Mahābhārata

M. N. Dutt: Uma said O Holy one, O you who had torn off the cyes of Bhaga and the teeth of Pushan, O destroyer of the sacrifice of Daksha, O threecyed deity, I have a great doubt.

M. N. Dutt: Forinerly, the illustrious self-create created the four castes. Through the evil result of what deeds does a Vaishya became a Shudra?

M. N. Dutt: Through, what acts does a Kshatriya become a Vaishya and a Brahmana becomes a Kshatriya? By what means may such degradation of castes bc warded off?

M. N. Dutt: Through what deeds' does a Brahmana take birth in his next life, in the Shudra caste? Through what acts, O powerful deity, does a Kshatriya also come down to the status of a Shudra?

M. N. Dutt: O sinless one, O lord of all created beings, do you, O illustrious one, remove this doubt of mine. How, again can the three castes naturally succeed in acquiring the status Brahmanahood?

M. N. Dutt: The Illustrious One said The status of a Brahmana, O goddess is highly difficult to attain. O auspicious lady, one becomes a Brahmana through creation or birth. Similarly the Kshatriya, the Vaishya, and the Shudra, all becomes so through original creation. This is my opinion.

M. N. Dutt: He, however, that is born a Brahmana goes down from his status through his own evil deeds. Hence, the Brahmana, after having acquired the status of the first order, should always protect it.

M. N. Dutt: If one who is a Kshatriya or Vaishya performs those duties which are assigned to the Brahmana, after the manner of a Brahmana, he becomes a Brahman.

M. N. Dutt: That Brahmana who renounces the duties of his order for following those of the Kshatriya, is considered as one who has fallen away from the status of a Brahmana and who has become a Kshatriya.

M. N. Dutt: That little-witted Brahmana, who, moved by cupidity and folly, follows the practices assigned to Vaishyas, forgetful of his position as a Brahmana that is highly difficult to attain, comes to be considered as one who has become a Vaishya. Likewise, one who is a Vaishya by birth may, by following the practices of a Shudra, become a Shudra. Indeed, a Brahmana falling away from the duties of his own order. may go down to the status of even a Shudra.

M. N. Dutt: Such a Brahmana, degraded from the order of his birth and outcasted, without attaining to the region of Brahman, sinks into Hell, and in his next birth becomes born as a Shudra.

M. N. Dutt: A highly blessed Kshatriya or a Vaishya, who renounces the duties of his order, and follows the practices of a Shudra, falls away from his own order and becomes a person of mixed caste. It is in this way that a Brahmana, or a Kshatriya, or a Vaishya, comes by the position of a Shudra.

M. N. Dutt: That man who has acquired clearness of vision through practice of the duties of his own casic, who is gifted with knowledge and science, who is pure (in body and inind), who knows every duty and is devoted to the practice of all his duties, is sure to enjoy the rewards of virtue.

M. N. Dutt: I shall now recite to you, O goddess, a saying uttered by Brahman on this subject. The virtuous and those who are desirous of acquiring mcrit always pursue with firmness the culture of the soul.

M. N. Dutt: The food that comes from cruel and fierce persons is censurable. So also is the food that has been cooked for serving a large number of persons. The same is said of the food that is cooked for the first Shraddha of a dead person. So also is the food that is sullied for the usual faults and the food that is supplied by a Shudra. These should never be taken by a Brahmana at any time.

M. N. Dutt: The food of a Shudra, O goddess, is always disapproved of by the great deities. This, I think, is the authority enunciated by the Grandfather with his own mouth.

M. N. Dutt: If a Brahmana, who has set up the sacred fire and who performs sacrifices, were to die with any portion of a Shudra's food remaining undigested in his stomach, he is sure to be born a Shudra.

M. N. Dutt: On account of those remains of a Shudra's food in his stomach, he falls away from the position of a Brahmana. Such a Brahmana becomes surely a Shudra.

