The verse and its meaning · Vedas · Vedas — The Cosmic Person

Four Peoples, One Person

Rig Veda 10.90.12

ब्राह्मणोऽस्य मुखमासीद्बाहू राजन्यः कृतः। ऊरू तदस्य यद्वैश्यः पद्भ्यां शूद्रो अजायत

Meaning · English

The Brahmin was his mouth; the Rajanya was made from his two arms. His thighs became the Vaishya; from his feet the Shudra was born.

The answer comes as four parts of one body. The Brahmin, the priest who speaks the hymns, belongs to the mouth. The Rajanya, the ruling and fighting class later called Kshatriya, is made from the arms. The Vaishya, the farmer and trader, comes from the thighs. The Shudra, the laborer, is born from the feet. Sāyaṇa reads 'was his mouth' as 'was born from his mouth.' Many modern readers stress instead that all four belong to one living body, and none exists apart from it.

Picture a round flatbread torn by hand into four pieces at a family meal. The pieces differ in shape and in where they land on the plate, yet each is the same bread, baked once from the same dough. So with the four groups in the verse: different places, one substance, all from a single person given up whole.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Questions About the Body · Rig Veda 10.90.11
• Next: Gods From Mind and Breath · Rig Veda 10.90.13
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