THE SHUDRAS : SHUDRAS VERSUS ARYANS 85
my belief in Mazdayasno Zarathushtrish ‘Mazda worshipping Zarathushtrian Religion’. This phrase occurs in almost all the Zarathushtrian prayers. There is yet another form in the Zarathushtrian Confession Yasna, 12, Ya-Varena. Here Ya is relative pronoun meaning which and Varena —faith, religion. Thus, the word means ‘the religion to which’. This form Ya Varena is used nine times in Yasna 12, and it is used in the clear sense of faith or religion. Here again the word Varena is placed along with the word Tkaesha which means religion.
A very interesting reference is found in Yasna 16 Zarathushtrahe varenemcha tkaeshemcha yazamaide. Here the Varena and Tkaesha of Zarathushtra is worshipped. It is quite clear from the use of these corresponding and correlative words that the faith and religion of Zarthushtra is meant. The translation of the above line is ‘We worhsip the faith and religion of Zarathushtra.’
This evidence from the Zend Avesta as to the meaning of the word Varna leaves no doubt that it originally meant a class holding to a particular faith and it had nothing to do with colour or complextion.
The conclusions that follow from the examination of the Western theory may now be summarized. They are:
(1) The Vedas do not know any such race as the Aryan race.
(2) There is no evidence in the Vedas of any invasion of India by the Aryan race and its having conquered the Dasas and Dasyus supposed to be natives of India.
(3) There is no evidence to show that the distinction between Aryans, Dasas and Dasyus was a racial distinction.
(4) The Vedas do not support the contention that the Aryas were different in colour from the Dasas and Dasyus.
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