History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c20.205

v2.c20.205

(2) The śūdras were not to consecrate sacred fires and to perform the solemn Vedic sacrifices. Vide note 73 above. Jaimini (I. 3. 25-38) elaborately discusses this question and arrives at the conclusion that the śūdra cannot consecrate the three sacred fires and so cannot perform Vedic rites. Among the reasons given are that in several Vedic passages only the three higher classes are referred to in the case of the consecration of fires, about the *sāmans* to be sung, about the food to be taken when observing *vrata*.³⁶⁶ It is however interesting to note that at least one ancient teacher (Bādari)³⁶⁷ was found who advocated that even śūdras could perform Vedic sacrifices. The *Bhāradvāja Śrauta sūtra*³⁶⁸ (V. 2. 8) states the opinion of some that the śūdra can consecrate the three sacred Vedic fires. The Kātyāyana-śrautasūtra (I. 4. 5) prescribes that all can perform Vedic rites except those who are deficient in a limb, who are not learned in the³⁶⁹ Veda, who are impotent and śūdras; but the commentary thereon states by way of pūrvapakṣa that there are certain Vedic texts which lead to the inference that the Sūdra had the adhikāra for Vedic rites e. g. in Śat. Br. I. 1. 4. 12 (S. B. E. vol. XII. p. 28) it is said with reference to the Haviṣkṛt call "Now there are four different forms of this call, viz. 'Come hither' (ehi) in the case of a brāhmaṇa; 'approach' (āgahi) and 'hasten hither' (ādrava) in the case of a vaiśya and a member of the military caste and 'run hither' (ādhāva) in that of a śūdra." Similarly in the Somayāga in place of the payovrata (vow to drink milk only) *mastu* (whey) is prescribed for śūdra (indicating thereby that the śūdra could perform Somayāga) and in Śat. Br. (XIII 8. 3. 11, S. B. E. vol. 44, p. 435) with reference to sepulchral mounds it is said 'for the kṣatriya he may make as high as a man with upstretched arms, for a brāhmaṇa reaching up to the mouth, for a woman up to the hips, for a vaiśya up to the thighs, for a śūdra up to the knee'. The commentary on the Kātyāyana Śrauta I. 1. 6 says that the word śūdra here stands for rathakāra because (acc. to Yāj, I. 91) his mother's mother is a śūdra woman.