The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c30.s12.9

v2.c30.s12.9

The rites are specially interesting, as they mention several words which are not easily explicable, and evidently were not well understood at a very early date: they may be borrowed from the speech of the eastern tribes, and together with the mention of the Brahman from Magadha suggest, but do not prove, that the Vrātyas came from the east rather than from the west, though we know that the western tribes were by no means fully Brahmanized,³ and it has been suggested that the Vrātyas represented one or other of the many Aryan tribes which were in motion in the period 1500–1000 B.C. There are clear traces that the Udgātṛs were specially active in the business of bringing in these outlying members of the Brahmanical society: possibly this may stand in some relation to the fact that the Chāndogas were never held in the highest repute among the Vedic Indians.¹ The suggestion of Charpentier² that we are to see in these Vrātyas adherents of Rudra-Çiva must be regarded as impossible. It is, however, of interest to note that already in the Atharvaveda³ the Vrātya is a well-known figure, and by the curious ideas of that Veda is turned into an expression of the supreme deity.