[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India)](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930) › v2.c19.250 # History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c19.250 History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c19.250 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c19.250](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c19.250) \*Cāṇḍāla\* (or \*cāṇḍāla\*). For Vedic references see above pp. 44-45. Acc. to Gaut. IV. 15-16, Vas. Dh. S. 18. 1, Baud. Dh. S. I. 9. 7, Manu X. 12, Yāj. I. 93, Anuśāsana 48. 11 he is a pratiloma caste sprung of a śūdra from a brāhmaṇa woman. He is the lowest among men (Manu X. 12), beyond the pale of religious observances prescribed for the four varṇas (sarvadharma-bahiṣkṛta, as Yāj. I. 93 says) and often spoken of in the same breath with dogs and crows (e. g. Āp. Dh. S. II. 4. 9. 5, Gaut. 15. 25, Yāj. I. 103).¹⁸⁸ The word occurs in the kulālādi gaṇa (Pāṇ. IV. 3. 118). Veda-Vyāsa-smṛti (I. 9-10) says that there are three kinds of cāṇḍālas. viz. the offspring of a śūdra from a brāhmaṇa woman, the offspring of an unmarried woman, the offspring of a union with a sagotra girl. Yama quoted in Par. M. vol. II. part 1 p. 306 says that one born of a person who after becoming an ascetic turns back to the householder's life, one born of a sagotra woman and one who is the offspring of a śūdra from a brāhmaṇa woman are all cāṇḍālas. Laghu-Śātātapa (59) has a similar verse. Manu (X. 51-56) says that cāṇḍālas and śvapacas should have their houses outside the village, vessels used by them cannot be used by others (even after putting them in fire), their wealth consists of dogs and asses, their clothes should be the garments on corpses, they should take their food in broken vessels, their ornaments were to be made of iron, they should incessantly roam, they are not to enter towns and villages at night, they have to carry the corpses of persons who have no relatives, they are to be hangmen when the king so orders, they may take the clothes, ornaments and beds of persons that are to be hanged. Uśanas (9-10) says that their ornaments are to be of lead or iron, they should have a leather thong round their necks or a cymbal under their armpits, they should remove the dirt of the village in the first part of the day. According to Viṣṇu Dh. S. 16.11 and 14 their avocation is to be hangmen or to kill those offenders who are condemned to death and cāṇḍālas have to stay outside the village and to wear the clothes on corpses. Śānti 141. 29-32 gives a graphic description of their hamlet. The classical description of a cāṇḍāla hamlet is in the Kādambarī of Bāṇa. In Anuśāsana (29.17) Mataṅga is called a cāṇḍāla because he was born of a brāhmaṇa woman from a barber. - [Previous: v2.c19.249](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c19.249) - [Next: v2.c19.251](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c19.251) - [Up: v2.c19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c19) ## Linked texts (13) - [Aṣṭādhyāyī](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vedanga.vyakarana.astadhyayi.4.3.118) — Pāṇini, Sanskrit - [Vaiṣṇava Dharmaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.visnu.16.11) — Viṣṇu, Sanskrit - [Mānava Dharmaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.manu.10.12) — Manu & Bhṛgu, Sanskrit - [Baudhāyanadharmasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vedanga.kalpa.dharma.baudhayana.1.9) — Baudhāyana, Sanskrit - [Āpastambadharmasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vedanga.kalpa.dharma.apastamba.2.4.9.5) — Āpastamba, Sanskrit - [Vasiṣṭhadharmasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vedanga.kalpa.dharma.vasistha.18.1) — Vasiṣṭha, Sanskrit - [Yājñavalkyasmṛti](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.yajnavalkya.1.93) — Yājñavalkya, Sanskrit - [Gautamadharmasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vedanga.kalpa.dharma.gautama.4.15) — Gautama (dharmasūtrakāra), Sanskrit - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.48.11) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Vyāsasmṛti](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.upasmrti.vyasa) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Kādambarī](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.novels.prasiddha.kadambari) — Bāṇabhaṭṭa, Sanskrit - [Auśanasasmṛti](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.upasmrti.usanas) — Uśanas (Śukra), Sanskrit - [Yamasmṛti](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.upasmrti.yama) — Yama, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c19.250](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c19.250) · Pramāṇa