History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c23.59

v2.c23.59

Another question was as to what saṁskāras could be performed for the śūdra. The view of Vedavyāsa that he could have ten saṁskāras performed (but without Vedic mantras) has been stated above (p. 159). The Baijavāpa⁴⁵⁹ gṛhya says that seven saṁskāras are allowed to the śūdra viz. from garbhādhāna (or *niṣeka*) to *caula*. The view of Aparārka⁴⁶⁰ appears to be that the eight saṁskāras from garbhādhāna to caula (in Yāj. I. 11-12) were meant for all varṇas (including the śūdra). According to the Madanaratna, Rūpanārāyaṇa and the bhāṣya of Harihara as quoted in the Nirṇayasindhu, the śūdras were entitled to perform six saṁskāras viz. jātakarma, nāmakaraṇa, niṣkramaṇa, annaprāśana, cūḍā and vivāha and the five daily mahāyajñas. The Śūdrakṛtya-tattva of Raghunandana (p. 634) quotes a verse from the Varāhapurāṇa⁴⁶¹ 'this very procedure (about śrāddha) has been declared in the case of śūdras but without mantras; for the śūdra who is not entitled to repeat a mantra, a brāhmaṇa repeats the mantra' and then remarks that for a śūdra a mantra from the purāṇas is to be repeated by the brāhmaṇa priest employed, that the śūdra is not to repeat even the purāṇa mantras but has only to say 'namaḥ'. The Nirṇayasindhu⁴⁶² mentions with approval the same view of Śūlapāṇi that in all religious ceremonies for śūdras the mantras are to be taken from the purāṇas and that they are to be repeated by the brāhmaṇa priest. The Brahmapurāṇa⁴⁶³ quoted in the Sm. C. (I. p. 24) and other digests states that no other saṁskāra than vivāha is allowed to the śūdra. On this the Nirṇayasindhu remarks that these conflicting views are to be reconciled by holding that the liberal ones apply to good (sat) śūdras and the stricter ones to low (asat) śūdras or that the rules are different in different countries.