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of Hinduism
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A New History of Dharmasastra
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Edited by
PA TRICK OLIVELLE
DONALD R. DAVIS, JR.
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OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Preface
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contained in any third party website referenced in this work.
Given the centrality of Dharmasastra in the Hindu tradition for over two
millennia, this is a book that had to be written. Left to our own devices,
however, this is a book that we would never have undertaken. The daunting
task of writing a history of Dharmasastra under the shadow of the pioneering
and encyclopedic work of P. V. Kane would have made us hesitate. So, thanks
are due in the first place to Gavin Flood, who, as the general editor of the new
Oxford History of Hinduism, invited us to write this as a volume in the series,
and to Tom Perridge, the editor at Oxford who, along with Gavin, launched
the series.
It was clear from the start that this was a book the two of us could not write
on our own, at least not within stipulated timeframe. Our foremost thanks,
therefore, go to the eighteen colleagues from around the world who generously
agreed to write chapters of this volume, drawing on their own expertise:
Mikael Alctor, Adam Bowles, David Brick, Richard Davis, Ariel Glucklich,
Jonardon Ganeri, Andrea Gutierrez, Maria Heim, Knut Jacobsen, Stephanie
Jamison, Timothy Lubin, Mark McClish, James McHugh, Axel Michaels,
Christian Novetzke, Ludo Rocher, Matthew Sayers, and Gregory Schopen.
They were all busy scholars and teachers, and yet they generously accepted our
invitation and agreed to devote considerable time and energy to this project. It
would not have been possible without their contributions. Our great regret is
that our teacher Ludo Rocher passed away before this volume could be
completed; his contribution on inheritance, in Chapter 12, will stand as a
monument to his vast knowledge of Dharmasastra. We thank Rosane Rocher
for her assistance with Ludo's chapter.
Patrick Olivelle
Donald R. Davis, Jr.
Austin, Texas
March 31, 2017
Social Classes: vaq1a
4
Social Classes
varna
Mikael Aktor
VARlyA AS DHARMA POWER
How should a Hindu ldng expand his power into foreign land and how should
he incorporate the conquered people into his ldngdom? This is discussed by
the eighth-century commentator on Manu, Medhatithi, in his commentary on
MDh 2.23. The verse occurs in the first part of the second chapter, which deals
with the sources of the law (dharma), of which one is "the conduct of good
people" (sadiiciira). That conduct is further defined both geographically and
demographically (MDh 2.17-2.24). It is the conduct that is handed down
through generations among the people who live in the sacred land of the
Aryas, extending from the Himalayas in the North to the Vindhya Mountains
in the South, and who belong to the four social classes and the "intermediate
classes" (MDh 2.18), consisting of castes that were regarded as having their
origin in a mixture of these four.
Manu (2.23) defines the heartland of this sacred territory as "the natural
range of the black buck" and categorizes it as "fit for sacrifice," thereby explicitly
associating the country with Hindu rule. Beyond that land lie the countries of
the barbarian foreigners (mlecchas). Medhatithi, however, adds a rider:
If a good ldng from the warrior caste and the like gained victory over those
foreigners and settled people from the four classes there, relegating the local
foreigners to the status of ca,:iqalas, just as in the land of the Aryas, then that land
also would be "fit for sacrifice," This is because land is not defiled by itself, for it
becomes defiled through contact, as when it is sullied by something impure.
Therefore, even apart from the regions specified, all people from the three upper
classes must perform sacrifices whenever sufficient means are available even
outside the natural range of the black buck.
(Medh 2.23 translated from Dave 1972-85, vol.l: 200)
61
In other words, when foreign land is purified by the presence of people from
the four classes settled there by a pious ldng, it becomes pure and fit for
sacrifices. From then on, however, the local people must be regarded as
ca~diilas, the lowest caste in the Hindu society, which was considered unto~~hable, even according to the earliest Dharmasutras. Shortly before this
quote, Medhatithi had made it clear that "foreigners are known as people
beyond the castes comprising the four classes, not even allotted the status of
mixed castes of the reverse order" (Medh 2.23 in Dave 1972-85, vol.1: 199). 1
This quote and its context in Manu's text give us a lot of information
about the ideas behind the Hindu social structure as it was understood in
Dharmasastra in terms of "class" (var~a) and castes regarded as "intermediate" (antariila) or as a "mixture of classes" (var~asarrkara). It indicates that
these categories were conceived by the Brahmin authors of these texts as both
a political and a social structure closely connected with the ideology and
aspirations of this priestly class. More precisely, it was a system meant to
guarantee a special alliance between the Brahmins and the warrior rulers,
including the specific privileges that such an alliance would yield. Hindu rule
is made conditional on Vedic sacrifices, which is the specific sphere of
expertise of Brahmins. The var~a system is the prerequisite for Hindu rule,
and it is the foundation of dharma. The conduct of the people from the
four classes is one of its main sources, and the king will have to settle
the four varnas in the new territory in order to mal<e it fit for the rituals that
are the foundations of dharma.
The promotion of this special alliance between Brahmins and rulers is made
explicit even in the earliest texts. According to Gautama:
There are in the world two who uphold the proper way of life-the ldng and the
Brahmin deeply learned in the Vedas. And on them depend the life of the fourfold
human race and of internally conscious creatures that move about, fly, and crawl;
as well as their increase, protection, non-intermixture, and adherence to the Law.
(GDh 8.1-8.3 in Olivelle 2000: 137). 2
The four classes ("the fourfold human race") are the priestly class, that is the
Brahmins (Briihma~a); the warrior class (K~atriya), from which rulers are
1
Visnu likewise, states, "Any region where the system of the four social cl~sses is not found
should be ;ecognized as a region of foreigners; beyond those is the land of the Aryas" (ViDh 84.4
in Olivelle 2009a: 146).
