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38.
.:!:D. D. KOSAMBI
a splinter of, the Bharatas; but there is no clan name now extant which can be derived from Tștsu. The adoption seems at least to have been that of Vasiştha and went to the extent of a common style in hairdressing ; vii.33 begins by describing the Vasişthas as dakṣiṇalas-kapardinas, with hairtwist on the right side, and kapardin is used only of the Tțlsus (vii.83.8) in describing human beings. The actual practice survived late, as we see from the appendix to the Gobhila Gșhya-sutra* : "The Vasişthas have a hairtwist (or braid) on the right, the Atreyas have three twists, the Angirasas five scalp-locks, the Bhřgus have completely shaven heads, and the others wcar a crest." This is to differentiate between gotra-groups, and "the others" here are the Viśyā. mitras and possibly the Kanvas, so far as the main Rgvedic families go.
THE DEATH OF A PRIEST: TvĀSTRA.,'
7. The rivalry between the Vißvāmitras and the upstart Vasişthas is plentifully attested in later tradition, while iii. 53.21-24 arc stanzas which still... pass as curses against the Vasişthas, so strong that were one of them to hear the particular verses, his head would split into a hundred pieces (they are still capable of giving anyone a headache !). On closer reading, these stanzas actually, do seem to be a mixture of curse and lament that the Bharatas are
beginning to prefer strangers to their own, the ass to the horse ; there.is no. | reason to doubt that they reflect the displacement of the Kuśikas by the Vasis
thas. We are told (Bịhaddevatā v. 112-120) that Viśvāmitra was deprived of his senses by Vasiştha and speech (vāk sasarparī) had to be supplied by Jama:: dagni. The brief hymn x.167 to Indra is given joint authorship of Viśvāmitra. and Jamadagni, which supports this close association. It follows that here Jamadagni is not on the same side as Vasiştha and their separate, rivalry is: attested by Tait.Sam.iii.1.7. ; v.4.11. Later tradition makes Jamadagni a sage at once hot tempered and forbearing ; capable of stopping the sun yet... killed unresisting by kşatriyas; in revenge his son Paraśurāma completely wipes . out: all kşatriyas from the face of the earth thrice seven times-though the Vedas have nothing of all this (Jāmadagnya being merely the supposed author, of x.110). This is one more of the inversions, with passage of time and rise of the Brahmins : it was the ksatriya who did the killing, and not conversely. In fact, even the Vasişthas are supposed not to have escaped unscathed, for: the Bșhaddevatā vi.28,33-4 reports "Now in the fifteenth and in the eighth
*For this stanza and a careful discussion of gotra-pravara exogamy as well as correspondence, between the traditional lists and the classification implicit in Pāṇini's derivations, see John Brough; "The Early History of the Gotras' in JRAS 1946, pp.32-45 : 1947.pp. 76-90. Though the learned. author's approach and point of view are entirely different from those adopted in this note, it is remark. able that he reaches the conclusion that at the time of composition of the Satapatha Brāhmaṇa, the entry of the Jāmadagnyas into the Brahmanical fold was (probably) still comparatively recent. My thanks are due to Prof. Brough for suggesting some corrections, though we still differ on the main ques : tion.
