Caste and Race in India c7.5

c7.5

This origin of the four classes is repeated in most of the later works with slight variations and interpretative additions. The Taittirīya Saṃhitā, for example, ascribes the origins of those four classes to the four limbs of the Creator and adds an explanation. The Brahmins are declared to be the chief because they were created from the mouth, punning on the word "mukha" ("mouth" and "chief"). The Rājanyas are vigorous because they were created from vigour. The Vaiśyas are meant to be eaten, referring to their liability to excessive taxation, because they were created from the stomach, the receptacle of food. The Śūdra, because he was created from the feet, is to be the transporter of others and to subsist by his feet. In this particular account of the creation not only is the origin of the classes interpreted theologically, but also a divine justification is sought to be given to their functions and status. The creation-theory is here further amplified to account for certain other features of these social classes. God is said to have created certain deities simultaneously with these classes. The Vaiśya class, the commoners, must have been naturally very large, and this account explains that social fact by a reference to the simultaneous creation of Viśvedevas, all and sundry deities, whose number is considerable. We are told that no deities were created along with the Śūdra and hence he is disqualified for sacrifice. Here again, the social regulation which forbade a Śūdra to offer sacrifice is explained as an incidental consequence of the creation.¹