The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 4 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 1,582 pages of information about The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 4.

The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 4 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 1,582 pages of information about The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 4.
may take two spouses.  In both of them (viz., the one taken from his own order, and the other from the lowest of the four pure orders), he takes birth himself (so that those children become invested with the status of his own order).  The Sudra can take only one wife, viz., she that is taken from his own order.  The son begotten by him upon her becomes a Sudra.  A son that takes birth under circumstances other than those mentioned above, comes to be looked upon as a very inferior one If a person of a lower order begets a son upon a woman of a superior order, such a son is regarded as outside the pale of the four pure orders.  Indeed, such a son becomes on object of censure with the four principal orders.  If a Kshatriya begets a son upon a Brahmana woman, such a son, without being included in any of the four pure orders, comes to be regarded as a Suta The duties of a Suta are all connected with the reciting of eulogies and encomiums of kings and other great men.  The son begotten by a Vaisya upon a woman of the Brahmana order comes to be regarded as a Vaidehaka.  The duties assigned to him are the charge of bars and bolts for protecting the privacy of women of respectable households.  Such sons have no cleansing rites laid down for them.[299] If a Sudra unites with a woman belonging to the foremost of the four orders, the son that is begotten is called a Chandala.  Endued with a fierce disposition, he must live in the outskirts of cities and towns and the duty assigned to him is that of the public executioner.  Such sons are always regarded as wretches of their race.  These, O foremost of intelligent persons, are the offspring of intermixed orders.  The son begotten by a Vaisya upon a Kshatriya woman becomes a Vandi or Magadha.  The duties assigned to him are eloquent recitations of praise.  The son begotten through transgression, by a Sudra upon a Kshatriya women, becomes a Nishada and the duties assigned to him have reference to the catching of fish.  If a Sudra happens to have intercourse with a Vaisya woman, the son begotten upon her comes to be called Ayogava.  The duty assigned to such a person are those of a Takshan (carpenter).  They that are Brahmanas should never accept gifts from such a person.  They are not entitled to possess any kind of wealth.  Persons belonging to the mixed castes beget upon spouses taken from their own castes children invested with the status that is their own.  When they beget children in women taken from castes that are inferior to theirs, such children become inferior to their fathers, for they become invested with the status that belongs to their mothers Thus as regards the four pure orders, persons beget children invested with their own status upon spouses taken from their own orders as also upon them that are taken from the orders immediately below their own.  When, however, offspring are begotten upon other spouses, they come to be regarded as invested with a status that is, principally, outside the pale of the four pure orders.  When such children
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The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 4 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.