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THE RISE O F
REFORMATORY
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of state administration, in the questions of war and peace, in the distribution of surplus products, in a word, in all the aspects of social and productive life.
All around, one of the main demands of the Brahmins was the demand of generous offerings to Gods and liberal gifts to themselves. The offerings to Gods were to consist mainly of cattle-sometimes thousands of cattle, sheep and goats were driven out for offerings. Horses which were rare animals in India in those days were also driven out for offerings. Huge number of poultry was also chopped off.17
The whole ritual of worship was made complicated to the extreme by the Brahmins and the role of the sacrificer and the prayer was reduced to obediently repeating after the Brahmins the unintelligible prayer-formulaes and to make mechanically certain gestures and movements according to the instructions of the Brahmins (which can be presently seen in contemporary India during performance of puja-prayer-offering ceremony).
As distinct from the monarchies in the republic Ganas, administered by the Kshatriya aristocracy, the struggle against the growing power of the Brahmins was specially intensive. It was such a powerful and sharp struggle that many Brahmins did not at once become exclusive categories, they remained more as soldiers, heads of the patriarchal kins and then professional holy priests. The functions of holy priests, warrior and mentor of the youth, combined in one person in the kindred gana, did not at once get divided between various social groups and hence Brahmin-warrior in that transitional period was a strong and influential figure (for example, Drona in Mahabharat-mentor of young heroes of the epic or Vishwamitra, Parashuram and other Brahmin-warriors, widely known in the history of Indian culture).
The struggle of Kshatriyas with Brahmins in the north-west regions, in the centre of the intensive process of class-formation of Aryan society and of the birth of monarchy did not undermine the influence of Brahmins and could not give birth
17. Research scholar of Indian religions N. K. Dutt considers that the renunciation of killing of cattle, sheep and goats would have spread in the society much more slowly if there was no teaching of Jains and Buddhists about ahimsa i.e. non-violence (N. K. Dutt, Origin and Growth of Castes in India, p. 204).
