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<strong>Hinduism</strong>: What Really Happened in India – M. M. Ninan 223<br />
were anxious to utter their benedictions - men who practiced austerity<br />
and self-restraint - this wretch, wishing evil to the magnanimous<br />
Pandavas, without saluting those Brahmins, thus addressed the King:<br />
"All these Brahmins, falsely imputing the malediction to me, themselves<br />
exclaim, woe to you, wicked king, the son of Kunti? Since you have<br />
slaughtered your kinsmen and elders, death is desirable for you, and not<br />
life." Hearing this speech of the wicked Raxasa the Brahmins were<br />
pained and indignant, being maligned by his words. But they, as well as<br />
King Yudhishtira, all remained silent, being ashamed and cut to the<br />
heart. Then Yudhishtira said: "Let all your reverences be reconciled to<br />
me, who bows down and supplicates you: You ought not to curse me<br />
who has recently undergone such great misfortunes." All the Brahmins<br />
then exclaimed: "We never uttered the words imputed to us; may your<br />
Majesty enjoy prosperity." Then these noble-minded Brahmins, versed in<br />
the Vedas and purified by austerities, recognized (the pretend mendicant)<br />
by the eye of knowledge, and exclaimed: "This Rakshasa called Carvaka,<br />
friend of Duryodhana; in the garb of a vagrant he seeks to accomplish<br />
the purposes of your enemy; we speak not so, righteous King; let all such<br />
fears be dissipated; may prosperity attend you and your brothers." Then<br />
all these Brahmins, infuriated with anger, uttering menaces, slew with,<br />
with muttered curses, the wicked Raxasa; who fell down consumed by<br />
the might of utterers of Vedic incantations, burnt up by the bolt of Indra,<br />
like a tree covered with leaves.” (Mahabharata 12. 1. 414)<br />
Carvakas met their doom as exemplified by the Mahabaharata Story on<br />
the onslaught of the Aryan thrust. They were neither organized nor<br />
powerful to withstand the gods of the other world. A few Dalits who<br />
have taken up the fight at another level today tell the story.<br />
Brahmana-Kshatriya hegemony was an ongoing process. These two -The<br />
Priests and the State - worked hand in hand to keep the others in<br />
subjugation. That does not mean that, there was no literature, thought or<br />
leaders in that group. Only that we did not get them. If they tried they<br />
were destroyed. We should note that the Rakshasas were as powerful as<br />
the Asuras if not more. They had probably greater science including<br />
Vimana. However because they repudiated any tradition, they failed to<br />
form a system of teaching their philosophy and died out. Rationalism