History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c19.9.10

v2.c19.9.10

(The word 'rājanya occurs in the Ṛgveda only in the Puruṣasūkta. It occurs in the sense of kṣatriya in the Atharvaveda V. 17.9. The same remark applies to the word kṣatriya as to brāhmaṇa. It is difficult to say whether kṣatriyas were so by birth in the times of the hymns of the Ṛg. or were only a class more or less fluid. We find that the Ṛg. speaks of Devāpi as the *purohita* of Śantanu who became a king. The story⁶⁶ is that both were sons of Ṛṣṭiṣeṇa and that Śantanu, though a younger brother, became king as Devāpi was not willing to be a king. The result was a famine due to Śantanu's transgression and so Devāpi performed a sacrifice to induce rainfall. This shows that out of two brothers one became a king and the other a purohita. So kings and purohitas did not depend on birth. In Ṛg. IX. 112. 3 a poet exclaims 'I am a reciter of hymns my father is a physician and my mother grinds (corn) with stones. We desire to obtain wealth in various actions.'⁶⁷ In Ṛg. III. 44.5 the poet wistfully asks Indra 'O, Indra, fond of soma, would you make me the protector of people, or would you make me a king, would you make me a sage, that has drunk of soma, would you impart to me endless wealth?' This shows that the same man could be a ṛṣi or a noble or a king. Dr. Ghurye (in 'Caste and race in India' p. 44) thinks that the kṣatriyas had become a compact body and he particularly relies on Ṛg. VII. 104. 13 ( = Atharvaveda VIII. 4. 13) which is cited in the Vedic Index (vol. 1, p.