M. N. Dutt: The Brahmana in his next life comes by the position of that order upon whose food he lives through life or with the undigested portion of whose food in his stomach he dies.

M. N. Dutt: That man who having acquired the sacred position of a Brahmana which is so difficult to acquire, disregards it and eats forbidden food, falls away from his high status.

M. N. Dutt: That Brahmana who drinks alcohol, who becomes guilty of Brahmanicide or mean in his conduct, or a thief, or who breaks his vows, or becomes impure, or unmindful of his Vedic studies, or sinful, or characterised by cupidity, or guilty of cunning, or a cheat, or who does not observe vows, or who marries a Shudra woman, or who derives his livelihood by pandering to the lusts of other people, or who sells the Soma plant, or who serves a person of a low caste, falls away from his status of Brahman-hood.

M. N. Dutt: That Brahmana who violates the bed of his preceptor, or who takes a pleasure in speaking ill of him, falls away from the status of Brahmanahood even if he knows Brahma.

M. N. Dutt: By these good deeds again, O goddess, when performed, a Shudra becomes Brahmana, and Vaishya becomes Kshatriya.

M. N. Dutt: The Shudra should perform all the duties sanctioned for him, properly and according to the ordinance. He should always serve, with obedience and humility, persons of the three others castes and serve them with care.

M. N. Dutt: Always following the path of virtue, the Shudra should cheerfully do all this. He should honour the celestials and twiceborn persons. He should observe the vow of hospitality to all persons.

M. N. Dutt: Always following the path of virtue, the Shudra should cheerfully do all this. He should honour the celestials and twiceborn persons. He should observe the vow of hospitality to all persons. With senses kept under control and becoming abstemious in food, he should never approach his wife except in her season. He should ever search after persons who are holy and pure. As regards food, he should eat that which remains after the needs of all persons have been fulfilled. If, indeed, the Shudra wishes to be a Vaishya (in his next life), he should also abstain from meat of animals not killed in sacrifices. If a Vaishya wishes to be a Brahmana (in his next life), he should perform these duties. He should be truthful in speech, and shorn of pride or arrogance. He should be above all pairs of opposites. He should observe the duties of peace and tranquility. He should worship the celestials in sacrifices, attend with devotion to the study and recitation of the Vedas, and become pure in body and mind. He should keep his senses under control, honour the Brahmanas, and seek the behoof of all the orders. Living like a householder and eating only twice a day at the appointed hours, he should satisfy his hunger with only such food as reinains after all the members of his family with dependants and guests have been fed. He should be abstemious in food, and act without being actuated by the desire of reward. He should be free from egotism. He should worship the deities in the Agnihotra and pour libations according to the ordinance. Performing the duties of hospitality towards all persons, he should, as already said, cat the food that remains after serving all others for whom it has been cooked. He should, according to the ordinances laid down, adore the three fires. Such a Vaishya of pure conduct is born in his next life in a high Kshatriya family.

M. N. Dutt: If a Vaishya, after having taken birth as a Kshatriya, performs the usual purificatory rites, becomes invested with the sacred thread, and betakes himself of the observance of vows, he becomes, in his next life, an honoured Brahmana.

M. N. Dutt: Indeed, after his birth as a Kshatriya, he should make presents, worship the deities in great sacrifices with profuse presents, study the Vedas, and desirous of attaining to Heaven, should adore the three fires.

M. N. Dutt: He should interfere for removing the sorrows of the distressed, and should always rightcously cherish and protect his subjects. He should be truthful, and do all true works, and seek happiness in conduct like this.

M. N. Dutt: He should administer proper punishments, without laying aside the rod of punishment for good. He should induce men to do righteous deeds. Guided by considerations of policy, he should take a sixth of the produce of the fields.

M. N. Dutt: He should never indulge in sexual pleasure, but live cheerfully and independently, wellconversant with the science of Wealth or Profit. Of righteous soul, he should seek his married with only in her season.