2
The special relationship between the Brahma1,1a and the K~atriya vari:ia remained a central
theme also in later Dharmasastra literature. This is sometimes expressed in symmetric juxtapositions of the two spheres, where the one is eulogized by metaphors of the o~er: "Wha:~ver
the Twice-born [here meaning briihmai:ias] should say, even for fun, that, according to tradit10n,
is the highest law, for they have mounted the war chariot of Dharmasastra, and they carry the
sword of the Veda" (Par 8.26); and symmetrically: "When in battle the blood of the warrior flows
on the forehead and enters the mouth, that, duly, must be regarded as equal to drinking soma in
a sacrifice of war" (Par 3.38). Similarly, Smith 1994: 37-8.
Mikael Aktor
Social Classes: vaq1.a
recruited or into which they are enrolled; the agricultural and merchant class
(Vaisya); and the service class (Sudra), understood mainly as people engaged
in various crafts and the working class.
Note that while Medhatithi advised the king to settle all four van,1as in the
new conquered territory, he only called on the upper three of them to perform
sacrifices there. This is because the van;ia and caste systems are also a system of
marginalization. It was only the three upper classes that were allowed to have
Vedic sacrifices performed for them; the Siidras were excluded from such
rituals and altogether from studying and using Vedic texts. Accordingly, boys
from the three upper classes passed through an initiation ceremony (upanayana) that involved training in recitation of the Vedas. This initiation was
regarded as a symbolic new birth, and, therefore, these three classes were
labeled collectively as "twice-born" (dvija), whereas the Siidras was labeled as
"once-born" (ekeja). 3
A further marginalization is indicated by the category of the "intermediate"
classes that were understood as castes having their origin in a mixture of the
four classes. Although these castes were not classified as belonging exclusively
to any one of the four ideal classes but rather as the results of improper sexual
mixing among them, they were still part of the Hindu social structure,
collectively forming its hierarchical lower limit. This is expressed in precise
terms by the fourteenth century commentator Kulliika: The conduct that is a
source of dharma is that "of the classes starting with the Brahmins and
extending as far as the mixed castes." 4 Within this group of mixed classes,
yet another hierarchical distinction is made. One group of castes are regarded
as formed through hypergamous relations between two classes, say between
Brahmin men and Vaisya women, while another group is understood as
formed through hypogamous relations, for instance between K~atriya men
and Brahmin women. The principle behind the former is that the "father"
must belong to a higher class than the "mother," and behind the latter that the
"father" belongs to a lower class than that of the "mother" (the quotation
marks here indicating that the parents must be understood more in terms of
some hypothetical past origin of these caste formations than as actual contemporary parents, although there are overlaps between the two cases, to
which I shall return later). Generally, hypergamous relationships are tolerated,
while hypogamous relationships are condemned. This is indicated by the
Sanskrit terminology according to which the former type of relationship is
"natural," literally "with the hairs" (anuloma), and the latter is "unnatural" or
literally "against the hairs" (pratiloma). We see here a blend of two hierarchical systems. One is the patriarchal ordering of gender (men higher, women
lower), and another is the Brahmanical ordering of class (Brahmin higher, the
other three gradually lower).
It follows logically from this system of class mixtures that the lowest group
must be that resulting from the hypogamous union between Siidra men and
Brahmin women. This is the Cal).qala caste mentioned by Medhatithi in his
comments on Manu 2.23 at the start of this chapter, and their lowness is
emphasized by the idea that people from this caste are untouchable-members
of higher castes have to take a bath in the event they come into physical
contact with them. But notice that, according to Mehdatithi, the local people
in the land that is conquered by a righteous Hindu king must be relegated into
the status of the Cal).qala caste in order to make the conquered land "fit for
sacrifice." This means that, in spite of the low status of this caste, it is still an
integrated part of the Hindu society that makes a land fit for the sacrifices
performed by the three higher classes. In this respect the Cal).qala marks the
final marginalization of this whole demographic ideology, that between the
people belonging to such a Hindu social structure-including the CaJ,1qalas at
the bottom of it-and the "foreigners" (mleccchas) outside it. To repeat,
Medhatithi maintained that "foreigners are known as people beyond the castes
comprising the four classes, not ev~n allotted the status of mixed castes the
reverse order" (Medh 2.23), that is, not even allotted a status as that of the
hypogamous pratiloma castes of which the Cal).qala is the lowest.
In what follows, more will be said about each of these social categories,5 but
let me sum up the system for the sake of clarity:
The van,1a system consists of
62
3
Louis Dumont, inspired by Georges Dumezil, saw the van;ia system as a series of embedded
marginalizations. First Siidras as ekajas are marginalized in relation to the three dvijas; next, the
Vaisyas are marginalized in relation to the governing Brahma-K$(1tra alliance with ~atriyas as
rulers and Brahm~ as advisers and law makers; finally all three lower van;ias are marginalized
in relation to the Brahmai;ias, which is the only class that can perform the rituals on behalf of the
three lower classes the members of which can only order them (Dumont 1970: 67). Similarly,
Smith 1994: 28-9.
4
bn:ihmal}ddivarl}dndm sarrkrr,;iajatiparyantiinarr (Kulluka on MDh 2.18).
(A)
(B)
63
the three "twice-born" (dvija) classes
Brahma:J).a
K~triya
Vaisya
beyond these three, the "once-born" (ekaja) class
Siidra
Each of these four van,1as contains a number of castes (jiiti), which also can be
ordered hierarchically. Thus, there are high, learned Brahmins (bhru,:zas) and
lower Brahmins officiating in temples (devalakas); there are "good Siidras"
(sacchudras) and "bad Siidras" (asacchudras).
5
For detailed information on each category according to a great variety of Dharmasastra
texts, the best source is Kane II: 19-179.
