Caste in India: The Facts and the System c7.s2.3

c7.s2.3

Concurrently, the stream of epic tradition flows on. Very archaic in origin, less archaic in language, it covers a whole period still somewhat imperfectly determined but in any case vast. By its nature it clearly springs from a totally different section of the population. Nevertheless, its huge canvas comprises not only stories in a heroic and legendary vein, but also gives free scope to doctrinal teaching. It was, moreover, formed at a time when the supremacy of the Brahmans and the authority of their precepts in every human concern were irrevocably established. Epic, by its style, can be directly traced to Brahmanic influence. This is perceptible in its many resemblances, often literal, to the ‘Law-books’, in its copious quotations from them, and especially from the most celebrated of them, the code of Manu. Thus, although by its subject, which is national, if not by its language, which is learned, it is addressed to the people as a whole, and although it draws its principal subject-matter from warlike legends, the Epic belongs to sacerdotal tradition. Its field is so wide and the stories so varied that some inconsistency could not fail to creep in; but on the whole the rules laid down and the chief authority are definitely the same in both cases.