Kshatriya (redirected from Kshatriyas)

Kshatriya

 or Ksatriya

In Hindu India, the second-highest of the four varnas, or social classes, traditionally the military or ruling class. In ancient times before the caste system was completely defined, they were considered first in rank, placed higher than the Brahmans, or priestly class. The legend that they were degraded by an incarnation of Vishnu as a punishment for their tyranny may reflect a historical struggle for supremacy between priests and rulers. In modern times the Kshatriya varna includes members from a variety of castes, united by their status in government or the military or their land ownership.

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Kshatriya 

(Sanskrit, from kshatra, “dominion,” “rule”), one of the four main varnas, or social estates of ancient India.

The Kshatriya varna originated among Aryan tribes in the pre-Indian period as a result of the separation of military and government functions from productive labor when the primitive society was in the stage of decay. In the ancient Indian states, the Kshatriyas, who constituted the military and tribal aristocracy, assumed the ruling political and economic position; they were the rulers of states, officials, landowners, and professional soldiers. By the middle of the first millennium A.D. membership in the Kshatriya varna had ceased to determine the composition of the ruling class. In the Middle Ages it existed only as a traditional idea; for example, members of the military feudal Rajput caste, who had no hereditary link with the ancient varna, were called Kshatriyas.

REFERENCES

Kane, P. V. History of Dharmasastra, vol. 2, part 1. Poona, 1941. Chapter 2.
Law, B. C. Ancient Mid-Indian Kshatriya Tribes. Calcutta, 1924.