Translations:Kshatriya/6/en
The hymn Purusha Sukta to the Rigveda describes the symbolic creation of the four varna-s through cosmic sacrifice (yajña). Some scholars consider the Purusha Sukta to be a late interpolation into the Rigveda based on the neological character of the composition, as compared to the more archaic style of the Vedic literature.[1] Since not all Indians were fully regulated under the varna in the Vedic society,[2] the Purusha Sukta was supposedly composed in order to secure Vedic sanction for the heredity caste scheme.[1] An alternate explanation is that the word 'Shudra' does not occur anywhere else in the Rig-veda except the Purusha Sukta, leading some scholars to believe the Purusha Sukta was a composition of the later Rig-vedic period itself to denote, legitimize and sanctify an oppressive and exploitative class structure that had already come into existence.[3]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Jamison, Stephanie W.; Brereton, Joel P. (2014). The Rigveda: The Earliest Religious Poetry of India. Oxford University Press. pp. 57–58. ISBN 978-0-19-937018-4.
- ↑ David Kean (2007). Caste-based Discrimination in International Human Rights Law, p. 26. Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
- ↑ Jayantanuja Bandyopadhyaya (2007). Class and Religion in Ancient India, pp. 37–47. Anthem Press.