414 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
how when Indra refused he took away both the earth and heaven from them and how he created a Demon Mada and put the Devas including Indra into his mouth and how he compelled Indra to admit the Ashwins to equal rank and drink Soma with them and how Indra ultimately surrendered to Chyavana.
Vayu did not merely recount these exploits of the Brahmins. He did something more. Every time he gave Arjuna an instance of the power of the Brahmins he ended by asking Arjuna pointed questions such as “Can you tell me of any Kshatriya who was superior to him (i.e. the Brahmins hero of the story)”. “Declare on your part, any Kshatriya who has been superior to him, “Tell me of any Kshatriya superior to Atri.”
This class war between the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas must have gone on for ages. In the light of this the attitude of Manu towards this Class War comes as very strange. Consider the following verses from the Manu Smriti:
IV. 135. “Let him who desires prosperity, indeed, never despise a Kshatriya, a snake, and a learned Brahmana, be they ever so feeble.”
IV. 136. “Because these three, when treated with disrespect, may utterly destroy him; hence a wise man must never despite them.”
X. 322. “Kshatriyas prosper not without Brahmans, Brahmans prosper not without Kshatriyas; Brahmans and Kshatriyas, being closely united, prosper in this (world) and in the next.”
Here there is a clear attempt on the part of Manu to close the ranks. Against whom did Manu want the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas to close their ranks? Was this an attempt to forget and forgive or was the motive to combine them in a conspiracy to achieve some unholy purpose. What were the circumstances that forced Manu to advise the Brahmins to forget their age old enmity with Kshatriyas and seek the helping hand? The circumstances, must have been very hard and very pressing. For there was no room left for a reapproachment between the two. The Brahmins had hurled a terrible insult against the Kshatriyas and had wounded their price by saying quite openly that the Kshatriyas were the illegitimate children of Brahmins begotten by them on Kshatriyas widows. The next offensive thing that the Brahmins had done to wound the feelings of the Kshatriyas was to extract from the latter a confession that the Brahmins were superior to the Kshatriyas in military prowess and had made Bhishma say:
“ [1] The prowess of the Brahmans can destroy even the gods. Those wise beings behold all these worlds. To them it is indifferent whether they are perfumed with sandal wood or deformed with mire,
1 Muir Vol. I, pp. 473-474.