THE SHUDRAS : THE STORY OF RECONCILIATION 197
consequence of that disorder, and unprotected according to rule by the Kshatriyas, the guardians of justice, descended to the lower regions. Perceiving’ her moving from place to place in terror, Kasyapa upheld her with his thigh ( uru ). From this circumstance she derives her name of urvi . The goddess Earth then propitiated Kasyapa and supplicated him for protection, and for a king. ‘I have,’ she said, ‘preserved among females many Kshatriyas who have been bom in the race of Haihayas; let them be my protectors. There is the heir of Pauravas, the son of Viduratha, who has been brought up by bears on the mountain Rikshavat; let him protect me. So, too, the heir of Saudasa, has been preserved by the tenderhearted and glorious priest, Parasara who had performed, though a Brahmin, all menial offices for him like a Shudra whence the prince’s name Sarvakarman. ‘After enumerating other kings who had been rescued, the Earth proceeds: ‘All these Kshatriya descendants have been preserved in different places, abiding continually among the classes of dyokaras and goldsmiths. If they protect me, I shall continue unshaken. Their fathers and grandfathers were slain on my account by Rama, energetic in action. It is incumbent on me to avenge their cause. For I do not desire to be always protected by an extraordinary person (such as Kasyapa); but I will be content with an ordinary ruler. Let this be speedily fulfilled.’ Kasyapa then sent for these Kshatriyas who had been pointed out by the Earth, and installed them in the kingly office.”
Such is the evidence. Can anybody accept it as reliable? In my opinion, far from accepting it, one should beware of such evidence.
In the first place, all these stories of reconciliation end, for the Kshatriyas, in peace without honour. In every case, the Kshatriyas are shown to have undergone an abject surrender. The Bharatas are the enemies of Vasishtha. Suddenly there is a famine in their country. They leave the country and lose their kingdom. They implore Vasishtha their age-old enemy and pray that he become their priest and save them from the calamity. In the story of the Bhrigus and the Kshatriyas, the credit is given to the Brahmins as being too proud to fight. In the story of the Haihaya Kshatriyas and the Saudasa such as Kalmashpada, the surrender of the Kshatriyas was so to say purchased by them by offering their women to the victorious Brahmins. The stories are all doctored with a view to glorify the Brahmins and humiliate the Kshatriyas. Who can take such dirty, filthy, abominable and vainglorious stories of reconciliation as true historical facts? Only a supporter of Brahminism can do so.
Such is the general character of the evidence on the question of reconciliation. Coming to the particular case of reconciliation between the Brahmins and the Shudras, the descendants of Sudas, there is ample, evidence to show that no such reconciliation had taken place. In the first place, it cannot be gainsaid that Parasara, the son