The Cosmic PuruSa II

RV 10:90.12--
Arguably the most important mantra in RV for an Indologist desiring to know about the social structure of the vedic peoples. And its totally easy to form quite a confident opinion of Vedic Social Structure based on just these 2 lines, relegating all the other 10,000-odd mantras in RV to mere academic interest.

Actually, till yesterday night, even I was of the same opinion that this verse actually told about the description of the varna system.

The actual explanation is very very different, opening completely new avenues of intellections. Please remember that meanings of many words have changed over the past 5000 years:
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PuruSa SUkta, S.K.Ramachandra Rao, page-71:

Mantra 10.90.12:
Brahmano asya mukham AsIt bAhU rAjanyah kRtah
UrU tad asya yad vaishyah padbhyAm SUdrO ajAyata

[The puruSa who got ready to be sacrificed] had brahmaNa as his face (or mouth), ther rAjanya (or kshtrIya) as his arms, the vaishya as his thighs, and the SUdra was born from his feet.

Explanation:
At first glance, the mantra seems to make a reference to the origin of the four caste-groups (varnAs) in the Indian society. In fact, this is the explanation most often given to this mantra. Even SAyana suggests that the mantra seeks to assign different limbs of puruSa's body for the four caste groups (jAti). During the days of SAyana (14th century A.D.), caste-groups had not only come to stay, but had become important in social organisation. It was natural therefore for him for him to take the names 'brahmana' etc., in the sense of caste groups. But it must be noted that the caste system was altogether alien to Rig Vedic corpus and to the society prevalent where this corpus was compiled. It has been a matter for conjecture on how this mantra came to be incorporated into the sUkta; the non-believers in the apourushEyatva of the vEda have even suggested that the entire sUkta is an interpolation [suggesting that it is a later addition].

[The next paragraph is broken down into points to facilitate an easier approach to its import. Take a look at those points to appreciate their rather explosive nature]-

1)... the idea of the four groups has not been repeated anywhere in the Rig Vedic corpus;
2) ...the word SUdra does not occur anywhere else in the entire Rig Veda (as P.V.Kane has rightly pointed out, History of Dharma Sastra, Vol.2, pp.-18-104).
3) The expression 'brAhmaNa' is to be found only in this mantra, and nowhere else in the Rig Veda. The word 'brahma', however, has often been employed, but in the sense of a hymn or a hymn-maker.
4) The word rAjanya for a kshatrIya is employed only in this hymn, and nowhere else in the RV corpus. 'Kshatra' in RV means area, land (later KshEtra), and also valour, might, and majesty (as attributes of Indra, Varuna, or the Maruts).
5) And 'visha' (from which 'vaishya' emerged) signifies, 'any group of people' in the context of RV. It is just a collective expression.

So, if the words dont actually mean what they seem to mean, then where are we being led to by this sukta??
to be continued...