Caste and Race in India c7.18

c7.18

The second order in society, the Kshatriya, is known in the earlier portions of the Rigveda as the Rājanya. The class seems to have included only the chiefs and the nobles as the word "rājanya" points to the ruling activities, and thus brings out the functional origin of the class. Usually the class is represented as inferior to the Brahmin, but a solitary reference in the Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā raises the Kshatriya over the Brahmin. In another text, "rājakula" or the king's family, is ranked after the Brahmin family. The phrase, "claiming falsely Kshatriya's rank," occurring in the Rigveda (vii, 104, 13), raises the presumption that the Kshatriyas constituted a compact class.