Aryans in Asia

‘The two sections of the sacerdotal class, Brahmans by descent and Brahmans by adoption, were of different physical types. In the Rgveda (VII. 33. 1) the Vasisthas, who represent the first group, are described as ‘svityam,’ ‘white,’while Kanva (X. 31. 11), representing the second group, is ‘svava’ or ‘krsna,’ ‘dark.’ In the Gopatha Brahmana (I. 1. 223) the Brahman's colour is white (‘sukla’). The tradition of the existence of a group of Brahmans with white complexion and yellow hair survived down to the time of the grammarian Patanjali (about 150 B.C.) who writes in his Mahabhasya (on Panini V. 1. 115):-

‘Penance, knowledge of the Veda, and birth make a Brahman. He who is without penance and knowledge of the Veda is a Brahman by birth only.

‘White complexion, pure conduct, yellow or red hair, etc. are also characteristics that constitute Brahmanhood.’

The Brahman with white complexion and yellow hair seems so strange a being to Kaiyata, the scholiast of Patanjali, that he assigns him to a previous cycle of existence. He writes:-

"White complexion, etc., were seen in Brahmans who flourished in a previous cycle of existence and whose descendants are rarely met with even now." [R. P. Chanda, "The Indo-Aryan Races: A Study of the Origin of Indo-Aryan People and Institutions, Part I." (Rajshahi: Varendra Research Society, 1916), p. 24.]

The ‘Boddhisattva Asvagosha’ (A Life of the Buddha), the ‘Mahapadana Suttanta’, and the ‘Lakkhana Suttanta’ (Dialoguesof Buddha: Sacred Books of the Buddhists), all state that Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha), an Indian prince's son, had "eyes the colour of blossoming flax". The flowers of the flax plant are blue in colour. [H. F. K. Gunther, (V. Bird & R. Pearson, trans.), "The Religious Attitudes of the Indo-Europeans". (available from Historical Review Press, 1967), p. 32.]

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