Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s7.1456

v2.c4.s7.1456

It seems probable that the really important Vrātyas were those referred to as hīna, and that the other classes were only subsidiary. According to Rājarām,⁶ there were two categories of the first class: (a) The depressed (hīna), who were non-Āryan; and (b) degraded Āryans (gara-gir). This, however, is a mere guess, and devoid of probability. There seems to have been but one class of Vrātyas. That they were non-Āryan is not probable, for it is expressly said⁷ that, though unconsecrated, they spoke the tongue of the consecrated: they were thus apparently Āryans. This view is confirmed by the statement that ‘they call what is easy of utterance, difficult to utter’: probable they had already a somewhat Prakritic form of speech (cf. Vāc). The Sūtras mention their Arhants (‘saints’) and Yaudhas (‘warriors’), corresponding to the Brahminical Brāhmaṇa and Kṣatriya.