30 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
civilization to give rise to division of labour. Different persons among the Vedic Aryans followed different occupations. That they were conscious of it is evidenced by the following verse:
Rig Veda, 1.113.6 : “That some may go in pursuit of power, some in pursuit of fame, some in pursuit of wealth, some in pursuit of work, Ushas has awakened people so that each may go in pursuit of his special and different way of earning his livelihood.”
This is as far as the Rig Veda had gone. The Purusha Sukta goes beyond. It follows up the notion of division of labour and converts the scheme of division of work into a scheme of division of workers into fixed and permanent occupational categories. Why does the Purusha Sukta commit itself to such a perversity?
There is another point in which the Purusha Sukta departs from the Rig Veda. It is not that the Rig Veda speaks only of man. It speaks also of the Indo-Aryan nation. This nation was made up of the five tribes, which had become assimilated into one common Indo-Aryan people. The following hymns refer to these five tribes as moulded into a nation:
(1) Rig Veda, vi.11.4 : “Agni, whom, abounding in oblations, the five tribes, bringing offerings, honour with prostrations, as if he were a man.” [1]
(2) Rig Veda, vii.15.2 : “The wise and youthful master of the house (Agni) who has taken up his abode among the five tribes in every house.” [2]
There is some difference of opinion as to who these five tribes are. Yaska in his Nirukta says that it denotes Gandharvas, Pitris, Devas, Asuras and Rakshasas. Aupamanyava says that it denotes the four Varnas and the Nishadas. Both these explanations seem to be absurd. Firstly, because the five tribes are praised collectively as in the following hymns:
(1) Rig Veda, ii.2.10 : “May our glory shine aloft among the five tribes, like the heaven unsurpassable.” [3]
(2) Rig Veda, vi.46.7 : “Indra, whatever force or vigour exists in the tribe of Nashusa or whatever glory belongs to the five races bring (for us).” [4]
Such laudatory statements could not have been made if the five tribes included the Shudras. Besides, the word used is not Varnas. The word used is Janah. That it refers to the five tribes and not to the four Varnas and Nishadas is quite clear from the following verse of the Rig Veda :
1 Muir. Vol. I, p. 177.
2 Ibid., Vol. I, p. 178.
3 Ibid., Vol. I, p. 178.
4 Ibid., Vol. I, p. 180.