and the chief purveyors of the religious system; the ks.atriyasorra ̄janyas,
associated with protection and tribal leadership; and the vais ́yaswho
engaged in those chores that helped perpetuate the social and commercial
order.^16 These classes came to be known as the “twice-born” inasmuch as
they had access to the ritual life and other privileges.
In the early stages of this period, interaction with many of the indigenous
people was discouraged. Indeed, the term da ̄sa(“servant”) was used to
refer to such people pejoratively.^17 Nonetheless, over a period of centuries,
there was indeed intermingling of the “A ̄ryans” with other peoples. By the
tenth century, at least, a fourth class of workers, known as s ́u ̄ drashad been
included at the lowest echelon of the social structure. The skills developed
during this period were clearly those of a well-settled rural people: the
cultivation of grains, domestication of cattle, the use of brick in constructing
sacrificial areas, and many others.
By at least the twelfth century BCE, and possibly earlier, there had emerged
a complex ritual system which represented the crux of Vedic religion. In
sum this religion/worldview included at least the following features.
- An elaborate ritual system which enacted the socio-cosmic “contract”
and the reciprocities within society itself. These rituals were often pragmatic
- designed to enhance prosperity, afford a good crop, assure immortality,
etc. They employed a rich system of symbols including the construction of
symbolic spaces and the use of symbolically rich libations. A burgeoning com-
munity of priests (bra ̄hman.as, anglicized as brahmans or brahmins) were the
chanters and officiants, while the patrons (yajama ̄nas) were usually wealthy
members of the other layers of the social structure.
2) The exercise of a lively mythological imagination. Myths were created
which speculated on how the world came to be and how the sacrifice,
therefore, reproduced the creative process. These myths were undoubtedly
post factoto the ritual system, and served to legitimate it. By purporting to
tell the story of the world’s creation the mythmaker had a template as to
how to act within the world. That is, the myth became both a model of the
perceived reality of the world and social order and a model for that order.
3) There was a tendency to classify the social and cosmic order and to
make connections and homologies.^18 By the use of puns and homophones,
entities could be linked or equated to other entities. In this way virtually
anything could be said to be consistent with Vedic images and hence “Vedic”
themselves. This is the formula by which later developments in what we refer
to as Hinduism could be termed “Vedic,” so long as a brahmanic interpreter
could make the connection that legitimated the later developments. One
can see illustrations of this process throughout the history of Hinduism.
22 Sources of Indian Religion