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D. D. KOSAMBI
Mămatcya after his inother, a custom to be observed in the final Bphadāranyaka Upanişad linc of teachers.
Onc sign of conflict between the Bralunin and ksatriya castes, after full dcvclopment of the system, appears in the original mcaning of x.109, which sccms to have been composed for the return of a Bralımin's wisc abducted by a ksatriya. Onc obvious reason for the later appcarance of the Jamadagnis and the still later risc to pre-eminence of Blițgu is this previous enmity. Thesc people were still being killed by thc ksatriyas when the Viśvāmitras werc bcing ousted by the Vasişthas from thc Bharatan pricsthood. The objcction will undoubtedly be madc that thc later Brahimins could have been Aryans from some extra-vedic branch. Why could thc Jamadagnis, with their Indo-Europcan namc, not have been vrátyas ? In the first place, thc vrătyas were first differentiated from the rest long after the Bhrgu-Jamadagni group was well established (though not necessarily in all parts of the country) and the vedas fully developed. In thc Rgvedic age, thic term vrátya could not have been used to distinguish extra-vedic Aryans bccausc all Aryans were then wanderers while the development of the veclas itself reflects the risc of settlements. The vrátya tribes do not need the vedas simply because they continue to wander castwards, into territory without a great civilization comparable with that of the Indus vallcy. At that later stage when the vrätyas proper have to be distinguished, the adoption of their pricsts would not only be unnecessary but highly improbable for the simple reason that their priesthood --if indeed it had a separatc cxistence-would be much less developed than that of the main vcdic Aryans. This can be seen from the vratyastoma ritual, created later for the adoption of a vrătya, not of his priest, into the vedic fold; from book xy of the Atharva-veda, which seems written to placate the vrátyas ; from the term brahmabandhu, applied to Magadhan Brahmins who associated themselves with the vrătya ceremonies, and even now used of Brahmins without Icarning. The great vrâtya tribc is that of thc Licchavis, mentioned with respect by the Jains, and the earliest Buddhists, while maintaining a high social position down to the Gupta period at least. We have yet to hcar anything of their priesthood. The philological argument from the name carries less force now that Hittite records have been read ; also, adoption being a form of rebirth, a non-Aryan name would be thc first to change. Even without adop
* Sarabha is called rşibandhu in viii. 100.6 but without the forceful contcmpt that goes with the termination bandhu later on. The Licchavis arc ksatriya vrătyas according to Manusmrti 10.21 var. nicchiri), known to Buddhist litcraturc gcncrally as Vajjis (=thc wanderers). Patanjali on Pan. 5.2.21 : nānājātiya aniyalarllaya ulscdhajirinah samgha urītāh shows that any tribal organization outside the Brahmin ritual and four-caste system could be called vrătya, forcshadowing modern guild-castcs and professional tribes, Thc Mahāparinibbānasutta shows that the basic rules of the Buddhist samgha were derived from Aryan tribal constitutions, specifically that of the Licchavis. For a survey of the Brahmin literature (without rcalization that sutras concerned on y, with reconciling vrätya ouservances with vedic ritual say nothing about the actual lifc lcd by thc tri hes) Scc J. W. Hauer, Der Vrdlya (Stutt. gart 1927 ; vol. I only). The vrätya Gyhapati of Pañc. Brah. xvii, 1. 14, 17 could easily be the tribal chief with the usual priestly functions, and no othcr explanation will fit as well.
