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Kshatriya

January 21, 2023

For the Bollywood film of the same name, see Kshatriya (film).

Kshatriya (Hindi: क्षत्रिय) (from Sanskrit kṣatra, "rule, authority") is one of the four varna (social orders) of Hindu society, associated with warrior aristocracy.[1] The Sanskrit term kṣatriyaḥ is used in the context of later Vedic society wherein members were organised into four classes: brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya and shudra.[2]

Bhishma, a Kshatriya of the Lunar dynasty

History

Early Rigvedic tribal monarchy

The administrative machinery in the Vedic India was headed by a tribal king called Rajan whose position may or may not have been hereditary.[3] The king may have been elected in a tribal assembly (called Samiti), which included women.[4][3] The Rajan protected the tribe and cattle; was assisted by a priest; and did not maintain a standing army, though in the later period the rulership appears to have risen as a social class. The concept of the fourfold varna system is not yet recorded.[5]

Later Vedic period

The hymn Purusha Sukta to the Rigveda describes the symbolic creation of the four varna-s through cosmic sacrifice (yajña). Some scholars consider the Purusha Sukta to be a late interpolation into the Rigveda based on the neological character of the composition, as compared to the more archaic style of the Vedic literature.[6] Since not all Indians were fully regulated under the varna in the Vedic society,[7] the Purusha Sukta was supposedly composed in order to secure Vedic sanction for the heredity caste scheme.[6] An alternate explanation is that the word 'Shudra' does not occur anywhere else in the Rig-veda except the Purusha Sukta, leading some scholars to believe the Purusha Sukta was a composition of the later Rig-vedic period itself to denote, legitimize and sanctify an oppressive and exploitative class structure that had already come into existence.[8]

Although the Purusha Sukta uses the term rajanya, not Kshatriya, it is considered the first instance in the extant Vedic texts where four social classes are mentioned for the first time together.[9] Usage of the term Rajanya possibly indicates the 'kinsmen of the Rajan' (i.e., kinsmen of the ruler) had emerged as a distinct social group then,[9] such that by the end of the Vedic period, the term rajanya was replaced by Kshatriya; where rajanya stresses kinship with the Rajan and Kshatriya denotes power over a specific domain.[9] The term rajanya unlike the word Kshatriya essentially denoted the status within a lineage. Whereas Kshatra, means "ruling; one of the ruling order".[10] Jaiswal points out the term Brahman rarely occurs in the Rig-veda with the exception of the Purusha Sukta and may not have been used for the priestly class.[9] Based on the authority of Pāṇini, Patanjali, Kātyāyana and the Mahabharata, Jayaswal believes that Rajanya was the name of political people and that the Rajanyas were, therefore, a democracy (with an elected ruler).[11] Some examples were the Andhaka and Vrsni Rajanyas who followed the system of elected rulers.[9] Ram Sharan Sharma details how the central chief was elected by various clan chiefs or lineage chiefs with increasing polarisation between the rajanya (aristocracy helping the ruler) and the vis (peasants) leading to a distinction between the chiefs as a separate class (raja, rajanya, kshatra, kshatriya) on one hand and vis (clan peasantry) on the other hand.[12]

The term kshatriya comes from kshatra and implies temporal authority and power which was based less on being a successful leader in battle and more on the tangible power of laying claim to sovereignty over a territory, and symbolising ownership over clan lands. This later gave rise to the idea of kingship.[13]

In the period of the Brahmanas (800 BCE to 700 BCE) there was ambiguity in the position of the varna. In the Panchavimsha Brahmana (13,4,7), the Rajanya are placed first, followed by Brahmana then Vaishya. In Shatapatha Brahmana 13.8.3.11, the Rajanya are placed second. In Shatapatha Brahmana 1.1.4.12 the order is—Brahmana, Vaishya, Rajanya, Shudra. The order of the brahmanical tradition—Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra—became fixed from the time of dharmasutras (450 BCE to 100 BCE).[14] The kshatriya were often considered pre-eminent in Buddhist circles.[15] Even among Hindu societies they were sometimes at rivalry with the Brahmins, but they generally acknowledged the superiority of the priestly class.[15] The Kshatriyas also began to question the yajnas of the historical Vedic religion, which led to religious ideas developed in the Upanishads.[16]

