The Social and Military Position of the Ruling Caste in Ancient India, as Represented by the Sanskrit Epic c2.s5.8

c2.s5.8

2. The general fighting force and military sentiment.—The whole business of the whole warrior caste was fighting. Members of other castes fought also. ‘Except in some wildly supernatural legends,’ says Wheeler (Hist. Ind. i. 77), ‘the Brahmans are not represented as warriors.’ He refers to Droṇa, the priestly warrior. But the legend is of great importance, and shows us plainly that it was conceived as possible, even if extraordinary, that a priest should be a leader in war. Another legend points to the fact that priests were only in the later time regarded as unfitted for martial practices. When the Pāṇdus go disguised to Kṛishṇā’s self-choosing, they assume the dress of priests. As a priest Arjuna steps out and performs wonders with the bow. The warriors present are incensed that a priest can surpass them in shooting; but the incident shows the not impossible attitude of the priestly caste in respect of handling weapons. It is only after the deed is done that the angry and defeated warriors make a rule that no priest henceforth shall enter the lists to contend in feats of arms with the knights. In spite of Wheeler’s cutting dismemberment of the poem, there remains nothing wildly supernatural or even improbable in this legend. Again, compare a king’s universal challenge: ‘Is there one that bears a weapon and is equal unto me in fight, either slave or farmer or knight or priest’ (v. 96. 7). Even the son of Droṇa, who was one of the bitterest warriors in the Epic, retains so much of priestly character that he is reproached for using a weapon, and called a ‘priest but in name:’ an indication of the soldier-priest’s rarity, but a proof of the circumstance that the priest still as priest (as member of the caste) fought on the field (see below, § 4). Further, it was the formal law that any priest might serve as a soldier if unable to support himself as a priest. In view of legend and law it seems wrong to say that ‘priests are never represented as soldiers save in wildly improbable legends.’ That one of the lawgivers disputes this law shows again that, while not universal, it was not uncommon.*