The Social and Military Position of the Ruling Caste in Ancient India, as Represented by the Sanskrit Epic c2.s5.306

c2.s5.306

∗ vii. 35. 31 ff.; 36. 1 ff. The expressions used are generally the same. Compare *codayā ’çvān bhṛçam*, vii. 145. 3; *tvaṃ sārathe yāhi javena vāhān*, viii. 76. 2; *tvarayan hayān*, viii. 26. 18, etc. The pride of the knight in venturing to fight the gods is too common to require further reference. We must remember that the gods meant are the old-fashioned gods, now much reduced in circumstances, and by no means types of divinity. Another common comparison is likening the foe to grasshoppers, to blades of grass (*matvā tṛṇena tāṅs tulyān*, vi. 113. 36, etc.), or to ‘one sixteenth’ of one’s own power (vii. 111. 30, and often).