The stable brAhmaNa core
- The brAhmaNa-s conserved their original ethnicity to a higher degree than the kShatriya-s and others. This stability did not hinder the spread of vaidika ideals throughout initially non-vaidika populations in the early times.
- Indeed, some dharmashAstra-s get along fine assuming that in the kaliyuga there are only brAhmaNa-s and shUdra-s - the kShatriya-s having disappeared after the nanda takeover, and vaishya-s having given up their AchAra; while others disagree. All this, really, is beside the point. The varNa system was still the framework used to organize the society and settle disputes.
Rivalries
- “One has only to remember how the Sahyādrikhanḍa narrative describes the curse of Parasurāma upon the ‘wicked’ Chitpavan Brahmins. One element of this curse is that they will serve śūdras. This obviously looks like a reference to the Chitpavan Brahmins serving as Peshwas under the descendants of Shivāji. The fact that this narrative only curses Chitpavan Brahmins in this fashion, while Deśastha Brahmins were already among the ministers of Shivāji, probably points to the period of the Peshwas for its composition, when the Chitpavan Brahmins begin to emerge as powerful players in Maratha history. So the author of the Sahyādrikhanḍa, or of this section of it, whoever he was, regarded the Maratha rulers as śūdras, even while he was expressing a curse upon the Chitpavan Brahmins.”