64
Mikael Aktor
Beyond the four var,:zas, there are the mixed classes (var,:zasarrikaras):
(A) hypergamous or anuloma castes, which are more or less tolerated; and
(B) hypogamous or pratiloma castes, which are more or less condemned and
looked down upon, of which the Ca1!4ala caste is regarded as the lowest and as
untouchable. 6
This constitutes the Hindu society, and beyond that are the foreigners
(mlecchas). An obvious question that needs to be addressed is how far this
ideologically motivated social classification existed as an empirical reality in
ancient and medieval India. For sure, this question cannot be answered on the
basis ofDharmasastra texts alone, but must involve a study of evidence outside
this tradition. Patrick Olivelle has drawn the attention to the Asokan inscriptions in which the word "var,:za" does not occur at all; even the names of the
var,:zas are absent except for "Briihma,:za'~ which however is mentioned as a
religious community rather than as a class in a hierarchical social system (see
Chapter 1 in the present volume). The grammatical literature is another
. source of evidence. Olivelle notices that the term "dvija" (twice-born), which
is a prominent classificatory concept in three of the four Dharmasiitras (from
early second to first century BCE) is missing from Pataftjali's Mahiibhii~ya,
dated mid-second century BCE, and from the literature before that period
(Olivelle 2012a: 118-19). These findings indicate that these concepts (var,:za
and dvija) were promoted specifically by Dharmasastra authors.
Although Manu incorporated much material from the Arthasastra (Kautilya's treatise on government), this text differs from Manu's text in its view both
on Brahmans and Siidras. It does not eulogize the Brahmans as Manu and
other Dharmasastra texts do, and it acknowledges the Siidras as artisans (AS
1.3.8) and not merely as servants of the three upper classes like Manu. Kangle
remarks, "This appears to be more in consonance with the actual state of
things than the views of Smft:i writer like Manu" (1965: 143). Finally, evidence
from precolonial endowment records also give another picture than the one
we meet in the Dharmasastra sources. In these records we get an impression of
the identities that people ascribed to themselves. Cynthia Talbot concludes
from material from Andhra Pradesh that "few of the donors of the endowments recorded in these documents choose to describe themselves in these
terms" [var,:za and jiiti]. Instead, "the classical var,:za scheme was meaningful
primarily to those who considered themselves brahmans." Also the word jiiti is
"rarely found in the thirteenth-century inscriptions from Andhra, but there
are also no references to specific subcastes by names." (Talbot 2001: 50-2).
6
F~r a discussion of the_ different theoretical views on the distinction between var(Ja and jati,
see Smith 1994: 317-19. With reference to among others J.C. Heesterman, Smith argues that the
var(Jas as the overall classifying system emphasized an ideal separation, whereas the notion of
the jiitis testified to an actual interrelation between them expressed in the idea of intermixture
(var(Jasarrikara ).
Social Classes: vaq1a
65
All together, these different types of evidence confirm the hypothesis that the
articulation and promotion of the var,:za system were primarily part of a
priestly ideological strategy motivated by the specific interests of this class.
THE ESSENTIALS: SVABHA VA,
SVAKARMAN, SVADHARMA
According to Manu, the four classes emerged together with the creation of the
world. Like other species of living beings, they are each born with the inborn
propensities (svabhiiva) that were placed in them by the Self-existent One at
the time of creation. These specific propensities determine the activities
(karmii,:zi) of each species, both animals and men. For men, however, "activities" in this context denotes first of all the specific occupation (svakarman)
and duty (svadharma) prescribed for each class:
As they are brought forth again and again, each creature follows on its own the
very activity assigned to it in the beginning by the Lord. Violence or non-violence,
gentleness or cruelty, righteousness (dharma) or unrighteousness (adharma),
truthfulness or untruthfulness-whichever he assigned to each at the time of
creation, it stuck automatically to that creature. As at the change of seasons each
season automatically adopts its own distinctive marks, so do embodied beings
adopt their own distinctive acts. For the growth of these worlds, moreover, he
produced from his mouth, arms, thighs, and feet, the Brahmin, the K~atriya, the
Vaisya, and the Sudra. (MDh 1.28-1.31 in Olivelle 2005a: 88)
The body parts mentioned here are obviously a reference to the twelfth stanza
of the Puru~asiikta (R.V 10.90.12). The four var,:zas, according to Manu, are not
the product of any social negotiation or political reasoning but emerged out of
the body of Cosmic Man and are, as such, direct manifestations of creation,
just as the differentiations between horses, cows, and sheep (R.V 10.90.10).
Kulliika spells out the significance of these verses of Manu just quoted. The
violent acts of a lion are the manifestations of the violent inborn propensity of
this animal, just as the gentle acts of priests and the violent acts of warriors
are the direct results of the inborn nature of people born into these two classes
(on MDh 1.29).
There can be no doubt that, according to these verses and according to the
view of Dharmasastra in general, var,:za (and, accordingly, caste) is determined
by birth; it is not the case that var,:za and caste can be decided solely on the
basis of the character and skills of each individual (Smith 1994: 28). This is
because, ideally, birth (jiiti), inborn nature (svabhiiva), and work (svakarman)
will be harmoniously correlated as they were from creation. That said, however, other genres of literature, especially the Sanskrit epics, are full of
67
Mikael Aktor
Social Classes: van_m
examples of persons whose activities and wishes are in conflict with the norms
of the class or caste they are born into. But eventually, dharma, that is the ideal
order of bilth, duty, work, and personal character, will prevail.
One episode from the Mahabharata is especially telling. During the long
instruction on dharma that ldng Yudhi~thira receives after the war from the
dying Bhi~ma, Yudhi~hira asks the controversial question about how persons
from the three lower classes can attain the same status as Brahmins. The
answer he receives is that this status is unobtainable for these classes because it
is the highest stage of the whole of creation. Only through innumerable births
may people from the lower classes hope to be born one day in the Brahmin
class (MBh 13.28.4-13.28.5).
The implicit premise is that birth determines class status. Consequently,
differences and unequal possibilities in life are inherited through the generations, just as species transmit specific predispositions for wings or forelegs.
