History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c24.s1.444
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c24.s1.444
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v2.c24.s1.444.1
We have already seen (in note 118) how even in the Vedic age there were non-Aryan tribes like the Kirātas, Andhras, Pulindas, Mūtibas, that were described as *dasyus* by the Ait. Br.. One word that is of striking importance is mleccha. The Śat. Br. (III. 2. 1. 23-24, S. B. E. vol. 26 p. 32 ) states that the asuras were defeated because they spoke an incorrect and corrupt dialect and that a brāhmaṇa should not, therefore, utter such a corrupt923c speech and so should not become a mleccha and an asura. Gaut. IX. 17 enjoins that one should not speak with mlecchas, impure or irreligious persons and Haradatta explains that mlecchas are the inhabitants of Ceylon and similar countries where there is no system of varṇas and āśramas. Viṣṇu Dh. S. 64. 15 is to the same effect. Viṣṇu Dh. S. 84. 1-2 and Śaṅkha 14. 30 prescribe that one should not perform śrāddha in a mleccha country nor should one visit such a country (except on a pilgrimage). Viṣṇu Dh. S. 84. 4 states that that country where the system of the four varṇas is not in vogue is mleccha territory and Āryāvarta is beyond it, while Manu II. 23 states that the mleccha country is beyond Āryāvarta which land is fit for sacrifices and in which the black deer wanders naturally. Viśvarūpa on Yāj. I. 15 quotes Bharadvāja to the effect ‘one should not study the language of the mlecchas, for it is declared (in the Brāhmaṇas) that a corrupt word is indeed mleccha’. Vas. Dh. S. VI.
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41 also enjoins that one should not learn the mleccha dialect. Manu X. 43-44 knew that many of the tribes called Puṇḍrakas, Yavanas, Śakas spoke mleccha languages and also the language of the Āryas (mlecchavācaś-cāryavācaḥ sarve te dasyavaḥ smṛtāḥ). In Parāśara IX. 36 mlecchas are referred to as eaters of cow’s flesh. That the mlecchas had affected the Sanskrit language by lending to it certain words follows from the discussion in Jaimini I. 3. 10 whether words like pika (a cuckoo), nema (half), sata (a wooden vessel), tāmarasa (a red lotus) are to be understood in the sense in which mlecchas use them or certain meanings are to be assigned to them by deriving them from some root according to the rules of grammar, Nirukta and Nighaṇṭu and Jaimini’s conclusion is that they are to be understood in the same sense in which mlecchas employ them923d. Pāṇini derives the word yavanānī and Patañjali speaks of the siege of Sāketa and Madhyamikā by the Yavana by whom scholars generally understand Menander. Aśoka in his Rock Edict No. 13 refers to Yona kings and it appears from his reference that brāhmaṇas and śramaṇas were not found in the Yona country. A Yavanarāja Tuṣāspha is mentioned as the governor of Kathiawar under Aśoka in the inscription of Rudradāman at Junagadh (E. I. vol. VIII. at p. 43). In the Prakrit Inscriptions the Yavanas are referred to as Yavana (vide E. I. vol. VII. pp. 53-55 at Karle No. 7 and 10) or Yona or Yoṇaka (E. I. VIII. 90 Nasik cave No. 18).
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In Kharavela's inscription also the form is Yavana (E. I. 20 p. 79). In the Mahābhārata the words Yavana and Śaka occur very frequently. Vide notes above on these words. In the Droṇaparva 119. 45-46 Yavana, Kamboja, Śaka, Śabara, Kirāta and Barbara are mentioned as one group fighting against Sātyaki. In Droṇa 119. 47-48 they are referred to as dasyus and as having long and flowing beards. In the Strīparva 22. 11 Jayadratha is said to have had Kamboja and Yavana women in his harem. The word Yavana is generally taken as referring to the Greeks. But there are dissenting voices also. Dr. Otto Stein in 'Indian Culture' denies that the word *ever* means Greeks and Dr. Tarn in his recent work on 'Greeks in Bactria and India' p. 254 argues that the Yavanas in the Nasik inscriptions were not Greeks but only Indian citizens of a Greek *polis*. The Śāntiparva 65. 17-22 prescribes for Yavanas, Śakas and similar tribes only the duties of obedience to parents and attendance on teachers and tending cattle and looking after agriculture, dedication of wells and making gifts to dvijas, *ahiṁsā*, *satya*, absence of fury, *śauca*, *adroha*, maintenance of wife and child. Atri VII. 2 puts the receiving of gifts from or eating the food of or having sexual intercourse with the women of Śakas, Yavanas, Kambojas, Bāhlīkas, Khaśas, Draviḍas on the same level with doing the same things with reference to naṭa, nartaka, śvapāka &c. Aparārka p.
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923 quotes Vṛddha-Yājñavalkya to the effect that the touch of Mlecchas is on the same level with that of cāṇḍāla, Bhilla and Pārasīka.