Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s4.208

v1.c3.s4.208

Upa-sti denotes both in the Rigveda¹ and the Atharvaveda² a ‘dependent,’ just as later in the Epic³ the subordination of the Vaiśya to the two superior castes is expressed by the verb *upa-sthā*, ‘stand under,’ ‘support.’ The word also appears, with the same sense, in the form of Sti, but only in the Rigveda.⁴ The exact nature of the dependence connoted by the term is quite uncertain. Zimmer⁵ conjectures that the ‘dependents’ were the members of defeated Aryan tribes who became clients of the king, as among the Greeks, Romans, and Germans, the term possibly including persons who had lost their freedom through dicing.⁶ The evidence of the Atharvaveda⁷ shows that among the Upastis were included the chariot-makers (*ratha-kāra*), the smiths (*takṣan*), and the charioteers (*sūta*), and troop-leaders (*grāma-ṇī*), while the Rigveda passages negative the possibility of the ‘subjects’ (*sti*) being the whole people. It is therefore fair to assume that they were the clients proper of the king, not servile, but attached in a special relation to him as opposed to the ordinary population. They may well have included among them not only the classes suggested by Zimmer, but also higher elements, such as refugees from other clans, as well as ambitious men who sought advancement in the royal service. Indeed, the Sūta and the Grāmaṇī were, as such, officers of the king’s household—kingmakers, not themselves kings, as they are described in the Atharvaveda.⁸ The use of the word in the Taittirīya Saṃhitā,⁹ the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa,¹⁰ and the Kāṭhaka,¹¹ is purely metaphorical, as well as in the one passage of the Rigveda in which it occurs. In the Paippalāda recension of the Atharvaveda,¹² Vaiśya, Śūdra, and Ārya are referred to as Upastis, perhaps in the general sense of ‘subject.’