Caste and Race in India c8.127

c8.127

The approximation of the Vaiśya to the Śūdra, already noticed in the last period, is carried further in this. In the account of the creation of the four castes from the body of the Supreme Being, Manu groups the two castes together as being produced out of that half of the body, which is less sanctified than the other half, above the navel, from which the Brahmin and the Kshatriya are represented to have emerged.² While dealing with the question as to who should be treated as his guest by a Brahmin, Manu and Viṣṇu recommend that a Vaiśya and a Śūdra guest may be allowed to eat with one's servants, out of compassion.³ Yājñavalkya prescribes for the Vaiśya the same period of death-impurity as the one he recommends for a good Śūdra.⁴ We have seen that a Brahmin could not generally accept food offered by a Śūdra, though he could eat what was given to him by a Vaiśya. Some writers of this period extend this privilege to the good Śūdras, thus putting them on a par with the Vaiśyas.⁵