Short notes on Evolution of Monarchy and Varna System

The use of iron tools and cultivation created con­ditions for the transformation of the comparatively egalitarian Early Vedic society into a class-divided social order in the Later Vedic period. The Later Vedic society came to be divided into Brahmans, rajanyas or kshatriyas, vaishyas and shudras.

Settled life led to a further crystallisation of this four-fold division of the society. Brahmans, initially merely one of the sixteen classes of priests, emerged as the most important class.

The growing cult of sacrifices enormously added to their power. The kshatriyas constituted the warrior class and came to be looked upon as protectors. The king was chosen from among them.

The rajanya, which already was a superior lineage during the Early Vedic period, now became Kshatriya, i.e., those who held power over a dominion (kshatra), which is the literal meaning of the word ‘kshatriya’.

The vaishyas constituted the common people and devoted themselves to trade, agriculture and various crafts and was the tax- paying class.

The vaishyas appear to be the only tribute payers in Later Vedic period, and the kshatriyas are represented as living on the tributes collected from the vaishyas. The shudras were supposed to serve the three higher varnas and formed the bulk of the labouring masses.

All the three higher varnas shared one common feature: they were entitled to upanayana or investiture with the sacred thread. The fourth Varna, shudra, was deprived of the sacred thread ceremony. With this began the imposition of disabilities on the shudras.

According to some scholars, Brahmans and kshatriyas had become hereditary, and the essential features of the caste system were already developed in the age of the Rigveda. But this view does not appear to be likely, as the terms Brahman and Kshatriya occur very seldom in the Rigveda.

A late hymn (of Mandal X) of the Rigveda, known as Purushasukta, says that when the gods divided Purusha (the Primeval Creator), the Brahman was his mouth; rajanya was made his arms; the vaishya was his thighs; and the shudra sprang from his feet.

This is the only hymn in the Rigveda in which the names rajanya, vaishya, and shudra occur. It would thus appear that towards the very end of the Rigvedic period, the distinction between four varnas had just begun to take shape, foreshadowing the development of the caste system of the future.

In view of the current beliefs, based on the Primeval Creator theory, it is important that according to the Purushasukta, the first three varnas were identical with, not considered to have sprung from, three parts of the Creator, while the last varna, shudra, sprang from the feat of the Creator.

The distinction between the original meaning and this new interpretation is vital. The former implies membership of the same organism and therefore equality in status, while the latter is a deliberate attempt to introduce gradation in rank according to place of origin.

Thus the advocates of the later social changes sought to derive support by wrongly interpreting the mythical con­ception in their favour.

On the basis of Varna, the elite would be a closed group with little or no upward mobility. Recruitment to each group would be strictly through birth. The elite would be drawn from the first three varnas-brahman, Kshatriya and vaishya.

Members of the Brahman group because of their ritual status would automatically be a part of the elite irrespective of their economic status. This applied to some extent to the kshatriyas as well.

But the case of the vaishyas was more complex, since this category could well include members of a low economic group, who, although theoretically an elite group, was actually not a part of the elite group.

Rules of endogamy changed during the Later Vedic period. As against tribal endogamy-marriage within tribe-the Later Vedic people practised gotra exogamy-marrying outside the gotra. The term gotra literally means cow pen.

It signified descent from a common ancestor. The gotra exogamy meant that marriages could not take place between two people belonging to the same gotra.

Thus, the concept of Varna was born and endowed with the following three features: (i) status by birth, (ii) a hierarchical ordering of the members of the society, and (iii) rules of endogamy and ritual purity.

The later Vedic texts also put an emphasis on Varna system. For example, in Aitareya Brahmana, in relation to the prince, brahmana is described as a seeker of livelihood and an acceptor of gifts.

A vaishya is called tribute paying, and to be oppressed at will. A shudra is called the servant of another, to be made to work at will by another, and to be beaten at will.

The Varna system, firmed up with Dharma, universal law, was an attempt to establish a social law for the smooth functioning of the society.

During the later Vedic Age with the shift in the geographical focus, the Vedic people encountered many non-Vedic tribes, interactions with whom led to the emergence of a complex society. Apparently, on this account, the Atharvaveda depicts a host of non-Vedic rituals which were sanctioned by the priests.

At the same time, the priests and the warriors, keen to maintain their superior status and tribal purity, practiced endogamy. It seems the Later Vedic Age was witness to a tussle over the control of the society.

The dominant groups tried to maintain their position by introducing rigid laws; the geo-political compulsions forced them to be less stringent. However, the rules were not cast in iron yet.

The division of the social groups was based on occupation alone. Society was still flexible where one’s occupation was not deter­mined by birth. Thus even in the post-Vedic period, the Varna system did not prevent non-kshatriyas from becoming rulers, as did the Nandas and the Mauryas.

Nor did it stop Brahmans from becoming kings, as became the Sungas. Anyway, the concept of Varna during the Later Vedic Age was rudimen­tary in nature. The notion of untouchability for example is absent.

According to Romila Thapar, the key to the understanding of the Varna system lies in not seeing it as a framework of the hierarchical layers of social orders each fitting nearly below the other.

