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Sramanic Critique of Brāhmaṇism
59
account of intermixture the purity by birth of the Varnas is impossible to discover. What is more, men are alike in social as well as sexual behaviour. It is conduct alone which distinguishes them. All men are alike Sūdras before they are born through Vedic studies. One becomes a Brāhmaṇa only through refined and purified conduct.
'Jätiratra mahāsarpa manus yatvemahāmate / sankarät sarvavarnănām dus pariksyeti me matih // sarve sarvāsvapatyani jana yanti sadā narāḥ/ vän maithunamatho janma maranam ca samam nặnäml/ tāvacchūdra samo hyeşa yävad vede na jayate / tasminnevam matidvedhe manuḥ svāyambhuvo'bravit // patredānim mahāsarpa samskytam vrttamisyate /
tam brāhmaṇamaham pūrvamuktavān bhujagottamall' “O wise and great serpent, it is my belief that caste is extremely difficult to ascertain among men because of miscegenation among all classes. Any man is capable of begetting a child in any woman. All human beings are alike in speech, sexual behaviour, birth and death. A man remains a Sūdra till he is born in the Veda. In this dilemma such is the decision of Manu, the son of Svayambhu. O great serpent, if sacramentally purified conduct is to be found in some one, I would call him Brāhmaṇa”.
It is worth noticing that in this context the supreme end of man is described as one which is free from pain and pleasure -- nirduhkhamasukham ca yat/' Such a state is attainable through truth, liberality and non-violence. The stress on Ahimsā, the emphasis on an end be. yond desires, and on conduct as the basis of social respect, not birth, these ideas together constitute a world of belief which is distinctly Sramanic and appears to represent a kind of adaptive reform move. ment within orthodoxy, a situation which is illustrated most conspi. cuously by the Gitā and the Sāntiparvan.
It is worth mentioning at this point that some scholars have pro posed to link the anti-caste attitude of Buddhist and Jaina thinkers with the fact of their affiliation with the Kşattriya republics of northeastern India. Just as it was held at one time that these reform movements were championed by the Kșattriyas against Brāhmaṇic orthodoxy,
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