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that it is not safe for the brāhmaṇas of the Kuru Pāñcāla countries to go to these countries of the east 'because Aryans in these countries have forgotten their dharmas of Vedic ritualism; not merely that they have given up the sacrifice but they have started a new dharma according to which non-sacrificing is itself real dharma. What kind of respect can you expect from such a lot of heterodox Āryans who have lost reverence to dharma? Not merely this, they have also lost touch with the language of the Vedas. They cannot pronounce Sanskrit words with accuracy. For example, wherever ra occurs in Sanskrit words they can pronounce only la1.
A. CHAKRAVARTI
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Again, in these eastern countries, kṣatriyas have attained social supremacy in as much they claim to be higher than the brāhmaṇas. Consistent with the social aggrandisement, the eastern Aryans led by the kşatriyas maintain that Rājasūya-yāga is the highest type of sacrifice as against the Vajapēya sacrifice which is the highest according to the orthodox Kuru Pañcālas. These are some of the reasons given why orthodox Kuru Pañcāla brāhmaṇas should avoid travelling in the eastern countries.
1 Satapatha Brāhmaṇa, III-2-1-23 and 24. However, while writing on Jainism elsewhere, the author attributes (The Cultural Heritage of India, Calcutta, p, 187) this statement on the language inferiority of the easterners to the Vajasaneyi Samhita.
2 Vedic Index, Vol. I, p. 204, note 11.
3 Ibid., Vol. II, p. 281.
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