Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c9.s5.1

c9.s5.1

The questions whether the people belonging to lower castes (śūdras) have a right to perform Vedic rituals came to be discussed again and again. Kamalākara Bhaṭṭa, the author of *Nirṇayasindhu* (CE 1612) in his *Vivādatāṇḍava*, describes several such controversies. In his *Śūdrakamalākara*, he has discussed the rights of śūdras for performing rituals. Texts discussing the rights of śūdras for performing of rituals have been written till recent times by Sanskrit *paṇḍits* of Dharmśāstras.⁴⁹ Nāgeśa Bhaṭṭa had authored a text *Vrātyaprāyaścittavinirṇaya*. He debarred the community of kṣatriyas of his times from having the *upanayana*, because he believed that the real kṣatriyas vanished due to the massacres by Paraśurāma. The text was discussed at a *śāstra-sabhā* in Jaipur.⁵⁰