits. “A Brāhmaṇa,” says Manu in one place, “be he ignorant or learned, is a great divinity, just as the fire, whether carried forth (for the performance of a burnt-oblation) or not carried forth, is a great divinity.” And again, “Thus, though Brāhmaṇas employ themselves in all (sorts of) mean occupations, they must