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.
women of the Ayogava caste (by fathers taken from different castes).  The caste called Kshudra springs from the Vaidehaka.  The caste called Andhra which takes up its residence in the outskirts of towns and cities, also springs up (from the Vaidehakas).  Then again the Charmakara, uniting himself with a woman of Nishada caste, begets the class called Karavara.  From the Chandala again springs up the caste known by the name of Pandusaupaka whose occupation consists in making baskets and other things with cleft bamboos.  From the union of the Nishada with a woman of the Vaidehi caste springs one who is called by the name of Ahindaka.  The Chandala begets upon a Saupaka woman, a son that does not differ from the Chandala in status or occupation.  A Nishada woman, by union with a Chandala, brings forth a son who lives in the outskirts of villages and towns.  Indeed, the members of such a caste live in crematoria and are regarded by the very lowest orders as incapable of being numbered among them.  Thus to these mixed castes spring up from improper and sinful union of fathers and mothers belonging to different castes.  Whether they live in concealment or openly, they should be known by their occupations.  The duties have been laid down in the scriptures for only the four principal orders.  As regards the others the scriptures are entirely silent.  Among all the orders, the members of those castes that have no duties assigned to them by the scriptures, need have no fears as to what they do (to earn their livelihood).  Persons unaccustomed to the performance or for whom sacrifices have not been laid down, and who are deprived of the company and the instructions of the righteous whether numbered among the four principal orders or out of their pale, by uniting themselves with women of other castes, led not by considerations of righteousness but by uncontrolled lust, cause numerous mixed castes to come into existence whose occupations and abodes depend on the circumstances connected with the irregular unions to which they owe their origin.  Having recourse to spots where four roads meet, or crematoria, or hills and mountains, or forests and trees, they build their habitations there.  The ornaments they wear are made of iron.  Living in such places openly, they betake themselves to their own occupations to earn their livelihood.  They may be seen to live in this way, adorning their persons with ornaments and employed in the task of manufacturing diverse kinds of domestic and other utensils.  Without doubt, by assisting kine and Brahmanas, and practising the virtues of abstention from cruelty, compassion, truthfulness of speech, and forgiveness, and, if need be, by preserving others by laying down their very lives, persons of the mixed castes may achieve success.  I have no doubt, O chief of men, that these virtues become the causes of their success.  He that is possessed of intelligence, should, taking everything into consideration, beget offspring according to the
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The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 4 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.