Verse 10.41 [Status of the Mixed Castes]

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

स्वजातिजानन्तरजाः षट् सुता द्विजधर्मिणः ।
शूद्राणां तु सधर्माणः सर्वेऽपध्वंसजाः स्मृताः ॥ ४१ ॥

svajātijānantarajāḥ ṣaṭ sutā dvijadharmiṇaḥ |
śūdrāṇāṃ tu sadharmāṇaḥ sarve'padhvaṃsajāḥ smṛtāḥ || 41 ||

Six sons born or women of the same caste and of those of the next lower castes partake of the character of ‘twice-born’ persons. But all those born of violation have been declared to be of the nature of Śūdras.—(41)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

From ‘twice-born’ persons, sons born of women of the same caste as themselves belong to the same caste; and all these ‘partake of the character of twice-born persons’;—this is the reiteration of a well-known fact And the assertion that sons born of women of the next lower caste also stand on the same footing is made for the purpose of indicating that the same rights and privileges belong to those also.

‘Those born of women of the next lower caste’—i.e., in the ‘natural order’; of those born to the Brāhmaṇa father and the Kṣatriya or Vaiśya mother, or those born to the Kṣatriya father from the Vaiśya mother.

These ‘partake of the character of twee-born persons’—i.e., they should have the Initiatory Rite performed for them, and having become initiated, they become entitled to all that pertains to a twice-born person.

“It has been declared under 14 above that ‘they are called by the name of the next lower caste,’ which means that all such sons of the natural older belong to their mother’s caste; so that it would naturally follow that they are entitled to all that pertains to that caste.”

True; but since the passage referred to uses the term ‘name,’ people might have the idea that the sons are only so by name, and not by caste; hence with a view to make the point dear, we have another assertion in the present text, which asserts that ‘the six sons partake of the character of twice-born men.’

Those sons however who are born of ‘violation’—i.e., of a mixture of the castes—‘are of the nature of Śūdras,’—i.e., having the character of the Śūdra, they are entitled to the rights and duties of that caste.

The peculiarity in connection with sons born in the ‘inverse order’ is going to be described later on. The term ‘next lower Caste’ in the present text has been added only for the purpose of indicating that what is said here applies to the sons of the ‘natural order’ only. So that the son born to the Brāhmaṇa from a Vaiśya women, who is one step removed from the ‘next lower caste’—also becomes included. But, the number being limited to ‘six,’ the son bora to the Brāhmaṇa from the Śūdra woman,—i.e., ‘Pāraśara’—is not included here.—(41)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘This verse is quoted in Vyavahāra-Bālambhaṭṭī (p. 570).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 10.6-41)

See Comparative notes for Verse 10.6.