Thread by @termite_colony on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App
Thinking about this for a couple of days.
In a way, I think Brahmins and Kshatriyas were the maternal and paternal poles of India society. This analogy helps understand many things
- how V1s were entirely dependent on the benevolence of their V2 rulers and larger society (the mother is dependent on the patriarch of the house and also the young strong kids for material resources needed for the entire house)
- why V2s felt so protective of their V1s (self-explanatory)
- why it was such a taboo to hurt V1s (“would you hurt your mother?”)
- why V2s found a confidant, partner, advisor in V1s with whom they could share the responsibility of running the kingdom.
- why foreign powers tried to attack V1s/V1 centers (temples, universities, etc) to weaken the kingdom (if you want to hurt a family you’d try to hurt their women) and last but not the least,
- how V1s at times acted as a moral counterbalance against the king and helped all other subjects (from all varnas) state their case in front of or against the ruler (the mother can appeal to emotion (dharma) to get the father to act differently - “excessive taxes is adharma”, “capital punishments are adharma”, “stealing people’s wives is adharma”, etc.)
We see (/saw till about 100-200 years ago) so many dharmic V4s because they really had no reason to hate V1s. V1s were compassionate to them when no one else was.