Mixed Caste (Varṇa Saṅkara)

In Indian society there are people of not only these four castes but also other castes. The word ‘Sankara ’ has been used to refer to all these other races or castes. Which means a mixture of other nations that are formed in marriage. The word ‘Sankara ’ in Manusmṛti (MS-5/89, 10/40) refers to a combination or mixtures of Varṇas . This thinking was born out of various issues such as hypogamy. Like Manusmṛti , in some chapters of Matsya Purāṇa , the word ‘Sankara ’ has been used as a unification of castes. For example, the Yayāti and Devayāni episodes, where Devayānī expresses here desire to marry Yayāti to her father and Guru Śukracārya proposes such a to Yayāti, Yayāti seeks a bridegroom from Śukra so that there is no hybridization due to this marriage.^[1] In the case of ‘Sankara ’ (hybrids), like other castes, had the same right of rebirth in Śivapura after death in the Avimuktakṣetra .^[2] There are various hybrid castes names found in the Matsya Purāṇa such as Suta, Parasava, Māgadha, Kaivarta and Culika and others (MP-212/14; 48/104, 108; 50/75, 76).