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ORIGIN OF BRAHMIN GOTRAS
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myths! .: That they represent thc pcriodic sacrifice of a king. Hcrc, instead, of the pricst sacrificing the king, it is thc god-king who bchcads his own pricst. This cannot bc taken as yet another Brahmin inversion, for the vcdic pricsthood grow stcadily in power, and there is no rcason for it to have taken a stcp against its own inviolability. The killing of Vặtra might conceivably be related to a! pcriodic human sacrificc, sccing that urlra also denotes dark non-Aryan cncmics: whence somc ritual for victory over them, or sacrifice of prisoners after a battle, would not be unlikely. For Tvāştra, no such explanation scems to be possiblc.
Study of thc Iranian counterpart Azi Dahaka shows us that we have to do with a non-Aryari king or pricst-king. Thc motif of an initially monstrous king is strong cnough to rcappcar in India down to Sisupäla, king of a historical pcoplc Ccdi. He is thrcc-cycd, which is rcally cqual to thrcc-licadedness, as will bc sccn, and four-armed at birth ; killed by a later god, the dark Kršņa, after many trespasses have been forgiven. It is possible to concludc, following the rcasoning of those who favour such analysis, that the myth portrays, in its initial · slages, the killing of a pre-Aryan priest-king somchow connected with the later Indo-Aryan pricsthood. The killer docs not succeed to, but relains, sovereignty over thc Aryan panthicon. There is nothing like a sacrcd marriage connected with the story, and the patriarchal sociсty of the Rgveda docs not allow anything of the şort to be fitted in. Later antagonism between kşalriya and brāhmaṇa can cxplain ncithcr thc forination of the story nor its Iranian version, supplying at most a causc for its rcpctition, or for the usurpation by Brhaspati of some of Indra's saga. Thus, the "ritual” is at best adopted from thc prc-Aryans, which would normally imply adopting some of thic priesthood therewith.
It sccms much morc rcasonable to admit what has already been demonstrated for Grcccc: That conflict between gods indicates conflict bctwccn two
1A.M. Hocart: Kingship (London 1927); Lord Raglan : The Hero (London 1930). I am sorry to say that Hocart's cvidence comes from a much later (for India) period, and has been reported in a fashion that nccds correction. Raglan's analysis also sccms incompletc, for I can show from personal cxpcricncc how rcal historical characters have had anyths attached to their names without any corresponding ritual or drama to account for the transfercnro of older stories. Attention has to be paid to the class of pcoplc among whom the myth is current, and also to the pre-cxistence of a written tradition, or of other classes, which may provide the raw material for folklorc. Yet thcsc two works contain much that is suggestive and valuable, in contrast to the works of dillusionists like W.J. Perry,
2 Gcorgc Thomson : Aeschylus and Athens (London, 1944); Studies in Ancient Greek Socicly: The Prehistoric degean, (London 10:10). But the direct analoguc is not possible with thc matcrial we are now discussing. Indrāni, the wife of Indira; is a very late addition to the Rgveda, and the great femalc dcities like Durga Parvati, Laksmi, ctc are much later. Umā in the Rgveda docs not appcar to have any connection with the later goddess whose physical merging into the hermaphrodite Siva indicates just what was shown for Grcccc, sccing the positinn she still occupics as Durgā, an castern mother-goddess. The femalc dcitics of the Rgvccla appcar negligiblc, or local, like the dawn goddess sā, the goddess of birth Sinīvāls, or the river godclcsecs lcd by Sarasvati. I suggest that at the carly stage, thc invaders had an overwhelming victory. Only latcr did they find it necessary to admit thcsc older clcments, along with the people who prcscrved that culture or its remnants. Otherwise, we should have a course of development the very reverse of that gcncrally found, from the patriarchal back, to matriarchy. Then, why thc lcast Aryanized of India's primitive tribes have the matriarchal system would be difficult to explain. . My suggestion would also account for the fact that many very old legends, such as those connected with the flood, appcar only at the pogl-vcdic stage. What synthesis lics back of the multiple-licaded Indus vallcy images cannot be analyzed from available sources, but undoub. tedly, they had composite dcities also. My own explanation follows in the next section..
