Indian Antiquary Vol 40

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 13

JANUARY, 1911.)
FOREIGN ELEMENTS IN THE HINDU POPULATION.
FOREIGN ELEMENTS IN THE HINDU POPULATION.
BY D. E. BHANDARKAR, M.A., POONA. [In 1904 I was selected by the University of Bombay to deliver lectures in connection with the Bhagwanlal Indraji Lectures Series, One of these lectures was concerned with foreign elements in the Hinda population. For a long time I had intended publiabing it, but it remained a mere intention withoat being transformed into action, Sir Richard Temple contemplated issuing a special number of the Indian Antiquary in memory of the late Mr. A. M. T. Jackson, whose tragic end all scholars and antiquarians sincerely mourn, though perhaps not so deeply as I do. We often had a chat and correspondence on a variety of antiquariau points; and I was, therefore, in a position to know that though he was conversant with all branches of Indology, yet in no subject was he more deeply interested than the one with which the present paper deals. I had thus deemed it to be my duty to revise my lecture, and prepare it for publication specially for the memorial number. But though the idea of issuing such a number has now been abandoned, I here publish diy article and dedicate it to the memory of that illustrious scholar and antiquarian, whose saintly features will no longer delight our eyes,
In this paper I have handled the subject principally from the epigraphic point of view, and intend supplementing it, if time be found, by another where the question will be treated chiefly in the light of ethnological researches. I need not say that the contents of the lecture, which was delivered six years ago, have been modified and amplified wherever necessary, and that this paper has been made to embody the latest information that is available to me.]
From the orthodox point of view, the Hindu society is split up into the four main castes : Brahmaņas, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras. The Brâhmaņas occupy the highest grade, because they sprang from the head of the Supreme Being ; next in rank are the Kshatriyas, who were produced from his arms; after them come the Vaisyas, who were generated from his thighs ; and lastly come the Sudras, who were relegated to the lowest rank as they sprang from his feet. The highest and most ancient authority that is adduced in support of this belief is the well-known mantra from the tenth mandala of the Rigveda, which runs as follows:
ब्राह्मणोस्य मुखमासीवाहू राजन्यः कृतः। करू तपस्य यद्देश्यः पनयां शूद्रो अजायत ।
Mandala X, 90, 12.
Translation. The Brahmana was his mouth, the Kshatriya was made his arms, what is called Vaibya (was) his thighs, (and) from his feet sprang the Sadras. The following verse from Manu is also quoted as a further authority in favour of the belief :
raraig farge r बामणं क्षत्रिय वैश्य शूदं च निरवर्तयत् ॥
Cap. I., 7. 31. Translation. Bat for the propagation of the worlds, he caused the Brahmaņa, the Kshatriya, the Vaisya, and the Sudra to issue from his mouth, arms, thighs and feet respectively.
This has been the belief prevalent all over India. But whereas in north India all these castes are generally supposed to be still extant, in south India tho Brahmanas and the Sadras are regarded as the only two castes now existing, the remaining two--the Kshatriya and Vaibyabeing supposed to have been long since extinct. Thus the Sadrakamaldlara says:
ब्राह्मणाः क्षत्रिया वैश्याः शूद्रा वर्णानयो द्विजाः। युगे युगे स्थिताः सर्वे कलावाद्यन्तयोः स्थितिः॥