History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c19.9.7

v2.c19.9.7

6 (Brahmā devānāṃ) the word brahmā⁶⁰ does not certainly mean 'brāhmaṇa by birth', nor does 'viprāṇām' mean 'brāhmaṇas by birth'. In that verse one who is super-eminent among a group is specified, just as the buffalo among animals, the hawk among carnivorous birds &c. In Ṛg. VIII. 33. 19 'look down and not up; bring your feet close together; may thy kaśaplakas (legs?) be not seen, for though a brahmā, thou wert born a woman,' it is impossible to hold that the last words mean 'thou wert a brāhmaṇa woman'. If it is only intended to refer to the fact that she is a brāhmaṇa woman, there is no reason why the Perfect tense (babhūvitha) is used and not the present. Here 'brahmā' most probably means 'a priest of that name', as that is the meaning in Ṛg. II. 1. 2 (brahmā cāsi gṛhapatiś-ca no dame). The word 'brahmajāyā' in Ṛg. X. 109. 2, 3, 6 and 7 does not mean the wife of a brāhmaṇa by birth but rather 'wife of Bṛhaspati'. The whole hymn is obscure and more or less enigmatic or allegorical. In the Aitareya-brāhmaṇa⁶¹ 35. 2-4 it is said that soma is the food of brāhmaṇas and that a kṣatriya was to press the tendrils of the Nyagrodha tree and the fruits of Udumbara, Aśvattha and Plakṣa and drink the juice so pressed instead of soma. It appears, therefore, that the brāhmaṇas were a distinct group even in the earliest period of the Ṛgveda. Whether they were hereditary is certainly not clear;