A Dharmic Question

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

This was sent to me.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nomadeva Sharma <nomadeva at yahoo.com>
To: jaldhar at BRAINCELLS.COM
Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2001 15:14:34 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Your mail on the Advaita list.

Namaste Shri Jaladhar,

I read the thread, 'A Dharmic question' posted on the
Advaita-L archives at escribe.com. Since I think that
you put commendable efforts to sustain sanAtana
dharma, I am writing this to you.

What I have read is different from what you have
mentioned. The caste of the offsprings of anuloma are
not brAhmaNas. Manu himself says that though the
'seed' is from a higher caste, that of mother brings
down the caste of offspring. Later in the 10th
chapter, Manu gives the castes of different mixtures.
For example, the offspring of brAhmaNa male and a
vaishya female is an ambaShTha.

Though all anulomajas have the same duties to do as a
dvijas, their primary occupation is different (a
brAhmaNa's primary occupation is vedAdhyayana and
teaching); for ex, offspring of brahmana+kshatriya
female would be charioteers (I might be wrong here),
that of Brahmana male and vaishya female would be
medicine.

I have read pertinent sections in gautama, Apasthamba
and parAshara smritis. They all concur.

I am not sure of this, but whether the first wife is a
'savarNajA' or not, is a factor that decides whether
the act of marrying out of caste incurs sin or not;
not the status of offsprings.

Regards,
NDS

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