The Social and Military Position of the Ruling Caste in Ancient India, as Represented by the Sanskrit Epic c2.s4.143

c2.s4.143

* Vās. xxi. 3-4. The same rule holds if the case is that of a warrior and a woman of the priestly caste. † B. i. 10. 18. 19; Āp. ii. 10. 27. 16, of a slave. ‡ Āp. ii. 10. 27. 8, 17. Some of these rules, as of the time of initiation, are older than the Sūtra period; and this older Brahmanic literature occasionally touches points not always given in the law: for instance, the height of the grave-mound differing according to caste; the upanayana of the warrior coming in summer, while that of the people-caste comes in autumn; the former caste belong to Indra, the latter to Varuṇa, etc. These early rules are all collected by Weber, Ind. Stud., x. 7 ff., 14, 20 ff. § kaç cid dārān manuṣyāṇām tavā 'rthe mṛtyum iyuṣāṃ vyasanaṃ cā 'bhyupetānām bibharṣi, ii. 5. 54 : cf. xii. 86. 24. So Vās. xix. 20 : avyar-thaḥ striyaḥ syuḥ. Compare the same rule, A. P. 224. 25. ‖ Both statements belong to the middle period of the Epic : ii. 5. 59. Compare below the second part of this paper. ¶ The simplest form of the Epic rule implies the law, and reads: ‘If one warrior conquers another in battle and gets him into his power and then lets him go free, he becomes to that man a ‘revered person’ (guru): that is, the freed captive must look upon him as a priest or father, and never refuse to offer him homage; the relation of ‘father’ on the one side implying ‘slave’ on the other (such is the application made in the text, ii. 38. 7). Compare R. ii. 74. 33 : yo me ‘dya syāt pitā bandhur yasya dāso ‘smi. The fuller rule is given in xii. 96. 4, thus interpreted (and rightly) by the commentator: the captor should instruct his captive to say ‘I am thy slave’; whether the captive consents to say this or not, the captor should, after the expiration of a year, acknowledge him to be ‘a son’: that is, let him go free. This rule is based on practice. So Jayadratha as captive is to be made a slave until released, iii. 272. 11. Compare iv. 33. 59, where one is obliged to repeat ‘I am a slave’ in order to live. It is probably an extension of this rule that makes it incumbent on captive kings to declare by An important question arises, in reviewing these rules, in regard to the time that the ordinary warrior had to devote to his religious studies (obligatory on the twice-born), and the age at which he usually assumed arms.