History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c19.9.2

v2.c19.9.2

6 (with reference to the Mahāvrata in which there was a mock fight between a brāhmaṇa and a śūdra) says 'that the brāhmaṇa is the divine varṇa, and śūdra is the asurya varṇa'.⁵⁴ If we can interpret the Ṛgveda verse by the help of the Tai. Br. then in Ṛg. IX. 71.2, the words 'asuryam varṇam' mean 'śūdra tribe'. There is no doubt that the word *asura* when applied to gods like Varuṇa has another meaning also in the Ṛg. In numerous places in the Ṛgveda the antagonism between the *āryas* and *dāsas* or *dasyus* is emphasized and prayers are offered to Indra and other gods for having subdued or for subduing the dāsa in favour of the Ārya. Ṛg. I. 51.8; I. 103.3; I. 117.21; II. 11.2, 4, 18, 19; III. 29.9; V. 70.3; VII. 5.6; IX. 88.4; VI. 18.3; VI. 25.2. In Ṛg. I. 51.8 Indra is requested to mark who are āryas and who are dasyus. This does not mean that there was difference between the two in bodily appearance only; on the contrary the antithesis between the ārya who is referred to as 'barhiṣmat' and the dasyu who is styled 'avrata' clearly shows that the emphasis was rather on the difference of their cults. That *dasyu* and *dāsa* are identical in meaning follows from the same epithets being applied to both and from the fact that dasyu and dāsa occur in the same verses as applying to the same enemy.⁵⁵ In Ṛg. X. 22.8 dasyu and dāsa are used in the same verse as applicable to the same enemy. In Ṛg. X. 99.6 and 8 Indra is represented as killing both dāsa and dasyu respectively.