Jana/s/ruti cannot have been a Sudra by birth for that reason also that his being a kshattriya is understood from an inferential sign, viz. his being mentioned together (in one chapter) with the kshattriya Kaitraratha Abhipratarin.  For, later on, i.e. in the passage complementary to the sa/m/varga-vidya, a kshattriya Kaitrarathi Abhipratarin is glorified, ’Once while Saunaka Kapeya and Abhipratarin Kakshaseni were being waited on at their meal a religious student begged of them’ (Ch.  Up.  IV, 3, 5).  That this Abhipratarin was a Kaitrarathi (i.e. a descendant of Kitraratha) we have to infer from his connexion with a Kapeya.  For we know (from Sruti) about the connexion of Kitraratha himself with the Kapeyas (’the Kapeyas made Kitraratha perform that sacrifice;’ Ta/nd/ya.  Br.  XX, 12, 5), and as a rule sacrificers of one and the same family employ officiating priests of one and the same family.  Moreover, as we understand from Scripture (’from him a Kaitrarathi descended who was a prince[224]’) that he (Kaitraratha) was a prince, we must understand him to have been a kshattriya.  The fact now of Jana/s/ruti being praised in the same vidya with the kshattriya Abhipratarin intimates that the former also was a kshattriya.  For as a rule equals are mentioned together with equals.  That Jana/s/ruti was a kshattriya we moreover conclude from his sending his door-keeper and from other similar signs of power (mentioned in the text).—­Hence the Sudras are not qualified (for the knowledge of Brahman).

36.  On account of the reference to ceremonial purifications (in the case of the higher castes) and on account of their absence being declared (in the case of the Sudras).

That the Sudras are not qualified, follows from that circumstance also that in different places of the vidyas such ceremonies as the upanayana and the like are referred to.  Compare, for instance, Sat.  Br.  XI, 5, 3, 13, ‘He initiated him as a pupil;’ Ch.  Up.  VII, 1, 1, ’Teach me, Sir! thus he approached him;’ Pra.  Up.  I, 1, ’Devoted to Brahman, firm in Brahman, seeking for the highest Brahman they, carrying fuel in their hands, approached the venerable Pippalada, thinking that he would teach them all that.’—­Thus the following passage also, ’He without having made them undergo the upanayana (said) to them’ (Ch.  Up.  V, 11, 7), shows that the upanayana is a well-established ceremony[225].—­With reference to the Sudras, on the other hand, the absence of ceremonies is frequently mentioned; so, for instance, Manu X, 4, where they are spoken of as ‘once born’ only (’the Sudra is the fourth caste, once-born’), and Manu X, 126, ’In the Sudra there is not any sin, and he is not fit for any ceremony.’

37.  And on account of (Gautama) proceeding (to initiate Jabala) on the ascertainment of (his) not being that (i.e. a Sudra).