Editing Kshatriya (section)

===Later Vedic period===
The hymn ''[[Purusha Sukta]]'' in the ''[[Rigveda]]'' describes the symbolic creation of the four varnas 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.<ref name=":RigvedaJamisonBreretonPurushaSukta">{{Cite book|last1=Jamison|first1=Stephanie W.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1-PRAwAAQBAJ|title=The Rigveda: The Earliest Religious Poetry of India|last2=Brereton|first2=Joel P.|date=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-937018-4|pages=57–58|language=en}}</ref> Since not all Indians were fully regulated under varna paradigm in Vedic society,<ref>David Kean (2007). [https://books.google.com/books?id=beJP_BOIhEcC&pg=PA26 Caste-based Discrimination in International Human Rights Law], p. 26.  Ashgate Publishing Ltd.</ref> the ''Purusha Sukta'' was supposedly composed to secure Vedic sanction for the hereditary caste scheme.<ref name=":RigvedaJamisonBreretonPurushaSukta"/> An alternate explanation is that the word ''Shudra'' does not occur anywhere else in the ''Rigveda'' except the ''Purusha Sukta'', leading some scholars to believe the ''Purusha Sukta'' was a composition of the later Rigvedic period itself to denote, legitimise and sanctify an oppressive and exploitative class structure that had already come into existence.<ref>
Jayantanuja Bandyopadhyaya (2007). [https://books.google.com/books?id=gwUF11NRyT4C&pg=PA37 Class and Religion in Ancient India], pp. 37–47. Anthem Press.</ref>

Although the ''Purusha Sukta'' uses the term ''rajanya'', not ''Kshatriya'', it is considered the first instance in the extant Vedic texts where four social classes are mentioned for the first time together.<ref name="Roy">Kumkum Roy (2011). [https://books.google.com/books?id=TGzbPNdtJGsC&pg=PA148 Insights and Interventions: Essays in Honour of Uma Chakravarti], p. 148. Primus Books.</ref> Usage of the term ''Rajanya'' possibly indicates the 'kinsmen of the Rajan' (i.e., kinsmen of the ruler) had emerged as a distinct social group then,<ref name="Roy"/> such that by the end of the Vedic period, the term ''rajanya'' was replaced by ''Kshatriya''; where ''rajanya'' stresses kinship with the ''Rajan'' and ''Kshatriya'' denotes power over a specific domain.<ref name="Roy"/> The term ''rajanya'' unlike the word ''Kshatriya'' essentially denoted the status within a lineage. Whereas ''Kshatra'', means "ruling; one of the ruling order".<ref>{{cite book
 |last        = Turner
 |first       = Sir Ralph Lilley
 |author-link = Ralph Lilley Turner
 |author2     = Dorothy Rivers Turner
 |title       = A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages.
 |url         = http://dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.1:1:81.soas
 |archive-url = https://archive.today/20130825205232/http://dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.1:1:81.soas
 |url-status  = dead
 |archive-date = 25 August 2013
 |access-date = 23 October 2011
 |edition     = Accompanied by three supplementary volumes: ''indexes'', compiled by Dorothy Rivers Turner: 1969.&nbsp;– ''Phonetic analysis'': 1971.&nbsp;– ''Addenda et corrigenda'': 1985.
 |orig-year   = 1962
 |date        = January 2006
 |publisher   = Oxford University Press
 |location    = London
 |pages       = 189–190
}}</ref>
Jaiswal points out the term ''Brahman'' rarely occurs in the ''Rigveda'' with the exception of the ''Purusha Sukta'' and may not have been used for the priestly class.<ref name="Roy"/> Based on the authority of [[Pāṇini]], [[Patanjali]], [[Kātyāyana]] and the ''[[Mahabharata]]'', Jayaswal believes that Rajanya was the name of political people and that the Rajanyas were, therefore, a democracy (with an elected ruler).<ref name="choudhary">
Radhakrishna Choudhary (1964). The Vrātyas in Ancient India, Volume 38 of Chowkhamba Sanskrit studies, p. 125. Sanskrit Series Office.</ref> Some examples were the [[Andhaka]] and [[Vrishni|Vrsni]] Rajanyas who followed the system of elected rulers.<ref name="Roy"/> Ram Sharan Sharma details how the central chief was elected by various clan chiefs or lineage chiefs with increasing polarisation between the ''rajanya'' (aristocracy helping the ruler) and the ''vis'' (peasants) leading to a distinction between the chiefs as a separate class (''raja, rajanya, kshatra, kshatriya'') on one hand and ''vis'' (clan peasantry) on the other hand.<ref name="sharma">Ram Sharan Sharma (1991). [https://books.google.com/books?id=9_E3K8fQoDgC&pg=PA172 Aspects of Political Ideas and Institutions in Ancient India, p. 172]. Motilal Banarsidass Publications.</ref>

The term ''kshatriya'' comes from ''kshatra'' and implies temporal authority and power which was based less on being a successful leader in battle and more on the tangible power of laying claim to sovereignty over a territory, and symbolising ownership over clan lands. This later gave rise to the idea of kingship.<ref name=raj1>{{cite book|last=Reddy|title=General Studies History 4 Upsc|year=2005|publisher=Tata McGraw-Hill Education|isbn= 9780070604476|pages=78, 79, 33, 80, 27, 123}}</ref>

In the period of the [[Brahmana]]s (800 BCE to 700 BCE) there was ambiguity in the position of the varna. In the ''Panchavimsha Brahmana'' (13,4,7), the Rajanya are placed first, followed by Brahmana then Vaishya. In ''Shatapatha Brahmana 13.8.3.11'', the Rajanya are placed second. In ''Shatapatha Brahmana 1.1.4.12'' the order is—Brahmana, Vaishya, Rajanya, Shudra. The order of the Brahmanical tradition—Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra—became fixed from the time of [[dharmasutra]]s (450 BCE to 100 BCE).<ref>Upinder Singh (2008). [https://books.google.com/books?id=GW5Gx0HSXKUC&pg=PA202 A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century, p. 202]. Pearson Education India.</ref> The kshatriya were often considered pre-eminent in Buddhist circles.<ref name=Auboyer>{{cite book|author=Jeanne Auboyer|title=Daily Life in Ancient India|year=1965|publisher=Phoenix Press|isbn=1-84212-591-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinancie0000aubo/page/26 26–27]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinancie0000aubo/page/26}}</ref> Even among Hindu societies they were sometimes at rivalry with the Brahmins, but they generally acknowledged the superiority of the priestly class.<ref name=Auboyer/> The Kshatriyas also began to question the [[yajnas]] of the [[historical Vedic religion]], which led to religious ideas developed in the [[Upanishads]].{{Sfn|Thapar|2004|p=129, 131}}