DDK HistoryF.p65 - CSIR

4.4] FOUR CLASS-CASTES 99
intermarriage with any non-sirqutu could only produce offspring which
again belonged to the temple. The position is like that of the sudra in
India, with the temple replaced by the Aryan tribe or later the three
Aryan upper castes.
Not all Dasas were reduced to servitude; some rose high among
the Aryans, as has been shown. A name Krsna ( = black) occurs in
the list of vedic seers. It seems unlikely to denote the “ genetically fair
Aryan “, in spite of his knowledge of Sanskrit. The strongholds shattered
by Indra are occasionally described as krsna-garbhah, ‘ bearing black
(people) in the womb’. It is still doubtful whether RV. 8.96.13-15 is
a soma myth or the straight record that it seems to be of a fight
between Indra and a Krsna. In later times, Krsna is the dark Hindu
god recognized as incarnation of Visnu (who was on the whole
friendly to Indra in the RV, with occasional conflict, though not known
outside India as an Aryan god) but the legend of conflict between
him and Indra persisted.
The reason for going deeper into the question on such poor
evidence is its bearing on the question of caste formation in general,
and particularly the brahmin caste. The brahmin was a professional
priest without parallel in Aryan tradition elsewhere ; in later India, he
acquired virtual monopoly of almost all ritual. It was the function of
every head of a family to perform, the necessary sacrifices; the head
of the tribe had the heaviest duties of the sort to promote fertility of
herds and fields, welfare of his people. Every adult male worshipped
the fire, and could appeal to Indra, Varuna, or any other god without
brahmin intervention. We find this in Greece and Rome as well. The
Latin fire-priest flamen was not, as has been proposed, in any way
the equivalent of “ brahmin” (cf. Keith in HOS 31, p. 39, p. 276). The
root-word brahman, whether masculine or neuter, is peculiarly
Indian. The original vedic fire-priest was the atharvan, Iranian
athravan. Other sacrificial priests such as the hotr also had theih
Iranian counterparts—all except the brahmin, who appeared rather
late on the scene. He implied the beginning of a new class division
within each Aryan tribe. The tribal king was always presented with gifts
for the sacrifice ; towards the end of the Rgveda period, the gifts are