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The Sacred Laws of the Âryas: Baudhâyana - Prasna I, Adhyâya 8
Kandikâ 16
1. There are four castes (varna, viz.) Brâhmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sûdras.1
2. (Males) belonging to them (may take) wives according to the order of the castes, (viz.) a Brâhmana four,2
3. A Kshatriya three,
4. A Vaisya two,
5. A Sûdra one.
6. Sons begotten on (wives) of equal or of the next lower castes (are called) Savarnas (of equal caste).3
7. (Those born) of (wives) of the second or third lower castes (become) Ambashthas, Ugras, and Nishâdas.4
8. Of females wedded in the inverse order of the castes (are born) Âyogavas, Mâgadhas, Vainas, Kshattris, Pulkasas, Kukkutakas, Vaidehakas, and Kandâlas.5
9. An Ambashtha (begets) on a female of the first (caste) a Svapâka,
10. An Ugra on a female of the second (caste) a Vaina,
11. A Nishâda on a female of the third (caste) a Pulkasa.
12. In the contrary case a Kukkutaka (is produced).
13. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
14. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
16. Now they quote also (the following verse).: But those sons whom an uninitiated man begets, the wise call Vrâtyas, who are excluded from the Sâvitrî; (that is a rule which refers) in an equal manner to the three (highest) castes.'7
Footnotes
1. Vasishtha II, 1.
2. Vasishtha I, 24--25.
3. Gautama IV, 16.
4. Vasishtha XVIII, 8.
5. Vasishtha XVIII, 1-6; Gautama IV, 17-21. In the I. O. copy of the commentary there is a break, which extends from Sûtra 8 to the beginning of Adhyâya 10.
6. The text of the three Sûtras is exceedingly corrupt, and the Telugu copy of the commentary affords no help. It is, however, clear that the passage left out contained something which corresponded to Gautama IV, 22-23, and treated of the possibility of raising persons of a lower caste to a higher one by intermarriages continued for five or seven generations. The reading of K., which perhaps is the best, will show this: 'nishâdena nishâdyâd â pañkamâggâtâ bhavanti tam upanayet shashtham yâgayet saptamo ’vikritâgîsamamgito saptamauñgîsama ity ekeshâm samgñâ kramena nipatanti.'
7. Manu X, 20.
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