To cross classes is lilce crossing species, a breach of the natural order established at creation. But even though crossing of classes (van:zasarrikara), unlilce
crossing of species, cannot always be known from their physical appearance,
their identity will inevitably be revealed through the pattern of behavior that
originates from their inborn propensities.7 Bhi~ma illustrates this point by
telling Yudhi~thira the sad story of Matahga.
Matahga grew up as the son of a pious Brahmin. He was a good boy keen on
living up to the expectations of his father. One day his father sent him to the
town to get materials for a sacrifice. Matahga went on a cart pulled by a young
donlcey, which, however, did not want to leave its mother. Eager to fulfill his
father's wish, Matahga hit the donlcey with the whip. The mother donlcey
comforted her crying child, telling him that such behavior is only to be
expected from a Ca1,1q.ala lilce Matahga. Shocked by these words, Matahga
asked the mother donkey how she knows about his identity. She answers that a
true Brahmin embodies the quality of nonviolence (ahirrisa). 8 Therefore, this
single act of violence inevitably reveals Matanga to be the bastard son of a
Sudra (in this case, a barber) with his Brahmin mother, in other words, an
untouchable Candala.
Now Matahg~ ~mbarks on a severe regimen of extreme asceticism in order
to change his destiny. Hard asceticism has the power to force the gods to
appear and fulfill the wishes of the ascetic. Indra appears, promising to fulfill
any wish that Matahga may have. However, confronted with Matahga's only
wish-the attainment of Brahmin status lilce that of his dear foster fatherIndra has to refuse. That is beyond the possibilities of any god. When Matahga
intensifies his ascetic exercises to the extent of almost dying, Indra reappears
only to grant him the boon of being worshipped by women after his death, and
eventually Matahga dies (MBh 13.28.7-13.30.16).
The most famous example, however, is that of Arjuna, caught in between
his obligation with respect to his family and friends and his duties as a warrior.
But the divine authority makes no exceptions:
66
7
Better to do one's own duty (svadharma) imperfectly than to do another man's
well; doing action intrinsic to his being (svabhava), a man avoids guilt. Arjuna, a
man should not relinquish action he is born to (sahajalfl karma), even if it is
flawed; all undertakings are marred by a flaw, as fire is obscured by smoke.
(BhG 18.47-18.48 in Miller 1986: 149-50)
These two verses echo the view of Manu:
If a man of inferior birth out of greed lives by activities specific to his superiors,
the king shall confiscate all his property and promptly send him into exile. Far
better to carry out one's own Law imperfectly than that of someone else's
perfectly; for a man who lives according to someone else's Law fall immediately
from his caste. (MDh 10.96-10.97 in Olivelle 2005a: 213)
Modern social reformers have seen this caste ideology as a serious hindrance
to social mobility. My hypothesis is that this, precisely, has always been the
intention of the Dharmasastra authors: to control upward social mobility.
Compare Manu:
An unknown man without the proper complexion [varra], born from a squalid womb,
a non-Arya with some measure of Arya features-one should detect such a man by his
activities. Un-Arya conduct, harshness, cruelty, and the neglect of rites reveal in
this world a man who is born from a squalid womb. He will possess the character of
either his father of his mother, or of both; a man born from an evil womb is never able to
conceal his nature. (MDh 10.57-10.59 in Olivelle 2005a: 211)
See also the note to 10.57 at page 337 about the translation of varra as "complexion." Outward
appearance and co/or are among the meanings of the word varra, and the connection between
complexion and class is made explicit by the grammarian Pataiijali on Piinini 2.2.6.
8
"A good man" (presumably including a Brahmin), however, is allowed to beat a low-caste
person right away, without any interference from the state (the king), if he is assaulted verbally
by the low person (including a Svapiika and a Cai;iqiila) according to NSm 15/16.12-15/16.14 and
BrSm 21.5. These texts (Naradasmrti and Brhaspatismrti) are both dated to fifth-sixth century cE
by Olivelle 2010b: 57.
CONTROLLING SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC MOBILITY
Manu proposes a connection between the progression of the world ages (yugas)
and the gradual weakening of dharma, the ideal norm on which society rests:
In the K[ta Age, the Law is whole, possessing all four feet; and so is truth. People
never acquire any property through unlawful means. By acquiring such property,
however, the Law is stripped of one foot in each of the subsequent Ages; through
theft, falsehood, and fraud, the Law disappears a foot at a time.
(MDh 1.81-1.82 in Olivelle 2005a: 91).
Mikael Aktor
Social Classes: vanJa
What might these unlawful means possibly be by which people acquire
property and thereby ruin dharma, and who are those "people"? We get a
direct answer, I think, in a section of the text that sets the norms for the
livelihood of Sudras: "Even a capable Sudra must not accumulate wealth; for
when a Sudra becomes wealthy, he harasses Brahmins" (MDh 10.129 in
Olivelle 2005a: 214).
The religious idea behind this statement lies in the role of Brahmins as
officiants of sacrifices. It is sacrifice that procures rain at the right time,
producing rich crops and healthy cattle. As such, sacrifice is the foundation
of all kinds of material wealth. The Brahmins are indeed self-assured about the
significance of their role: "This whole world-whatever there is on earth-is
the property of the Brahmin.... The Brahmin eats only what belongs to him,
wears what belongs to him, and gives what belongs to him; it is by the kindness
of the Brahmin that other people eat" (MDh 1.100-1.101 in Olivelle 2005a:
91-2, 242).
The economic reality of this idea is that sacrifice is also a source of income
for Brahmins as receivers of donations. Since everything belongs to the
Brahmin performers of sacrifice, what they receive in donations (dak~i,:iii) at
the end of the sacrifice has always been their property. While it is the
prescribed "activity" (karman) of all three twice-born classes to have sacrifices
performed, to recite the Veda, and to offer donations in connections with
these sacrifices and the other services from the Brahmins, it is the exclusive
right and livelihood of the Brahmins to officiate at the sacrifices, to teach the
Veda, and receive the donations from the members of all three upper classes.
