ABSTRACT
The priestly caste has produced warriors from the earliest age of the Rigveda down to the nineteenth century when the East India Company's 'Bengal Army' was mostly recruited from Oudh Brahmans bearing the titles of Pandes, Chaubes and Dubes. The warrior caste of Kshatriyas is known to have produced not only soldiers and governors, but also sages and teachers of God-knowledge like Janak and Gautam Buddha, besides numberless sadhus/wandering monks and even a world honoured female saint, Mira Bai. Hence, there is nothing incongruous to reason or opposed to the root principles of Hinduism, if a member of the priestly caste takes up arms in defence of faith and country or a member of the warrior caste by birth turns hermit and teaches religion. The Dasnami akharas are only one more illustrations of this elasticity in Hinduism.
