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244 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
was founded. Hence this (family) of men became known as the race of Manu. Brahmans, Kshattriyas, and other men sprang from this Manu. From him o king, came the Brahman conjoined with the Kshatriya.”
In another place the Mahabharata gives the origin as it is given in the Purusha Sukta:
“The king should appoint to be his royal priest a man who will protect the good, and restrain the wicked. On this subject they relate this following ancient story of a conversation between Pururavas the son of Illa, and Matarisvan (Vayu, the Windgod). Pururavas said: You must explain to me whence the Brahman, and whence the (other) three castes were produced, and whence the superiority (of the first) arises. Matarisvan answered: the Brahman was created from Brahman’s mouth, the Kshatriya from his arms, the Vaisya from his thighs, while for the purpose of serving these three castes was produced the fourth class, the Sudra, fashioned from his feet. The Brahman, as soon as born, becomes the lord of all beings upon the earth, for the purpose of protecting the treasure of righteousness. Then (the creator) constituted Kshatriya the controller of the earth, a second Yama to bear the rod, for the satisfaction of the people. And it was Brahma’s ordinance that the Vaisya should sustain these three classes with money and grain, and that the Sudra should serve them. The son of Illa then enquired : Tell me, Vayu, to whom the earth, with its wealth, rightfully belongs, to the Brahman or the Kshatriyya ? Vayu replied: All this, whatever exists in the world, is the Brahman’s property by right of primogeniture; this is known to those who are skilled in the laws of duty. It is his own which the Brahman eats, puts on, and bestows. He is the chief of all the castes, the first-born and the most excellent. Just as a woman when she has lost her (first) husband, takes her brother in law for a second; so the Brahman is the first resource in calamity; afterwards another may arise”.
There is a third view maintained in the Shantiparva of Mahabharata [1] :—
“Bhrigu replied: ‘Brahma thus formerly created the Prajapatis, Brahmanic, penetrated by his own energy, and in splendour equalling the sun and fire. The lord then formed truth, righteousness austere fervour, and the eternal veda (or sacred science), Virtuous practice, and purity for (the attainment of) heaven. He also formed the gods, Danavas, Gandharvas, Daityas, Asuras, Mahoragas, Yakshas, Rakshasas, Nagas, Pisachas, and men, Brahmans,
1 Muir’s Sanskrit Texts Vol. I pp. 139-140.