In addition, K~atriyas must protect the subjects by the use of weapons and be
self-restrained, and Vaisyas must look after cattle and live by agriculture,
trade, and moneylending (MDh 1.88-1.90, 10.74-10.80). "A single activity
did the Lord allot to the Sudra, however: the ungrudging service of those very
social classes" (1.91 in Olivelle 2005a: 91). The Sudras, it seems, cannot be a
direct source of income for Brahmins even though they might have accumulated wealth. They cannot study the Vedas, and they cannot have sacrifices
performed; so they do not have any opportunity to offer donations. Whatever
wealth they may possess therefore "harasses the Brahmins," to whom it truly
belongs. Besides, as servants they should not be in a position to accumulate
wealth at all. Or, so it seems. 9
Reading behind the text and its strategies, however, we get another picture.
One of these strategies is the notion of "times of adversity" (iipad). Patrick
Olivelle suggests in the first chapter of the present volume that Mann's
Dharmasastra was composed during a period with repeated invasions from
the northwest that "created a cultural shock" among the Brahmin elite. These
invasions caused the Brahmin authors to be explicit about the expectations of
a true Hindu king, especially in regard to his relationships with the Brahmins.
But even apart from these strained political conditions, and especially in the
light of the nostalgic and utopian ideals of the perfect Hindu society envisaged
in the texts, times are always adverse. We live in the degenerate Kali age, and
iipad is more or less the new normal.
Ideally, Sudras do not count among the paradigmatic givers, but during
iipad Brahmins may receive gifts from anybody (MDh 10.102). 10 However,
while "officiating at sacrifices and teaching always pertain to those who have
undergone consecratory rites [whose donations therefore are pure], ... accepting pertains even to a lowest-born Sudra" (MDh 10.110 in Olivelle 2005a:
213), meaning that, although gifts from Sudras who maintain their lives by
other means than by serving Brahmins are not desirable, they are nevertheless
received. Manu is at pains to ensure that this should not tip the balance of
dependency: While "a man who knows the Law should never beg money from
a Sudra" (MDh 11.24 in Olivelle 2005a: 216), a Brahmin whose sacrifice is
interrupted for want of an item "may freely tal<e two or three items from the
house of a Sudra; for a Sudra has nothing to do with sacrifices" (MDh 11.11 in
Olivelle 2005a: 215). Begging is one thing; taking from a Sudra's property what
truly belongs to the Brahmins is quite another.
What were the services that Sudras had Brahmins performing for them,
and what made the Sudras wealthy enough to pay for these services in the
form of donations? The historical development of the economic situation of
the Sudra class and the religious possibilities connected to it cannot be
deduced from the Dharmasastra texts alone, but requires a study that includes
many other types of sources, literary as well as epigraphic and archaeological.
R. S. Sharma's Sudras in Ancient India (1990) is an attempt in that direction.
Sharma describes a gradual improvement of the economic situation of Sudras
through the Gupta dynasty and early medieval period including the times
when the late Dharmasastras of Yajiiavall<ya and others were composed.
He concludes:
68
9
According to Ananya Vajpeyi, who has studied medieval Dharmasastra digests with specific
focus on "Siidradharma," it is typical of the Dharmasastra discourse related to the Siidras that
these are represented as silent listeners without any verbal agency of their own. "It turns out that
the figure of the Siidra haunts the Brahm_anical literature from some of its earliest phases, and
always at the heart of the othering of the Siidra lies a set of maneuvers whose locus is language"
(Vajpeyi 2010: 159).
69
Perhaps the reason for the broadening of the religious rights of the sudras lay in
the improvement of their material conditions, which enabled them to perform
sacraments and sacrifices by paying for priests. For the ability to sacrifice was
rightly believed to be intimately connected with the ability to pay.
(R. S. Sharma 1990: 312-13)
°
1
For a systematic presentation of the occupations of the four vari:zas both under normal
conditions and during stressed situations (apad), see Rocher 1975c.
71
Mikael Aktor
Social Classes: van:ia
The "sacraments and sacrifices" that gradually became part of the religious
rights of Sudras were those such as prayascitta (penance), sraddha (ancestral
offerings), mahayajflas (Great Sacrifices), certain san:iskaras (life cycle rites),
puja (worship), vratas (votive observances), and dana (donations).11 Commenting on the statement that the wealth of Sudras harasses the Brahmins
(MDh 10.129), the eighth-century commentator Bhiiruci rejects the idea that
receiving the gifts of Sudras should amount to receiving gifts from unworthy
givers (asatpratigraha). For, if it would be wrong for Brahmins to accept the
donations from them, Sudras would not be able to perform sraddhas, which
involve presenting the priests with a donation, obviously an indication that
Brahmins performed sraddhas for Sudras. Penance is perhaps the most significant case, for here the inequality between Brahmins and Sudras in terms
of religious merit and material wealth is spelled out. The lower the van;ia of
a penitent, the lesser the amount of the observance (typically fasting) but
the more the value of the donations-often in the form of cattle-that must
be given to the Brahmins who advised the penance. Thus, Brahmins
observe harder penance but give a small donation, while the opposite holds
for Sudras. 12
Another of Manu's iipad rules, which probably prescribes what already had
become the normal state of affairs, allows Sudras who are "unable" (or perhaps
unwilling) to provide for their families by serving twice-born people to earn
their living as craftsmen, provided they work in a craft that "best serves the
twice-born" (MDh 10.99-10.100 in Olivelle 2005a: 213). And according to
Vi~i:iu, who composed his Dharmasiistra five hundred years or so later than
Manu (i.e., seventh-century cE), these crafts are not restricted to times of
adversity but do constitute the livelihood by which Sudras fulfill their duty
to serve the twice-born (ViDh 2.8 and 14). The sudravari:za comprised many
crafts that were necessary for big building enterprises lil<e royal temple
building projects, crafts such as those of blacksmiths, carpenters, bricklayers,
and artists (Sharma 1990: 262-3). With increased trade, furthermore, the
demand for goods produced by Sudra artisans may have grown.
