Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s5.252

v2.c4.s5.252

Rājanya-bandhu denotes a Rājanya, but usually with a depreciating sense. Thus in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa¹ Janaka is called by the Brahmins, who he defeated in disputation, ‘a fellow of a Rājanya’; the same description is applied to Pravāhaṇa Jaivali in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad² for a similar reason. On the other hand, in one passage³ where reference is made to men eating apart from women, princes are said to do so most of all: the term Rājanyabandhu cannot here be deemed to be contemptuous, unless, indeed, it is the expression of Brahmin contempt for princes, such as clearly appears in the treatment of Nagnajit in another passage.⁴ Again, in a passage⁵ in which the four castes are mentioned, the Vaiśya precedes the Rājanyabandhu, a curious inversion of the order of the second and third castes.⁶