Dharma, Artha, Kāma, Mokṣa - XXIV

Several other caveats about presuming the tight compartmentalization across the four varnas of brahmanas, kshastriyas, vaishyas and shudras are in order and for our purposes, we can ignore the tangential point about varna also referring to complexion.  Manu Samhita (such as 5.16-18) has a listing of permissible diet for brahmanas.  This has fish like पाठीन (sheat-fish) and रोहित (rohu carp) and the flesh of animals like porcupines, hedgehogs, iguanas, rhinoceros, tortoises and hares. Who caught the fish?  Who hunted and killed the animals?  As the duties of brahmanas, kshatriyas, vaishyas and shudras have been described, it couldn’t have been any of these four categories.  Of course, Sanskrit has words like धीवर for a fisherman and व्याध for a hunter.  But where are they in the four-fold classification?  

Chapter 4 of Yajnavalkya Smriti has a long list of names of children who are born as a result of the father and the mother belonging to different varnas.  The table is indicative.[1]  When the offspring of mixed parentage inter-married, the taxonomy became finer and finer and more and more complicated and this table is actually rather simple.  Since the Dharmashastra texts spent such a great deal of time on the semantics and taxonomy, inter-varna marriages must have been fairly common, despite the avowed intention of marriage and children within the same varna.  The more interesting question is a different one.  Were these professions earmarked for these offspring because their fathers and mothers belonged to specific varnas?  Or did these professions exist and did the ideal or normative system try to fit it into the accepted template by giving all kinds of names to children of mixed parentage?  This isn’t a question to which there is a ready answer.  If the primary determinant is the functional one of professions, then varna is nothing but specialization in society and division of labour.  However, if the primary determinant is birth or heredity, then such specialization is not determined by skills of individuals, but by the accident of their birth.

Father	Mother	Name of offspring	Profession
Brahmana	Kshatriya	Murdhavasikta	Managing horses, elephants, chariots
Brahmana	Vaishya	Ambashta	Medicine
Brahmana	Shudra	Nishada/Parasava	Fishermen/hunters
Kshatriya	Vaishya	Mahishya	Astrology/music
Kshatriya	Shudra	Ugra	Use of weapons
Vaishya	Shudra	Karana	Composer/bard
Kshatriya	Brahmana	Suta	Charioteer
Vaishya	Brahmana	Vaidehika	Guards/carpenters
Shudra	Brahmana	Chandala	Executioner

There is a story in the dana dharma section (a sub-segment of Anushasana Parva) of the Mahabharata. The sage Krishna Dvaipayana Vedavyasa was walking along a road and came upon a worm.  A conversation ensues between the two and Vedavyasa asks the worm why he has been born as a worm. The worm replies, “In earlier times, I was also a man.  I was an extremely rich shudra.  I was not a brahmana.  I was cruel and wicked in the means I used to earn subsistence.  I was harsh in speech.  I was deceitful and unwise.  I hated everything in the universe.  I violated agreements in pursuit of riches.  I was devoted to appropriating the possessions of others. In my household, I did not tend to servants and guests.  I was malicious and cruel and desired to keep the tasty objects for myself.  I did not faithfully offer food at sacrifices meant for the gods and the ancestors.  I did not desire to give any riches.  Nor did I give any food.  I did not protect frightened people who sought refuge and sought protection with me.  I violently cast aside those who were terrified.  I did not save those who were frightened.  On seeing the prosperity of other men, their riches, grain, beloved wives, vehicles and wonderful houses, I indulged in futile acts of jealousy.  I was jealous on seeing the prosperity of others and I desired that they might suffer. .. Earlier, I engaged in these acts, driven by the many qualities of cruelty. Remembering that, I am tormented, just as one is at having to give up a beloved son.  I have not known the fruits of any auspicious deeds I performed.  But I worshipped my aged mother and on one occasion, I worshipped a brahmana, when he came to my house.  He possessed the qualities of good conduct.  Since I worshipped that brahmana as a guest, I have not lost my memory.  It is evident that good act has led to this bit of happiness.”[2]  Blessed by Vedavyasa, the worm went through birth in all the other kinds of species – porcupine, lizard, boar, animal, bird, shvapaka, vaishya and finally, kshatriya.  Vedavyasa told the worm, “Those born as inferior species[3] become shudras. Shudras become vaishyas and vaishyas become kshatriyas.  A kshatriya who discharges his conduct proudly becomes a brahmana.”  

There are plenty of similar stories from the Puranas, suggesting that varna is a function of previous deeds and is therefore fixed in this birth.  Through the cycle of death and rebirth, one climbs up the species ladder and up the varna ladder.  Therefore, varna is a function of birth and this is how the varna system is usually depicted.  However, within the sacred texts, there is a strong counter view too and that also needs flagging.

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[1] https://archive.org/stream/yajnavalkyasmrit00yj#page/196/mode/2up.  The Yajnvalkya Smriti is dated to between 3^rd and 5^th century CE.  The names of the offspring are from Yajnavalkya Smriti.  The professions are from other commentaries.  These different commentaries differ a bit in detail sometimes, but not very much.

[2] The translation is from The Mahabharata: A Translation, Vol.10, Bibek Debroy, Penguin, 2014.

[3] Sub-human.