The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c6.38

c6.38

These aborigines, however, do not seem to have been savages. Not to speak of their capacity to offer tough, stout resistance to the Āryan advance, there are references to their wealth,⁸ and their forts.⁹ When they had been subjugated and brought under Āryan sway, it was inevitable that, in spite of all the strength of colour-feeling, there should ensue some mixture of blood. The phenomenon would before long arouse anxious thoughts and an attempt would be made to stop the process. Stringent prohibitions against the intermarriage and interdining with the aborigines would be laid down. So the foundation of caste would be laid. Racial mixture, however, would be likely to go on in a legitimate or illegitimate manner and mixed castes would be produced. Meanwhile, the natural process of social specialisation and division of labour would cut the Āryan body itself into sections. It cannot be emphasised too strongly that the whole atmosphere of the Rigveda is charged with militarism. The principal gods of the Rigveda are great warriors. Indra, the greatest of gods, is the greatest of warriors, slaying and destroying hundreds at a blow. Even references to natural phenomena are clothed in militaristic phraseology. From beginning to end one meets with wars between Āryans and non-Āryans and among Āryans themselves. The dāśarājya-yuddha, the battle of Sudās against the ten kings, which fills so many hymns, is perhaps a fair illustration of the prevalent state of things. Society had to organise itself for war. We see the people as such engaged in warfare,¹ but as among the early Germans, there would grow up an order of warriors, a body of men who were constantly ready for the field and who would be the nucleus for the rest of the combatants. The hereditary tendency, so marked in all early society, would convert the order into a class. The Hindu tendency of running an idea to the extreme would convert the class into a caste. The requirements of religion would similarly lead to the development of a priestly caste. While all Āryans should pray and worship the gods, not many could make it the business of their life. Only a few could compose hymns of adoration and devotion and master the technique of sacrifices and ceremonies which were gaining in complexity with the lapse of time. A perusal of the Rigveda leaves no doubt that the Āryans of that age had a keener zest of life than their descendants manifested ever afterwards.