Sudras were also allowed to trade according to Yiijiiavall<ya (YDh 1.120) and
other late Dharmasiistras (Sharma 1990: 267), and, apart from the Sudras'
exclusion from Vedic recitation and rituals, the borderline between Vaisyas
and Sudras became gradually more porous. R. S. Sharma (1990: 322) speal<s of
medieval India as a "vaisya-sudra society": "Since the social fabric of ancient
India was based on the vaisya tax and the sudra labour, it may be called a
vaisya-sudra society, but from the ideological and ritualistic point of view it
may be called a briihmaJ:lical society." This is an indication of the pyramid
structure of the Indian social hierarchy even from early times: the number
of producing, trading, and laboring castes at the relative _bottom o~ the
Brahmanical hierarchical model outnumbered by far the warrior and pnestly
castes at the top.
With the growing economy and improved religious rights of the _Sudra~,
starting during the Gupta period and continuing into ~edieval ~ndrn, their
upward economic mobility could not be prevented. This was noticed by :he
Brahmin authors of Dharmasiistra works, who reluctantly allowed Brahmms
to receive as donations a part of the accumulated Sudra wealth.
70
11
12
See R. S. Sharma 1990: 296-307.
See, for example, Par 11.1-3, and Chapter 17 on Impurity and Purification.
THE MIXED CLASSES
The Dharmasiistra doctrine asserting that the vast number oflow castes below
the four classes have originated from a mixing of those classes (van;iasan:ikara)
has puzzled scholars including me.13 In line with the _precedi_ng part o~ this
chapter, however, I think it is reasonable to regard this doctrme_as basically
another attempt by the Brahmin authors to control upward social and economic mobility, in this case, not the mobility that took place through ':ork
and trade but the more tangible one that occurred though sexual relations.
Whereas economic mobility created better possibilities and perhaps increased
influence, it did not, from the point of view of Dharmasiistra, change class and
caste identities. i 4 But that was possible through intermarriage. Intermarriage
could have been initiated by the dissatisfaction of artisans and workers who
assigned according to
protested against the occupational obligations they ~r
the Dharmasiistra rules, and it could have been mitrnted by peasants who
protested against the taxes that were demanded from them by the ldng
(Sharma 1990: 261).
.
Manu's terminology on mixed classes is not entirely clear, but theoretically,
it should be possible for descendants of mixed relationships to raise their
status to that of the highest of his/her parents within a certain number of
generations. That is, if the child of a 1:1ixed relations?ip _marries upward, a~d
the same happens in the next generations, at a certam time, the progeny ~
have the caste or class of the highest of the parents (MDh 10.64-10.65).
13 Aktor 1999: 269-74; Aktor 2008: 87-104 is a detailed discussion of the themes also presented
here in brief. See, also, e.g., Jha 1970; Tambiah 1973b; Brinkhaus 19~8; Rocher 1981-2..
14 Nevertheless, we know from records of caste disputes during sJXteenth throug? mneteenth
century that groups of Sudras tried to be recognized as belonging t~ one of_ the ~1g~e: var~~s.
Thus, paradoxically, "the positive assertion-'This group here cons1s~s of Sudra md1V1du~s comes from the Brahmin side, while the denial-'We are not Siidras -comes from the Sudra
litigants themselves" (Vajpeyi 2010: 160).
1s The rule is already mentioned by Gautama (GDh 4.22-4.24). The med~~val_commenta~ors
disagree on how to understand it. Some think that this kind of upward mob1hty 1s only possible
The practical realities behind this rule can only be guessed, but it seems to
indicate that, after a certain amount of time, descendants from mixed relations
would be accepted (or their descent would be forgotten) and assimilated
into the superior class, as it actually happens when distinct ethnic bodily
features gradually vanish through generations of mixed marriages.
The comparison with ethnic features is not far from the sense of the texts.
We saw that van;ias were correlated with zoological species when they
emerged from the body of Puru~a. The idea is the same with mixed var,;ias.
This is made very clear by Kulluka in his comment to Manu's overview of the
var,;ias, which states: "Three classes-Brahmin, K~atriya, and Vaisya-are
twice-born; the fourth, Sudra, has a single birth. There is no fifth" (MDh
10.4). Kulluka explains:
Moreover, there is no fifth. As with a mule, the mixed castes do not belong to any
class because their caste is different from both of the different castes of the
parents. And this clarification in the text about these other castes is for the sake
of the regulation of mutual interactions. (on MDh 10.4) 16
Caste definitions were meant as a way of regulating the occupations of
individual castes and their mutual interactions, although occupation and
caste definition are mutually dependent: "From the function pursued, the
caste as laid down by the sastra can be inferred. And by indicating the caste
they can be enjoined to perform their functions" (Bharuci on MDh 10.40 in
Derrett 1975, vol. 2: 310).
But to define castes "genealogically" as descendants from former mixedclass relations seems artificial. When did these relations take place? Should
they merely be regarded as speculative myths of origin? The question gets
complicated because the notion of var,;iasarrikara is used in the texts in two
different ways. One is as caste definitions, that is, in terms of some hypothetical past origin of the caste. Another is with regard to contemporary mixed
marriages or sexual relations as when specific punishments are laid down for
men and women who have such illegitimate relations, 17 or when the texts lay
down exact rules about inheritance for descendants of mixed marriages. 18 In
though the female line, that is, for females born from relations in the direct order (anuloma).
Others think that it also holds for sons, that is, through relations in the reverse order (pratiloma).
For an overview, see the note in Buhler 1886: 416-17.
16
The text is an example of the fluidity of meanings of the Sanskrit word jati, meaning birth,
species, and caste: paficama~ punar var!Jo nasti/sarrikfr!Jajatini'llfl tv asvataravan. matapitr:jativyatiriktajatyantaratvan na var!Jatvam/ayarri ea jatyantaropadesa~ sastre salflvyavaharanarthah/1.
