Varna Ashram -5

...The Vaisyas being mercantile caste owned all the capital in the economy though they had no say in the state and its coercive power. The Kshatriyas owned all the land. Apparently the highest group of Brahmanas was not supposed to own anything but it had devised various means to transfer the wealth from Kshatriyas and Vaisyas to them. They got the land grants from Kshatriyas and donations from Vaisyas through temples. They were the people who controlled the kings and society. Hence there was no need for them to have a direct desire or activity to own the resources. The king was not supposed to rule over these divine lawmakers. During Vedic sacrifices they got all the share of animals sacrificed. When sacrifices were stopped then they got a significant number of cows in donation that ultimately came from kings and Vaisyas. And when land became important they got the land grants from kings. When temples came into existence; they controlled them and the wealth that came in the form donations from Kshatriyas and Vaisyas. They also controlled the land given to temples in grant. Therefore, it cannot be said that they were the poor people of the society. They wielded the power in the society along with the king. One can say that the Hindu society was characterized by double power centers. The king could also not rule over them which mean that they were beyond any questioning. In other words, they were not responsible to anyone except scriptures which they had created and interpreted according to their likings. In addition they got all the administrative jobs with the kings. The state was a virtual fief for Kshatriyas and Brahmanas. The Brahmanas enjoyed the resources of state without doing any labor or running the risk of life like Kshatriyas. In later times the risk to a king’s life was also reduced to some extent by demilitarizing the general population. Only Kshatriyas and soldiers were allowed to hold the weapons. The much-acclaimed virtue of renunciation of Brahmanas is a grand deception that went quietly in the name of scripture. They sanctified all the transfers of wealth to them, in the scriptures. So such transfer of wealth was beyond question. This lasted for more than 2500 years. The current trend in this direction is weak but one never knows when it may become strong. Hindu religion has survived many bad times in the history....