Verse 10.28

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

यथा त्रयाणां वर्णानां द्वयोरात्माऽस्य जायते ।
आनन्तर्यात् स्वयोन्यां तु तथा बाह्येष्वपि क्रमात् ॥ २८ ॥

yathā trayāṇāṃ varṇānāṃ dvayorātmā'sya jāyate |
ānantaryāt svayonyāṃ tu tathā bāhyeṣvapi kramāt || 28 ||

As to one his own alter-ego is born from two out of the three nearest castes, as also from his own caste,—even so is the order among those out of the outer circle.—(28)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘For one’—to the Brāhmaṇa—‘his alter-ego is born from two out of the three castes—i.e., from the Kṣatriya and Vaiśya woman is born a son invested with the character of the ‘double birth,’—‘as also from his own caste’ Thus on three castes the Brāhmaṇa begets ‘twice-born men.’

‘Even so is among men of the outer circle’;—i.e., sons born in the ‘inverse order,’ for the Vaiśya and the Kṣatriya father from the Kṣatriya and the Brāhmaṇa mother, respectively, are invested with the ‘double birth.’

And when these sons are invested with ‘double birth,’ they should have the Initiatory Ceremony performed for them; as is going to be added—‘These six partake of the character of twice-born persons.’ (41)

The only difference however is that those born ‘in the inverse order’ take the mother’s caste.

As we are going to explain later on, all this is mere commendatory exaggeration.—(28)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra, p. 405).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 10.6-41)

See Comparative notes for Verse 10.6.