17
•
ApDh 2.27.9; GDh 12.2-12.3, 23.14-23.15; BDh 2.3.52; VaDh 21.1-21.5. Also, it is the duty
of the king to prevent var!Jasalflkara (GDh 8.3), and Bralimins and Vaisyas are encouraged to
take up arms against men and women who are guilty of it, although only in a quoted verse: BDh
2.4.18.
18
Social Classes: van,-ia
Mikael Aktor
72
GDh 28.35-28.45; MDh 9.149-9.155; YDh 2.125; ViDh 18.1-18.33, 18.38-40.
73
these latter cases, Dharmasastra texts do not label these mixed relations by the
caste names known from the caste definitions. Probably the children of such
reb:itions were not regarded as actually belonging to the castes that the
relations between their unequal parents would suggest according to the
genealogical-mythical caste definitions. As we saw with the Matailga story, it
is different with the epics, whose object is not to malce prescriptions for actual
real-life situations but more to exemplify moral dilemmas in literary form.
Connecting certain tribes and castes, whose life styles and livelihood
appeared appalling to Brahmin sentiments, with illegitimate sexual relations
between persons from the four var,;ias accomplished a double aim. It margin alized these castes and tribes thereby expressing the exclusivity of the original
classes from the mouth, arms, thighs, and feet of Puru~a, at the same time,
connecting them to these very classes and thereby including them in the
emerging larger Hindu social order.
It is plausible, as has been suggested by many scholars, that the notion of
varnasamkara arose in the process by which various groups of the indigenous
populati~n were gradually included in the networks of transactions with the
aryas. 19 Some of the names of these groups are known from earlier texts, but it
is the invention of the early Dharmasastra texts to stipulate a specific var,;iasarrikara genealogy to each of them. They do this in the context of marriage or
they speak of these groups as "sons" from men and wives from different
varnas. 20 Perhaps this idiom was even used as a deliberate expression of
inclusion.
It is in these early texts we get the distinction between relations in "the
direct order" (anuloma) and relations in the "reverse order" (pratiloma). The
latter is "outside the law" according to Gautama and cannot improve their
status by intermarrying upward (GDh 4.25). An explicit distinction is also
made by Yajfiavallcya: "Those born in the reverse and those born in the direct
order are known respectively as bad and good" (YDh l.95c-d).
The notion of pratiloma as known from other textual genres is also used in
contexts where a norm has been violated, where a situation is unnatural, or
where a relationship has been reversed. When, according to the Brhadara,;iyaka Upani~ad, Gargya, the Brahmin, admitted his ignorance and asked to be
instructed by King Ajatasatru, the latter remarked, "Isn't it a reversal of the
norm [pratilomarri] for a Brahmin to become the pupil of a K~atriya?" (BrU
2.1.15 in Olivelle 1998: 63). But eventually he taught Gargya about the states of
consciousness during dream and deep sleep. Purai;uc instructions for royal
astrologers regarding favorable and unfavorable omens constitute another case.
19 Jha 1970: 277, 283-5; R.S. Sharma 1990: 240, 336-7; Tambiali 1973b: 218, 223; Parasher
1991: 185; Brinkhaus 1978: 7-8.
2 For a synoptic presentation of these rules as they appear in GDh, BDh, and VaDh, see
Olivelle 2005f: 41-3.
°
Mikael Aktor
74
The former belong to the anuloma class of signs, whereas the latter belong to the
pratiloma signs. These latter would typically be related to various classes of
unnatural events (Inden 1985: 32). The rhetoric about varnasamkara like the
worst of these omens, is not without a touch of apocalyptic a~soci~tions'. "Wherever these delinquent-born individuals, who corrupt the social classes, are born,
that realm quickly comes to ruin together with its inhabitants" (MDh 10.61).
In relation to the Dharmasiitras, Manu's discussion of mixed classes was
innovative in that he stipulated specific occupations for each of the varnasarr,,kara castes (see, e.g., MDh 10.46-10.49). I think this is an expression oian
increased inclusion of these groups in concrete transactions and, consequently, increased social complexity. Whatever was the ethnic or other demographic
identity of the groups mentioned in the Dharmasiitra lists of mixed classes
they are now regarded as occupational castes with. which the people from th~
four van:zas make transactions. The number of castes has also increased
considerably, and added to the earlier listed van:zasarr,,karas we get van:zasarr,,karas of van:zasarr,,karas, many of whom are associated with specific occupations (MDh 10.26-10.39). Clearly, the system tended to proliferate and
multiply itself expanding the bottom of the pyramid.
THE UNTOUCHABLES
One feature that clearly distinguished the bottom of the caste system from the
layers above it was that of permanent untouchability. In the early texts, this
feature did not yet have its own technical term but was articulated as the need
for other people to have a bath in case they had been in physical contact with
these persons. Untouchability, however, was not limited to persons from low
castes but was a temporary condition attached to various persons in the
domestic sphere, such as menstruating women and those in a period of
impurity resulting from a birth or a death (see Chapter 17 on impurity).
What made the untouchability attached to a caste special was that it was
made permanent, inborn, and professional in the sense that it involved certain
scorned occupations.21
I have already mentioned the Cal).qiila caste as untouchable, but the name
was generic, and, like the term Siidra, it could apply to various despised groups
at the lowest rungs of society. Alternative names are used, such as Svapaca or
Svapaka, Paulkasa or Pulkasa, and Diviildrti. The explicit rule that prescribes a
bath after having been in physical touch with a Cal).qiila is recorded in all four
Dharmasiitras (ApDh 2.2.8; GDh 14.30; BDh 1.9.5; VaDh 23.33). It is repeated
21
For a detailed study, see Aktor 2008. For an overview, see Aktor 2010.
