The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c7.169

c7.169

That kings were generally Kṣatriyas is abundantly clear. A passage in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa even bars the kingly office to Brāhmaṇas. The Kṣatra takes no delight in the priestly office and the Brahma takes no delight in the rank of rulership.² There is no evidence in Vedic literature for the contests between Brāhmaṇas and Kṣatriyas for supremacy which a few modern scholars believed to have occurred on the basis of some later legends and passages.³ There is, however, one passage in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa which seems to suggest that non-Kṣatriya kingship was not altogether unknown. King Marutta Āvikṣita is called Āyogava,⁴ which, according to the later testimony of Manu, is a mixed caste resulting from the union of Śūdras with Vaiśya wives.⁵