History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c19.25

v2.c19.25

Though the word vaiśya occurs in the Ṛgveda only in the Puruṣasūkta, the word 'viś' is very frequently employed in it. It generally means 'people or group of people'. In a large number of cases we have the words *mānuṣīr-viśaḥ* or *mānuṣīṣu vikṣu* or *mānuṣīnām viśām*, e. g. Ṛg. III. 5. 3, III. 6. 3, III. 11. 5 (invincible Agni goes in front of human groups), IV. 6. 7 and 8, IV. 9. 2, V. 1. 9, V. 8. 3, VI. 48. 8, VI. 47. 16 (*viśo mānuṣyān*), X. 1. 4, X. 69. 9. In some places we have 'dāsīr viśaḥ' (the dāsa hordes) e. g. IV. 28·4, VI. 25·2. In⁶⁸ Ṛg. III. 34·2 we have 'Oh Indra, you are the leader of human hordes as well as of divine hordes' (where we have daivīnām viśām). Ṛg.⁶⁹ VIII. 63·7 (when loud invocations were sent towards Indra by the people consisting of five groups) shows that 'viś' means all the Aryan people. In Ṛg. V. 32. 11 Indra is styled 'pāñcajanya' (favourable to the five people) and in IX. 66. 20 Agni has the appellation 'pāñcajanyaḥ purohitaḥ' (the *purohita* of the five peoples). Sometimes *jana* and *viś* seem to be contradistinguished as in Ṛg. II. 26. 3 (*sa ij-janena sa viśā sa janmanā sa putrair-vājam bharate dhanā nṛbhiḥ*). But the very fact that *viś* is qualified also as pāñcajanya shows that there was hardly any distinction between jana and viś. In the Ṛgveda frequent reference is made to five people (pañca janāḥ); vide Ṛg. III. 37. 9, III. 59. 7, VI. 11. 4, VIII. 32. 22, X. 65. 23, X. 45. 6. In the same way the words kṛṣṭi (II. 2. 10, IV. 38. 10), kṣiti (V. 35. 2, VI. 48. 7, VII. 75. 4), carṣaṇi (V. 86. 2, VII. 15. 2) are employed along with pañca. We have also 'pāñcajanyāsu kṛṣṭiṣu' in Ṛg. III. 53·16. So it is clear that *viś* cannot in almost all hymns of the Ṛg. mean 'vaiśya' but means the 'people' or 'āryan people' when no epithet like 'dāsīḥ' or 'daivīḥ' is prefixed.⁷⁰ The Ait. Br. (I. 26) says that 'viśaḥ' means 'rāṣṭrāṇi' (countries) when explaining Ṛg. IV. 50·8 (tasmai viśaḥ svayam-evānamante).