History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c19.110

v2.c19.110

The ancient writers on dharmaśāstra strive very hard to account for the bewildering ramifications of the caste system from the four varṇas that were spoken of in the *śruti* (revelation). There is unanimity on the theory that the numerous castes actually found in the country arose from the unions of males of different varṇas with women belonging to varṇas differing from their own. The divergences (and they are many) among the several smṛtikāras relate only to details. The smṛti writers had before them the hoary theory of four varṇas vouched for by infallible Vedic authority, but they were at the same time quite cognisant of the realities in society viz. the separate existence of numerous castes and sub-castes that had varying claims as regards social status and that were based in popular estimation on birth alone. Therefore, when one criticizes the smṛti view of the derivation of numerous castes from the mixture or confusion (*saṁkara*) of the four varṇas as purely hypothetical and imaginary, the criticism is true only partially. The smṛtis were composed in different parts of India at different times and they were meant to supply a popular want, to guide the people and to reflect the prevailing state of society and popular feeling. Therefore, it must be admitted that the numerous castes mentioned in the smṛtis did exist at the time of the smṛtis, that the social status of the several castes might have varied from country to country or from epoch to epoch, that the peculiar avocations and means of livelihood assigned to the various castes reflected the real state of things. The element of hypothesis and speculation lies only in the theory of a particular sub-caste having sprung from the union of two persons belonging to two particular varṇas or castes.¹²¹ This description of the origin of the several castes was only indicative of the author's view or of the accepted view about the social status of those castes in particular localities. There is here, as a matter of fact, great divergence of views among the several authors.