Mahajanapadas

The gaṇa sangha form of government was a oligarchic republic during the period of the Mahajanapadas (c. 600–300 BCE), that was ruled by Kshatriya clans. However, these kshatriyas did not follow the Vedic religion, and were sometimes called degenerate Kshatriyas or Shudras by Brahmanical sources. The kshatriyas served as representatives in the assembly at the capital, debated various issues put before the assembly.[17] Due to the lack of patronage of Vedic Brahmanism, the kshatriyas of the gana sanghas were often patrons of Buddhism and Jainism.[18]

In the kingdoms of the Mahajanapadas, the king claimed kshatriya status through the Vedic religion. While kings claimed to be kshatriya, some kings came from non-kshatriya origins.[19]

After the Mahajanapada period, most of the prominent royal dynasties in northern India were not kshatriyas. The Nanda Empire, whose rulers were stated to be shudras, destroyed many kshatriya lineages.[20]

Post-Mauryan Kshatriyas

After the collapse of the Maurya Empire, numerous clan-based polities in Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan claimed kshatriya status.[21]

The Shakas and Yavanas were considered to be low-status kshatriyas by brahmin authors.[22]

In the third to fourth centuries CE, kingdoms in the Krishna and Godavari rivers claimed kshatriya status and performed Vedic rituals to legitimate themselves as rulers.[23]

Emergence of "Puranic" Kshatriyas

In the era from 300 to 700 CE, new royal dynasties were bestowed kshatriya status by brahmins by linking them to the kshatriyas of the epics and Puranas. Dynasties began affiliating themselves with the Solar and Lunar dynasties and this gave them legitimation as rulers. In return the newly christened kshatriyas would patronize and reward the brahmins. The Sanskritic culture of the kshatriyas of this period was heavily influential for later periods and set the style that kshatriyas of later periods appealed to. This process took place both in North India and the Deccan.[24]

Modern era

Writing in the context of how the jajmani system operated in the 1960s, Pauline Kolenda noted that the "caste function of the Kshatriya is to lead and protect the village, and with conquest to manage their conquered lands. The Kshatriyas do perform these functions today to the extent possible, by distributing food as payments to kamins and providing leadership."[25]

A number of castes in the modern era began claiming kshatriya origin, but that they purportedly fell in status due to economic necessity or ritual faults.[26]

Symbols

In rituals, the nyagrodha (Ficus indica or India fig or banyan tree) danda, or staff, is assigned to the kshatriya class, along with a mantra, intended to impart physical vitality or 'ojas'.[27]

Lineage

The Vedas do not mention kshatriya (or varna) of any vansha (lineage). The lineages of the Itihasa-Purana tradition[28] are: the Solar dynasty (Suryavamsha);[28] and the Lunar dynasty (Chandravamsha/ Somavamsha).[28]

There are other lineages, such as Agnivanshi ("fire lineage"), in which an eponymous ancestor rises out of Agni (fire),[28] and Nagavanshi (snake-born), claiming descent from the Nāgas. The Nagavanshi, were Naga tribes whose origin can be found in scriptures such as Mahabharata.[29]

