THE SHUDRAS : SHUDRAS VERSUS ARYANS 75
the Rig Veda (x.75.5) is very significant. As Prof. D. S. Triveda says [1] — the rivers are addressed as ‘my Ganges, my Yamuna, my Saraswati’ and so on. No foreigner would ever address a river in such familiar and endearing terms unless by long association he had developed an emotion about it.
As to the question of conquest and subjugation, references can undoubtedly be found in the Rig Veda where Dasas and Dasyus are described as enemies of the Aryas and there are many hymns in which the Vedic rishis have invited their gods to kill and annihilate them. But before drawing any conclusion from it in favour of conquest and subjugation by the Aryans, the following points must be taken into consideration.
First is the paucity of references in the Rig Veda to wars between the Aryans on the one hand and the Dasas or Dasyus on the other. Out of the 33 places in which the word occurs in the Rig Veda only in 8 places is it used in opposition to Dasas and only in 7 places is it used in opposition to the word Dasyus. This may show the occurrence of sporadic riots between the two. It is certainly not evidence of a conquest or subjugation.
The second point about the Dasas is that whatever conflict there was between them and the Aryans, the two seem to have arrived at a mutual settlement, based on peace with honour. This is borne out by references in the Rig Veda showing how the Dasas and Aryans have stood as one united people against a common enemy. Note the following verses from the Rig Veda :
Rig Veda — vi. 33.3;
vii. 83.1;
viii 51.9;
X 102.3.
The third point to note is that whatever the degree of conflict, it was not a conflict of race. It was a conflict which had arisen on account of difference of religions. That this conflict was religious and not racial is evidenced by the Rig Veda itself. Speaking of the Dasyus, it [2] says :
“They are avrata, without (the Arya) rites (R.V., i. 51.8, 9; i.132. 4; iv.41.
2; vi. 14, 3); apavrata (R.V., v.42,2), anyavrata of different rites (R.V., viii.59,
11; x.22, 8), Anagnitra fireless (R.V., v. 189, 3), ayajyu, ayajvan, non-sacrifices (R.V., i.131, 44; i.33, 4; viii.59, 11), abrambha, without prayers (or also not
1 The Original Home of the Aryans’ by D. S. Triveda, Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Vol. XX, p. 62.
2 Iyengar, Ibid,, p. 13.