History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c24.s1.101

v2.c24.s1.101

The next important question is as to whether upanayana was performed in the case of the blind, the deaf and dumb, the idiotic &c. Jaimini has established that those who are devoid of a limb⁷⁰³ are not eligible for agnihotra, but this inability arises only when the defect is incurable. Similarly the Āp. Dh. S. II. 6. 14. 1, Gaut. 28. 41-42, Vas. 17. 52-54, Manu 9. 201, Yāj. II. 140-141, Viṣṇu. Dh. S. 15. 32 ff. lay down that persons who are impotent, *patita*, congenitally blind or deaf, cripple and those who suffer from incurable diseases are not entitled to share property on a partition, but are only entitled to be maintained. But they all allow even these to marry. As marriage is not possible for dvijātis unless upanayana precedes it, it appears that the ceremony of upanayana was gone through as far as it could be carried out in the case of the blind, the deaf and dumb &c. The Baud. gṛ. śeṣasūtra (II. 9) prescribes a special procedure for the upanayana of the deaf and dumb and idiots. The principal points in which their upanayana differs from that of others are that the offering of samidh, treading on a stone, putting on a garment, the tying of mekhalā, the giving of deer skin and staff are done silently, that the boy does not mention his name, it is the ācārya himself who makes offerings of cooked food or of clarified butter, all the mantras are muttered softly by the ācārya himself. The sūtra⁷⁰⁴ says that according to some the same procedure is followed as to other persons who are impotent, blind, lunatics, or suffering from such diseases as epilepsy, white leprosy or black leprosy &c. The Nirṇayasindhu quotes a passage from the Brahmapurāṇa cited in the Prayogapārijāta about the upanayana of the impotent, the deaf and others which contains rules similar to Baudhāyana's. The Saṁ. Pr. (pp. 399-401) and S. R. M. (pp. 273-274) also quote the passage and explain it. The purāṇa⁷⁰⁵ says that those who cannot repeat the Gāyatrī (such as the deaf and dumb) should be brought near the teacher or fire and that the teacher should then touch them and then mutter the Gāyatrī himself, but that in other cases such as lunatics, they should be made to repeat the Gāyatrī at least if possible and if that too is not possible, then on touching them the ācārya should repeat it. The same purāṇa prescribes that *kuṇḍa* and *golaka* (the first being the offspring of an adulterous intercourse when the husband of the woman is living and the second when the husband is dead) should have upanayana performed in the same way as for the deaf and dumb, if it is known that the adulterer and the woman were both of the brāhmaṇa caste. There is some difference of opinion as to *kuṇḍa* and *golaka*. Manu (II. 174) defined them as above. Āp. Dh. S. II. 6. 13. 1, Manu (10. 5) and Yāj. (I. 90, 92)⁷⁰⁶ expressly say that a person born of a brāhmaṇa from a brāhmaṇa woman belongs to the same caste only if he is born in lawful wedlock and that even the anuloma sons must be born in wedlock. The *kuṇḍa* and *golaka* being the offspring of adultery would not really be brāhmaṇas even though both parents were brāhmaṇas. Thus, though these two are not strictly brāhmaṇas, upanayana of a secondary kind is allowed to them. Manu (III. 156) included the *kuṇḍa* and *golaka* among brāhmaṇas not to be invited at śrāddha. Elaborate discussions have been held why they were so specially mentioned, when they were not on Manu's own dictum brāhmaṇas. Some like the author of the Saṁgraha held that the *kuṇḍa* and *golaka* forbidden by Manu in śrāddha were those born under the ancient practice of niyoga; while others repudiated the idea that those born under the practice of niyoga had any taint attaching to them.⁷⁰⁷