History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c24.s1.95

v2.c24.s1.95

Though kṣatriyas and vaiśyas also were entitled to have the upanayana performed, it appears that they often neglected it or at least neglected the constant wearing of yajñopavīta, so much so that from comparatively early times the yajñopavīta came to be regarded as the peculiar indicator of the wearer's being of the brāhmaṇa caste. For example, Kālidāsa in Raghuvaṁśa (XI. 64)⁷⁰⁰ while describing the irate brāhmaṇa hero Paraśurāma says 'wearing the upavīta, which was the heritage that came to him from his father, and holding a formidable bow that came to him from the side of his mother (who was a kṣatriya princess)'. If the upavīta had been as constantly worn by the kṣatriyas as by brāhmaṇas in Kālidāsa's day he would not have spoken of it as the peculiar sign of a brāhmaṇa. In the drama Veṇīsaṁhāra (Act III) when Karṇa resented the attitude of Aśvatthāman, who raised his left foot for kicking Karṇa, and said that he could not cut off his leg as by virtue of his caste (as brāhmaṇa) he could not be punished in that way, Aśvatthāman replied by throwing away his sacred thread with the words 'here do I give up my caste'.⁷⁰¹ That shows that in the days of the Veṇīsaṁhāra (not later than about 600 A. D.) the yajñopavīta had become the peculiar indicator of the caste of brāhmaṇas only.