See also

References

  1. ^ Thapar, Romila (2004). History of Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300. University of California Press. p. 63.
  2. ^ Bujor Avari (2007). India: The Ancient Past: A History of the Indian Sub-Continent from c. 7000 BC to AD 1200, p. 89
  3. ^ a b Renou, Louis (1957). Vedic India. p. 130.
  4. ^ Shori, Maj Gen A. K. "Fifth Shade : Rama as A King". Seven Shades of Rama. Notion Press. ISBN 978-93-84391-74-4.
  5. ^ Sharma, Ram Sharan (2005). India's ancient past. the University of Michigan: Oxford University Press. pp. 110–112. ISBN 9780195667141.
  6. ^ a b Jamison, Stephanie W.; Brereton, Joel P. (2014). The Rigveda: The Earliest Religious Poetry of India. Oxford University Press. pp. 57–58. ISBN 978-0-19-937018-4.
  7. ^ David Kean (2007). Caste-based Discrimination in International Human Rights Law, p. 26. Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
  8. ^ Jayantanuja Bandyopadhyaya (2007). Class and Religion in Ancient India, pp. 37–47. Anthem Press.
  9. ^ a b c d e Kumkum Roy (2011). Insights and Interventions: Essays in Honour of Uma Chakravarti, p. 148. Primus Books.
  10. ^ Turner, Sir Ralph Lilley; Dorothy Rivers Turner (January 2006) [1962]. A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages (Accompanied by three supplementary volumes: indexes, compiled by Dorothy Rivers Turner: 1969. – Phonetic analysis: 1971. – Addenda et corrigenda: 1985. ed.). London: Oxford University Press. pp. 189–190. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  11. ^ Radhakrishna Choudhary (1964). The Vrātyas in Ancient India, Volume 38 of Chowkhamba Sanskrit studies, p. 125. Sanskrit Series Office.
  12. ^ Ram Sharan Sharma (1991). Aspects of Political Ideas and Institutions in Ancient India, p. 172. Motilal Banarsidass Publications.
  13. ^ Reddy (2005). General Studies History 4 Upsc. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. pp. 78, 79, 33, 80, 27, 123. ISBN 9780070604476.
  14. ^ Upinder Singh (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century, p. 202. Pearson Education India.
  15. ^ a b Jeanne Auboyer (1965). Daily Life in Ancient India. Phoenix Press. pp. 26–27. ISBN 1-84212-591-5.
  16. ^ Thapar 2004, p. 129, 131.
  17. ^ Thapar 2004, pp. 146–150.
  18. ^ Thapar 2004, p. 170.
  19. ^ Thapar 2004, pp. 150–151.
  20. ^ Thapar 2004, pp. 155–156.
  21. ^ Thapar 2004, p. 211.
  22. ^ Thapar 2004, p. 227.
  23. ^ Thapar 2004, pp. 228–229.
  24. ^ Thapar 2004, p. 320, 324, 341, 370.
  25. ^ Kolenda, Pauline Mahar (Spring 1963). "Toward a Model of the Hindu Jajmani System". Human Organization. 22 (1): 11–31. doi:10.17730/humo.22.1.x01162046g995q1j. JSTOR 44124164.
  26. ^ Thapar 2004, p. 464.
  27. ^ Brian K. Smith. Reflections on Resemblance, Ritual, and Religion, Motilal Banarsidass Publishe, 1998
  28. ^ a b c d Indian History: Ancient and medieval, p. 22. Volume 1 of Indian History, Encyclopædia Britannica (India) Pvt. Ltd, 2003.
  29. ^ Omacanda Hāṇḍā. Naga Cults and Traditions in the Western Himalaya, p. 251. [1]

Further reading

  • Ramesh Chandra Majumdar, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. History and Culture of Indian People, The Vedic Age. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1996. pp. 313–314
 
