Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c13.448

c13.448

That marriages between the members of the higher varṇas were not altogether absent is also suggested by the repetition of the theory of the origin of the mixed castes.¹ It has been suggested earlier that Manu’s list of the mixed castes given in the tenth chapter of his law-book probably belongs to the fifth century A.D. The *Anuśāsana Parvan* enumerates fifteen old mixed castes,² and introduces four new castes of māṃsas, svādukaras, kṣaudras saugandhas, who are represented to have been born from māgadhī mothers through wicked men of the four varṇas.³ There is also mention of the madranābhas, who are supposed to have been derived from the niṣādas and described as riding on cars drawn by asses.⁴ The vrātya is defined not as one who has fallen from the duties of the twice-born, but as one who is begotten upon a kṣatriya woman by a śūdra,⁵ and is placed in the category of the caṇḍāla.⁶ It is also stated that a vaidya is begotten by a śūdra on a vaiśya woman.⁷ This is typical of the low esteem in which physicians were held in early times. The *Amarakośa* introduces a new caste māhiṣas, who are described as the issues of kṣatriyas from vaiśya (aryā) women. Probably they were identical with the Māhiṣakas, who appear as degraded śūdras along with the Draviḍas, Kaliṅgas, Pulindas, Uśīnaras, Śakas, Yavanas and Kāmbojas.⁸ If we add the seven additional mixed castes known from the *Anuśāsana Parvan* to those known from Manu, the number will come to sixty-eight. Though the theory of the origins of new castes through the intermixture of varṇas was fanciful, by this time it may have influenced the course of social developments; for even in our times such cases are noticeable in Eastern Nepāl.