Social Classes: var1,1a
75
by Manu (5.85) and taken for granted in all medieval Dharmasastric texts
along with the var,:iasarr,,kara definition of the Ca,:iqala as the pratiloma
progeny of Siidra men with Brahmin women. 22 Indeed, he is "the worst of
all men" (MDh 10.12). As such, he is also classified as one of seven antyavasiiyins together with other pratiloma castes; often the term antyavasayin is just
another generic term for untouchable castes.
As the term (antyiivasayin) indicates, Cal).qalas were associated with
remoteness in space or sequence (antya meaning remotest, last, or lowest).
This reflects the fact that Cal).qalas were geographically segregated and forced
23
to live in areas outside or at the edge of villages and cities (MDh 10.51). But
antya applies to an end in more than one sense. Already in the Chiindogya
Upani~ad, we learn that persons of "foul behavior can expect to enter a foul
womb" after they have died-"lil<e that of a dog, a pig, or an outcaste
[Candiila] woman" (ChU 5.10.7 in Olivelle 1998: 237). In a structurally similar
ma~~er, the twice-born family man is instructed to throw some food on the
ground to Cal).qiilas, dogs, and birds outside his house at the end of the
domestic vaisvadeva offerings (SiinkhGr 2.14). 24 Cal).qalas are at the end,
together with village dogs, pigs, and birds, not only in the spatial sense of
the home and the village areas. As the lowest of men, they also mark the
boundary in sarr,,sara between human and animal existence.
Untouchable castes were typically assigned jobs connected with pollution in
the form of death (cremation workers, executioners), products from dead
animals (leather workers, drummers), or trash (cleaning the streets of villages).
They came to form a large and indispensable unskilled labor force, not only in
such traditionally assigned jobs but also as day laborers in the fields and on
building sites. Unlike the Siidras, they could be prevented from upward mobility
by a systematic series of discriminating practices, all prescribed in Dharmasastra
texts. 25 These included isolation in terms of sexual relationships, sharing food
and food vessels,26 communication, habitation, use of wells, participation in
religious practices including temple worship, and, significantly, giving gifts
(gift exchange remained crucial for economic transactions and mobility). In
addition, they were forced to make themselves both visible and audible at
markets and in the streets. It was not until the period of social reform
22 The latter is confirmed by Ludo Rocher based on nine different descriptions in seven
different texts (GDh, BDh, VaDh, ViDh, MDh, YDh, and AS) (2012: 257-8, §7).
23 The connection between terminology and spatial segregation was also pointed out by
Vivekanand Jha (1975: 14-16).
24 Similarly, ApDh 2.3.1-2.4.20, 2.9.5-2.9.6; VaDh 11.3-11.11; MDh 3.84-3.93.
25 For details, see Aktor 2008: 116-88.
26 The technical term for the latter is apapatratva. The practice was defined by the grammarian Pataftjali as the idea that food vessels used by Caµqalas cannot be used by others, even
though they have been cleaned properly by regular washing (Pataftjali on Paµini 2.4.10: I:
475.8-475.10).
Mikael Aktor
Social Classes: vaqia
movements during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that some of these
discriminations were slowly but effectively lifted.
The temple and the palace are indistinguishable, for the king represents the
gods .... The god in his temple has his court like the king in his palace: smiths,
carpenters, potters, all work for him. (Hocart 1950: 68)
76
MOBILITY CONTROL, BRAHMIN FRAILTY,
AND THEORIES OF CASTE
In fact, the attempt to restrict upward social and economic mobility, which
I think runs all through the van:ia and caste rules in the Dharmasastra
texts, did not go unchallenged, even during the history of that literature.
Buddhist and other early renouncer movements, medieval ascetic and tantric
groups, bhakti sant poets of both nirgu,:ia and sagu,:ia orientation, and Sikhs
who included their poetry in the Adi Granth, all challenged the Brahmin
social order. The marginalization of Brahmins in the South with the rise of
Maharashtrian and Dravidian self-assertiveness lead by Jyotirao Phule and
E. V. Ramasamy, respectively, marked a definite turn of authority, but perhaps
a certain Brahmin frailty already lay behind the opulent self-promotion that
we read in large parts of the Dharmasastra texts. After all, Brahmins haveI
always been a service class dependent on ldngs and local landowners.
This, I think, comes through in some of the recent debates on caste theory.
These debates took their departure in a critique of Louis Dumont's hierarchical model. According to this model, the social system is oriented top-down,
from the Brahmin to the Untouchable. Status, defined in relation to an
ideology, is hierarchically superior to power. Therefore, Brahmanical values
of personal and inherent ritual purity are the parameters in relation to which
all else is defined (Dumont 1970: 36-42).
Critiques of this Brahmanical-inspired hierarchical model, such as those of
Gloria Goodwin Raheja (1988) and Declan Quigley (1993), were inspired by the
alternative model of the British ethnographer A. M. Hocart. Unlike Dumont,
who saw society as structured from a hierarchical top, Hocart saw it as organized
around centers of power. The basic idea in Hocart's theory is that the state is a
ritual organization that includes the services of the var,:ias and castes. The
occupations assigned to these groups are primarily ritual services. Drummers
may make their primary living as day-workers rather than by playing drums, but
they are known as drummers because this is their ritual service at funerals and
weddings. The ldng, as the paradigmatic sacrificer (yajamiina), is the pivotal
character of the whole organization. However, the system is multicentric, reaching down through the society, as well as up through the skies:
The King's state is reproduced in miniature by his vassals: a farmer has his court,
consisting of the personages most essential to the ritual and so present even in the
smallest community, the barber, the washerman, the drummer and so forth ....
77
The centrality model highlights the true relationship between Brahmins and
ldngs. Brahmins may be sacrificers themselves, but ultimately, they depend on
other sacrificers for their living. The praise of the righteous Hindu ldng who
expands his kingdom and makes the conquered land "fit for sacrifice" by settling
the four var,:ias on the new land is also an appeal for support and moral-social
leadership, which is a basic motivation behind the Dharmasastra texts.