Cultural Study of Nisitha Curni

Author(s): Madhu Sen
Publisher: Sohanlal Jain Dharm Pracharak Samiti Amrutsar

Page 99

SOCIAL LIFE
79
birth merely, uninitiated in heart, respect is due.1 Mention has been made of the Brāhmanas who in spite of belonging to chaste Brāhmaṇa family were not versed in Śrutis and Smộtis or in the art of sacrifice.2 Such Brāhmaṇas or the Sottiyaputtas (i.e. the sons of a Srotriya), as they have been called in the NC.", may be compared with the jati-Brahmaņas of Patañjali as according to him, “the person devoid of tapas and Vedic study is a Brāhmaṇa by birth alone.?4
(iv) Duties of the Brāhmaṇas—The Brāhmaṇas formed the intellectual section of society; they were usually called as șațkarmaniratas (engaged in six activities). The six duties of the Brāhmaṇas, enumerated in the NC., are : offering sacrifice (yajana), performing sacrifice for others (yajana), study (adhyayana), teaching ! adhya pana), giving gifts (dana) and receiving gifts (prati graha). These six duties of the Brāhmaṇas have been enumerated by Manu? who adds that receiving gifts was the principal means of their livelihood.
So far as the duties of study and teaching (adhyayana, adhya pana) are concerned, the learned Brāhmaṇas acquired the knowledge of the 14 Vidyās or sciences by staying in the Gurukulas for a number of years. Evidently, there must have been efficient Brāhmaṇa teachers who imparted the sacred lore to the students. A highly appreciative account of the different
1. Harsacarita, p. 7. 2. Filadagat fa g farturafatraforat sitfr*:"--NC. 3, p. 412. 3. Ibid. 4. 91:appi TT ETT ETTET ET UT : -Mahābhāsya, Vol. 1, p. 411 and
Vol. II, p. 363. 5. Bfar afat qeshiferay-NC. 3, p. 415. 6. ATA JE TR 37274 372219 CT af-Ibid.; also Pauma
cariyo, 105. 21; Mahāpurāna, 16. 264. 7. अध्यापनमध्ययनं यजनं याजनं तथा । दानं प्रतिग्रहश्चैव षटकर्माण्यग्रजन्मनः॥ षण्णां
तु कर्मणामस्य त्रीणि कर्माणि जीविका। याजनाध्यापने चैव विशुद्धाच्च प्रतिग्रहः ।।
Mānavadharmaśāstra, 10.75-76. 8. NC. 3, pp. 92, 413; Uttarādhyayana Tikā, 8, p. 123.