[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [Vedic Index of Names and Subjects](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912) › v2.c4.s2.381 # Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s2.381 Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s2.381 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c4.s2.381](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.s2.381) 5. Purity of Birth.—The importance of pure descent is seen in the stress laid on being a descendant of a Ṛṣi (ārṣeya).⁴⁹ But, on the other hand, there are clear traces of another doctrine, which requires learning, and not physical descent, as the true criterion of Ṛṣihood.⁵⁰ In agreement with this is the fact that Satyakāma Jābāla was received as a pupil, though his parentage was unknown, his mother being a slave girl who had been connected with several men,⁵¹ and that in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa⁵² the ceremony on acceptance as a pupil required merely the name of the pupil. So Kavaṣa is taunted in the Rigveda Brāhmaṇas⁵³ as being the son of a female slave (Dāsī), and Vatsa cleared himself of a similar imputation by a fire ordeal.⁵⁴ Moreover, a very simple rite was adequate to remove doubts as to origin.⁵⁵ In these circumstances it is doubtful whether much value attaches to the Pravara lists in which the ancestors of the priest were invoked at the beginning of the sacrifice by the Hotṛ and the Adhvaryu priests.⁵⁶ Still, in many parts of the ritual the knowledge of two or more generations was needed,⁵⁷ and in one ceremony⁵⁸ ten ancestors who have drunk the Soma are required, but a literal performance of the rite is excused. Moreover, there are clear traces of ritual variations in schools, like those of the Vasiṣṭhas and the Viśvāmitras. - [Previous: v2.c4.s2.380](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.s2.380) - [Next: v2.c4.s2.382](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.s2.382) - [Up: v2.c4.s2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.s2) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.s2.381](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.s2.381) · Pramāṇa