History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c19.317

v2.c19.317

*Māgadha.* According to Gaut. IV. 15, Anuśāsana 48. 12, Kauṭ. (III. 7), Manu X. 11, 17 and Yāj. I. 93 he is a pratiloma caste sprung from the union of a vaiśya male and a kṣatriya female; while according to the view of some teachers mentioned in Gaut. IV. 16, Uśanas (7) and Vaik. (X. 13) he is the offspring of a vaiśya male and a brāhmaṇa female; but Baud. Dh. S. I. 9. 7 says he is the offspring of a śūdra male and a vaiśya female and Viṣṇu Dh. S. 16. 5 makes him the offspring of a śūdra from a kṣatriya female. Manu (X. 47) prescribes trade by land routes for Māgadhas; Anuśāsana X. 48 says that they maintain themselves on speech (i. e. by praise) and are also called bandin. Sahyādrikhaṇḍa (26. 60-62) also calls him bandin and says he is slightly superior to śūdra and that he is clever in ornate prose, in six languages, in kalās and he is a devotee of Kālikā. Vaik. (X. 13) states that even śūdras cannot take food cooked by him, that he is an untouchable and maintains himself by praise, by singing or by being a messenger. Uśanas (7-8) says that he becomes the bandin of brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas, he maintains himself by lauding (the deeds of others) or as a messenger or servant of a vaiśya. Pāṇini IV. 1. 70 derives the word Māgadha from the country Magadha, but apparently not in the sense of a caste.