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January 21, 2023
kshatriya, bollywood, film, same, name, film, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messages, this, article, possibly, contains, original, research, please, improve, ve. For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya film This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article possibly contains original research Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations Statements consisting only of original research should be removed April 2015 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article may be confusing or unclear to readers Please help clarify the article There might be a discussion about this on the talk page April 2015 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message Kshatriya Hindi क षत र य from Sanskrit kṣatra rule authority is one of the four varna social orders of Hindu society associated with warrior aristocracy 1 The Sanskrit term kṣatriyaḥ is used in the context of later Vedic society wherein members were organised into four classes brahmin kshatriya vaishya and shudra 2 Bhishma a Kshatriya of the Lunar dynasty Contents 1 History 1 1 Early Rigvedic tribal monarchy 1 2 Later Vedic period 1 3 Mahajanapadas 1 4 Post Mauryan Kshatriyas 1 5 Emergence of Puranic Kshatriyas 1 6 Modern era 2 Symbols 3 Lineage 4 See also 5 References 6 Further readingHistoryEarly Rigvedic tribal monarchy The administrative machinery in the Vedic India was headed by a tribal king called Rajan whose position may or may not have been hereditary 3 The king may have been elected in a tribal assembly called Samiti which included women 4 3 The Rajan protected the tribe and cattle was assisted by a priest and did not maintain a standing army though in the later period the rulership appears to have risen as a social class The concept of the fourfold varna system is not yet recorded 5 Later Vedic period The hymn Purusha Sukta to the Rigveda describes the symbolic creation of the four varna s through cosmic sacrifice yajna Some scholars consider the Purusha Sukta to be a late interpolation into the Rigveda based on the neological character of the composition as compared to the more archaic style of the Vedic literature 6 Since not all Indians were fully regulated under the varna in the Vedic society 7 the Purusha Sukta was supposedly composed in order to secure Vedic sanction for the heredity caste scheme 6 An alternate explanation is that the word Shudra does not occur anywhere else in the Rig veda except the Purusha Sukta leading some scholars to believe the Purusha Sukta was a composition of the later Rig vedic period itself to denote legitimize and sanctify an oppressive and exploitative class structure that had already come into existence 8 Although the Purusha Sukta uses the term rajanya not Kshatriya it is considered the first instance in the extant Vedic texts where four social classes are mentioned for the first time together 9 Usage of the term Rajanya possibly indicates the kinsmen of the Rajan i e kinsmen of the ruler had emerged as a distinct social group then 9 such that by the end of the Vedic period the term rajanya was replaced by Kshatriya where rajanya stresses kinship with the Rajan and Kshatriya denotes power over a specific domain 9 The term rajanya unlike the word Kshatriya essentially denoted the status within a lineage Whereas Kshatra means ruling one of the ruling order 10 Jaiswal points out the term Brahman rarely occurs in the Rig veda with the exception of the Purusha Sukta and may not have been used for the priestly class 9 Based on the authority of Paṇini Patanjali Katyayana and the Mahabharata Jayaswal believes that Rajanya was the name of political people and that the Rajanyas were therefore a democracy with an elected ruler 11 Some examples were the Andhaka and Vrsni Rajanyas who followed the system of elected rulers 9 Ram Sharan Sharma details how the central chief was elected by various clan chiefs or lineage chiefs with increasing polarisation between the rajanya aristocracy helping the ruler and the vis peasants leading to a distinction between the chiefs as a separate class raja rajanya kshatra kshatriya on one hand and vis clan peasantry on the other hand 12 The term kshatriya comes from kshatra and implies temporal authority and power which was based less on being a successful leader in battle and more on the tangible power of laying claim to sovereignty over a territory and symbolising ownership over clan lands This later gave rise to the idea of kingship 13 In the period of the Brahmanas 800 BCE to 700 BCE there was ambiguity in the position of the varna In the Panchavimsha Brahmana 13 4 7 the Rajanya are placed first followed by Brahmana then Vaishya In Shatapatha Brahmana 13 8 3 11 the Rajanya are placed second In Shatapatha Brahmana 1 1 4 12 the order is Brahmana Vaishya Rajanya Shudra The order of the brahmanical tradition Brahmana Kshatriya Vaishya Shudra became fixed from the time of dharmasutras 450 BCE to 100 BCE 14 The kshatriya were often considered pre eminent in Buddhist circles 15 Even among Hindu societies they were sometimes at rivalry with the Brahmins but they generally acknowledged the superiority of the priestly class 15 The Kshatriyas also began to question the yajnas of the historical Vedic religion which led to religious ideas developed in the Upanishads 16 Mahajanapadas The gaṇa sangha form of government was a oligarchic republic during the period of the Mahajanapadas c 600 300 BCE that was ruled by Kshatriya clans However these kshatriyas did not follow the Vedic religion and were sometimes called degenerate Kshatriyas or Shudras by Brahmanical sources The kshatriyas served as representatives in the assembly at the capital debated various issues put before the assembly 17 