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.. stuff deleted ..
There are legends describing fights between the Kshatriyas (warrior
castes) and Brahmins over the issue of eating cows, Brahmins refusing
to allow Kshatriyas to kill or eat cows and even refusing to recognize
several lineages of ancient Kshatriyas in an attempt to wipe out the
practice. The Puranas thus describe several Kshatriya lineages as
having become Shudra (menial labor) due to their disrespect for
Brahmins and cows. Subsequently the tradition seems to have stuck,
with the killing of cows gradually disappearing from the Indian
subcontinent due to the restrictions imposed by Brahmins.
I wanted to add that the above set of legends indicates the beginning
of the fight between Vedic Kshatriyas and Brahmins and culminates in
the persona of Parasurama who rises occasionally in Indian history to
destroy the races of the Kshatriyas. It all seems to have started
with the killing of cows by some Haihaiya kings. The legend of
Parasurama denotes some Kshatriya lineage coming into conflict with
Brahmins and thus losing their Kshatriya recognition accorded by
priests.
The last such occurrence was accompanied by the creation of a new race
of Kshatriyas around 800 AD or so with the advent of a new caste
called Rajputs. Puranic legends also describe their creation and the
role of Parasurama declaring all prior existing Kshatriyas as dead
(unrecognized).
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