Caste and Race in India c8.168

c8.168

The state of caste-organization as revealed by literature and the inscriptions of the fourth period is strikingly similar to that which we noticed as prevailing about the middle of the nineteenth century. The leading authorities of this period are Parāśara, Hemādri, Mādhava, and Kamalākara. The traditional account of the total extermination of the Kshatriyas by Paraśurāma, strengthened by their defection to Buddhism, had already given rise to the theory that the Kshatriya race had ceased to exist with the Nandās. The rout of the older Kshatriya families, caused by the inroads of the Hūṇas, further lent support to this theory. Finally the rude shock that was given to Hindu sovereignty by the early Moslem conquerors so far convinced the Pandits of the extinction of the Kshatriyas that we find Kamalākara only grudgingly acknowledging their existence as a rare phenomenon.¹ This shadowy existence of the Kshatriyas rendered it unnecessary for the Brahmins, even if they wished it, to curtail their privileges excepting in very few particulars which touched the interests of the Brahmin caste. We, therefore, find the old scheme of four castes mentioned in toto in the literature of this period. Yet hypergamy is forbidden in favour of endogamy by Hemādri.² The use of spirituous drinks is sinful only for the Brahmin and not for the Kshatriya and the Vaiśya as formerly. A Brahmin may take the food prepared either by a Kshatriya or a Vaiśya in their own houses only on certain religious occasions, provided these persons have lived according to the sacred law.³