It may be more meaningful to see it as a series of vertical parallels, each Varna (pure or mixed) as an indepen­dent entity with its own hierarchy based either on a tribal identity or an occupational identity.

Monarchy

The transition from pastoralism of the Early Vedic Age to mixed-farming of the subsequent phase had a great impact on the nature of the Later Vedic polity. Tribal identity of the earlier age was replaced by a territorial identity leading to the growth of powerful territorial states.

Many of the famous tribes, such as Bharatas, Purus, Trusts and Turvasus, of the earlier period passed into oblivion. The political life became keener and the struggle for supremacy among different states was of frequent occurrence.

The egalitarian Rigvedic institutions like Sabha, samiti and vidatha began to lose their prominence and came to be dominated by chiefs and rich Nobels. Princes ruled over tribes, but their dominant tribes became identical with territories.

In the beginning each area was named after the tribe which settled there first, but eventually the tribal name became current as the territorial name.

A direct consequence of this development was the emergence of the terms like janapada, meaning the place where the tribe was settled, and rashtra in the Later Vedic texts.

However, the term rashtra was still not used in the sense of a state with well-defined territories. In a passage of the Atharvaveda, the rashtra (territory) is said to have been held by the king and made firm by King Varuna, and gods Brihaspati, Indra and Agni.

As the tribal chiefs came to be associated and identified with particular territories, there were changes in their functions and status. The rajan was now no longer only in-charge of cattle-raids, he was also responsible for the protection of the mahajanapada where his tribe had settled.

The rajanya already enjoying a superior lineage now became the Kshatriya, the literal meaning of which is protector of the fields. The Vis had to pay now for the protection of its fields and presentations or Bali and bhaga were now no longer paid at will.

Now those had become regular tributes and taxes. The increase in the importance of the kshatriyas led to the subordination of the vaishyas to them because they were also the pro­tectors of the field.

Another consequence of it was that the sabha (where the kshatriyas were predomi­nant) became more important than the samiti. It was also the kshatriyas who selected the rajas in the assemblies or the sabhas.

Several kingdoms came to be established during the Later Vedic period. The Kurus ruled in the Kuru- Panchal region (Delhi-Meerut-Mathura). Excavations in the region have revealed settlements belonging to the period 1000-700 BC.

The Kurus fought fratricidal war (better known as the Mahabharata) with their collaterals in 950 BC at Kurukshetra. The kingdom of Koshal, to which belonged Rama, the hero of the Ramayana, was situated to the east of the Ganga-Yamuna confluence.

The kingdom of Kashi was situated in the east of Koshala. Another kingdom was Videha whose kings bore the tide Janaka. Magadha, then of little importance, was located on the southern side of the Ganga.

It is said that when the Kurus and the Panchala merged together, their control of the mahajanapada was complete, i.e. they held the upper and middle reaches of the Ganga- Yamuna doab.

There was no firmly established principle of heredity or primogeniture. Consecratory rituals be­came very important for the ruler in order to assert his authority. Hence, ceremonies like rajasuya, Asvamedha and vajaperya were now performed nil a lavish scale.

These were relatively small affairs earlier, but now they became big to subjugate other rulers and legitimize the king’s hold over alien lands. The raja was also required to integrate his lands with resources, economic production and distribution which raised his status.

However, he was still not the sovereign. The fact that he was selected and could be removed (by the kshatriyas) put him under severe constraints. Also, the subordinate rajas, which helped him in his work, could not be removed by him because they were also chiefs in their own rights and were selected, as he was, by the kshatriyas.

This gain in the status of the kshatriyas and the accep­tance of territories as a manifestation of a ruler’s power are the two significant features of the polity of the Later Vedic Age.

The territorial monarchy was strengthened by taxation, which made a beginning in the Later Vedic period. Due to settled life and comparatively settled agriculture, peasants were in a position to produce surplus, at least moderately, which could be collected by king as taxes paid in grain and cattle.

They were probably deposited with an officer called sangrihitri or bhagadugha. In the Shatapatha Brahmana, a king is described as a devourer of the people (vishamatta), because he lived on what was realised from them.

The income from taxes enabled the development of monarchy as a state cannot be set up without a regular system of taxes and a professional army, which again depends on taxes.

The increase in the royal power, due to the growth of large territorial states, is duly reflected in the enlarged entourage of the king. Due to income from taxes, the king was in a position to appoint a large number of officials which included suta (charioteer), sangrihitri (treasurer), akshavapa (super­intendent of dancing) and kshattri (chamberlain).

These officials, as well as purohitas, senani and gramani were known as ratnins (jewel-bearers).

The vicissitudes’ of the Vedic assemblies also contributed to the rise of moriarchial system. In the territorial states with jurisdiction over relatively larger area, ordinary people distanced themselves from Sabha and samiti as they could not afford to travel long distances to attend the meetings of these assemblies.

This gave an aristocratic character to the Vedic assemblies and took away much of their effectiveness. Some of their activities were taken by the ratnins.