Varna and one more, Question by Ravi Chandrasekhara MD

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Mon, 15 Oct 2001, ravi chandrasekhara wrote:

> 4. But what about Thai and Balinese Brahmins:  They
> appear to be descendents of Brahmin males from India
> and local women of those lands; then how can they be
> Brahmins birth according to the Dharma-Shastras ?
>

This is an excellent question.  Someone should do some research into it.
Personally I'm not aware of specific references.  I do recall reading that
Suryavarman the Cambodian king who built Angkor Wat (his name indicates
that he considered himself a Kshatriya) married a princess of the Chola
empire.  So it is likely that there were other Indian settlers in that
area other than Brahmans.  Perhaps the same is true for Bali.  If anyone
has further informtion I'd like to know about it.


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