Due to the lack of patronage of Vedic Brahmanism the kshatriyas of the gana sanghas were often patrons of Buddhism and Jainism 18 In the kingdoms of the Mahajanapadas the king claimed kshatriya status through the Vedic religion While kings claimed to be kshatriya some kings came from non kshatriya origins 19 After the Mahajanapada period most of the prominent royal dynasties in northern India were not kshatriyas The Nanda Empire whose rulers were stated to be shudras destroyed many kshatriya lineages 20 Post Mauryan Kshatriyas After the collapse of the Maurya Empire numerous clan based polities in Punjab Haryana and Rajasthan claimed kshatriya status 21 The Shakas and Yavanas were considered to be low status kshatriyas by brahmin authors 22 In the third to fourth centuries CE kingdoms in the Krishna and Godavari rivers claimed kshatriya status and performed Vedic rituals to legitimate themselves as rulers 23 Emergence of Puranic Kshatriyas In the era from 300 to 700 CE new royal dynasties were bestowed kshatriya status by brahmins by linking them to the kshatriyas of the epics and Puranas Dynasties began affiliating themselves with the Solar and Lunar dynasties and this gave them legitimation as rulers In return the newly christened kshatriyas would patronize and reward the brahmins The Sanskritic culture of the kshatriyas of this period was heavily influential for later periods and set the style that kshatriyas of later periods appealed to This process took place both in North India and the Deccan 24 Modern era Writing in the context of how the jajmani system operated in the 1960s Pauline Kolenda noted that the caste function of the Kshatriya is to lead and protect the village and with conquest to manage their conquered lands The Kshatriyas do perform these functions today to the extent possible by distributing food as payments to kamins and providing leadership 25 A number of castes in the modern era began claiming kshatriya origin but that they purportedly fell in status due to economic necessity or ritual faults 26 SymbolsIn rituals the nyagrodha Ficus indica or India fig or banyan tree danda or staff is assigned to the kshatriya class along with a mantra intended to impart physical vitality or ojas 27 LineageThe Vedas do not mention kshatriya or varna of any vansha lineage The lineages of the Itihasa Purana tradition 28 are the Solar dynasty Suryavamsha 28 and the Lunar dynasty Chandravamsha Somavamsha 28 There are other lineages such as Agnivanshi fire lineage in which an eponymous ancestor rises out of Agni fire 28 and Nagavanshi snake born claiming descent from the Nagas The Nagavanshi were Naga tribes whose origin can be found in scriptures such as Mahabharata 29 See alsoIndian caste system Forward castes SanskritisationReferences Thapar Romila 2004 History of Early India From the Origins to AD 1300 University of California Press p 63 Bujor Avari 2007 India The Ancient Past A History of the Indian Sub Continent from c 7000 BC to AD 1200 p 89 a b Renou Louis 1957 Vedic India p 130 Shori Maj Gen A K Fifth Shade Rama as A King Seven Shades of Rama Notion Press ISBN 978 93 84391 74 4 Sharma Ram Sharan 2005 India s ancient past the University of Michigan Oxford University Press pp 110 112 ISBN 9780195667141 a b Jamison Stephanie W Brereton Joel P 2014 The Rigveda The Earliest Religious Poetry of India Oxford University Press pp 57 58 ISBN 978 0 19 937018 4 David Kean 2007 Caste based Discrimination in International Human Rights Law p 26 Ashgate Publishing Ltd Jayantanuja Bandyopadhyaya 2007 Class and Religion in Ancient India pp 37 47 Anthem Press a b c d e Kumkum Roy 2011 Insights and Interventions Essays in Honour of Uma Chakravarti p 148 Primus Books Turner Sir Ralph Lilley Dorothy Rivers Turner January 2006 1962 A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo Aryan Languages Accompanied by three supplementary volumes indexes compiled by Dorothy Rivers Turner 1969 Phonetic analysis 1971 Addenda et corrigenda 1985 ed London Oxford University Press pp 189 190 Retrieved 23 October 2011 Radhakrishna Choudhary 1964 The Vratyas in Ancient India Volume 38 of Chowkhamba Sanskrit studies p 125 Sanskrit Series Office Ram Sharan Sharma 1991 Aspects of Political Ideas and Institutions in Ancient India p 172 Motilal Banarsidass Publications Reddy 2005 General Studies History 4 Upsc Tata McGraw Hill Education pp 78 79 33 80 27 123 ISBN 9780070604476 Upinder Singh 2008 A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India From the Stone Age to the 12th Century p 202 Pearson Education India a b Jeanne Auboyer 1965 Daily Life in Ancient India Phoenix Press pp 26 27 ISBN 1 84212 591 5 Thapar 2004 p 129 131 Thapar 2004 pp 146 150 Thapar 2004 p 170 Thapar 2004 pp 150 151 Thapar 2004 pp 155 156 Thapar 2004 p 211 Thapar 2004 p 227 Thapar 2004 pp 228 229 Thapar 2004 p 320 324 341 370 Kolenda Pauline Mahar Spring 1963 Toward a Model of the Hindu Jajmani System Human Organization 22 1 11 31 doi 10 17730 humo 22 1 x01162046g995q1j JSTOR 44124164 Thapar 2004 p 464 Brian K Smith Reflections on Resemblance Ritual and Religion Motilal Banarsidass Publishe 1998 a b c d Indian History Ancient and medieval p 22 Volume 1 of Indian History Encyclopaedia Britannica India Pvt Ltd 2003 Omacanda Haṇḍa Naga Cults and Traditions in the Western Himalaya p 251 1 Further readingRamesh Chandra Majumdar Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan History and Culture of Indian People The Vedic Age Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan 1996 pp 313 314 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kshatriya Wikiquote has quotations related to Kshatriya Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Kshatriya amp oldid 1133921766, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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