History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.980

v4.c63.t2.980

An analysis of these 55 kalivarjyas yields very interesting results. About one-fourth out of the above 55 relate to Śrauta matters. There are several texts forbidding Agnihotra, Aśvamedha, Rājasūya, Puruṣamedha, sattras, Gosava, animal sacrifices, while a few others are concerned with matters of detail in sacrifices (vide No. 11, 14–16, 29–30, 38, 48–51, 54). The first nine of these 55 are concerned with legal matters and relations. Some prohibitions are due to growing caste exclusiveness (No. 5, 10, 31, 40, 43). Others again spring from ideas of greater insistence on the sacredness of the marriage tie, a stricter morality and a demand for greater decency and purity, particularly in women (No. 2, 3, 4, 9, 15, 23, 24, 33, 39, 55). A few are based on notions of compassion, justice and equity (No. 1, 8, 24, 25, 42). Some owe their origin to the growing sacredness of the brāhmaṇa's person and his high social position (No. 7, 10, 27, 29, 30). Some must have been suggested by hygienic considerations (No. 12, 16, 28, 38, 41, 45), some arose from strict ideas of sin, expiation and ceremonial purity and impurity (No. 13, 18–21, 28, 44). Two of these, when they prohibit the stage of forest hermit and of sannyāsa, strike at the very root of the ancient scheme of āśramas.