Page:History of India Vol 1.djvu/151

Rh year at will and which no king dared to stop; thus betokening the submission of all the surrounding monarchs, since all the land traversed by the consecrated steed became the domain of the king who had sent it forth.

Such is the story of India's great epic divested of its numerous legends and episodes, its supernatural incidents and digressions; but it is clear, even from this brief account, that the first Hindu colonists of the Ganges valley had not yet lost the sturdy valour and the stubborn warlike determination of the Vedic Age. How imperfectly the caste system flourished among these sturdy races is shown by many facts which still loom out in bold outline amidst the interpolations and additions of later writers. Santanu, the ancient king of Hastinapura, had a brother Devapi, who was a priest; the most learned character in the epic, Yudhishthira, was a Kshatriya; and the most skilful warrior, Drona, was a Brahman.