M. N. Dutt: He should always observe fasts, keep his soul under restraint, devote himself to the study of the Vedas, and be pure in body and mind, He should sleep on blades of Kusha grass spread out in his fired chamber.

M. N. Dutt: He should pursue the three-fold objects of life, and be always cheerful. He should always say "it is ready” to Shudras desirous of food.

M. N. Dutt: He should never wish for anything from motives of gain or pleasure. He should adore the ancestors and gods and guests.

M. N. Dutt: In his own house he should live the life of a mendicant. He should duly worship the deities in his Agnihotra, morning, noon, and evening every day, by pouring libations according to the ordinance.

M. N. Dutt: With his face turned towards the enemy, he should renounce his life-breaths in battle fought for the behoof of kine and Brahmanas. Or he may enter the three fires sanctified with Mantras and renounce his body. By doing all this he is born in his next life as a Brahmana.

M. N. Dutt: Gifted with knowledge and science, purified from all dross, and fully conversant with the Vedas, a pious Kshatriya, by his own deeds, becomes, a Brahmana.

M. N. Dutt: It is with the help of these deeds, goddess, that a person who has originated from a dreaded caste, viz., a Shudra, may become a Brahmana purged off of all sins and possessed of Vedic learning.

M. N. Dutt: One who is a Brahmana, when he becomes wicked in conduct and observes no distinction about food, falls away from the status of Brahmanahood and becomes a Shudra.

M. N. Dutt: Even a Shudra, O goddess, who has purified his soul by pure deeds and who has controlled all his senses, deserves to be waited upon and served with respect as a Brahmana. This has been said by the SelfCreate Brahman himself.

M. N. Dutt: When a pious nature and pious deeds are seen in even a Shudra, he should, according to my opinion, be held supcrior to a person of the three twiceborn classes.

M. N. Dutt: Neither birth, nor the purificatory rites, nor learning, nor offspring, can be considered as grounds for conferring upon one the dignity of a twiceborn person Indeed, conduct is the only ground.

M. N. Dutt: All Brahmanas in this world are Brahmanas on account of conduct. A Shudra, if he is of good conduct, is considered as equal to a B-ahmana.

M. N. Dutt: The position of Brahma, O auspicious lady, is equal wherever it exists. This is my opinion. He, indeed, is a Brahmana in whom the dignity of Brahman exists, that condition which is bereft of qualities and which has no stain attached to it.

M. N. Dutt: The boongiving Brahman, while he created all creatures, himself said that the division of human beings into the four orders as dependant on birth is only for purposes of classification.

M. N. Dutt: The Brahmana is a great field in this world, a field having feet, for it moves from place to place. He who plants seeds in that field, O beautiful lady, reaps the corps in the next world.

M. N. Dutt: That Brahmana who wishes to secure his own good, should always live upon the remains of the food that may remain in his house after satisfying the need of all others. He should always follow the path of virtue. Indeed, he should tread along the path of Brahma.

M. N. Dutt: He should live, engaged in the study of the Samhitas, and remaining at home he should perform all the duties of a householder. He should always be given to the study of the Vedas, but be should never derive the means of livelihood from such study.

M. N. Dutt: That Brahmana who always acts thus, following the path of virtue, adoring his sacred fire, and engaged in the study of the Vedas, comes to be considered as Brahma.

M. N. Dutt: Having acquired the position of a Brahinana, it should always be protected with care, O you of sweet smiles, by avoiding the stain of contact with persons born in inferior castes, by abstaining from the acceptance of gifts, and by other acts laid down in the scriptures.

M. N. Dutt: I have thus told you a mystery, viz., the manner in which a Shudra may become a Brahmana, or that by which a Brahmana falls away from his own pure position and becomes a Shudra, stain of contact with persons born in inferior castes, by abstaining from the acceptance of gifts, and by other acts laid down in the scriptures.

M. N. Dutt: I have thus told you a mystery, viz., the manner in which a Shudra may become a Brahmana, or that by which a Brahmana falls away from his own pure position and becomes a Shudra,