व्यवहारमयूख (नीलकण्ठ भट्ट - पश्चिमी भारत की हिन्दू न्याय-संहिता एवं व्यवहार कोष)

286 VYAVAHĀRAMAYŪKHA | [ B. X. 28
[ M p. 185 ll. 5-22 ]
kauṭumbika ( the general family servant ). '
Kātyāyana says
According to Bhṛgu one who is free by giving himself ( to another )
becomes a slave like a wife.¹ Slavery should be known as limited to three
varņas ( classes ) in no case can a brāhmaṇa become a slave *Slavery of
men of the kṣatriya vaiś ya and śūdra classes who give up their freedom
is to be in the descending order of the classes and not in the inverse
order ²
Nārada ( p 187 v 89 ) says :
Slavery is not ordained in the inverse order of the ( four classes )³
Kātyāyana says
Where the three twice-born classes are fallen from the order of ascetics
there ( the king ) should banish a brāhmaṇa ( apostate ) and a kṣatriya
( apostate ) should be reduced to slavery This is the view of Bhṛgu.
The mention of kṣatra ( in Kātyāyana ) is intended to include the
vaiśya and śūdra also ⁴ Dakṣa and Nārada describe the method of banish-
ing a brāhmaṇa
He who having entered the order of asceticism does not abide by the
peculiar duties of that order should be instantly banished by the king
after having branded on his skin the mark of dog s foot
Kātyāyana says
A brāhmaṇa should not be made a slave even to a brāhmaṇa. But a
brāhmaṇa may if he so desires, do work for another brāhmaṇa who is
possessed of good character and Vedic learning and to whom he is inferior
( in these respects ) But even then a brāhmaṇa should not do impure
1 Just as a woman by rendering up her person to her husband as his wife becomes
his dependent, so when a free man offers himself as belonging to another, he becomes a slave.
2 The first half is the same as Yāj. II. 183 (latter half). A kṣatriya, vaiś ya or a śūdra
can be the slave of a brāhmaṇa, a vaiś ya or s'ūdra can be the slave of a kṣatriya and a
s'ūdra of the vaiś ya.
3. The latter half of this verse is except where a man violates the duties peculiar
to his class and status. Slavery is like the condition of a wife A brāhmaṇa could marry
a girl of his own or of any of the three other classes so a kṣatriya or vais ya could be the
slave of a brāhmaṇa but just as a kṣatriya or vais ya male could not have as his wife a
girl of a higher class, so a man of a higher class could not be the slave of one of a lower
class. Nārada says generally that a man who violates the duties of his caste may become
the slave of one of a lower caste, while Yāj. II. 183 restricts this general rule by saying
that one who is an apostate from sannyāsa ( even though a brāhmaṇa ) becomes the slave
of the king alone but Kātyāyana prescribes that a brāhmaṇa apostate from sannyāsa
should be banished and any one of the other classes should be made a slave of the king.
4 This note of Nīlakaṇṭha shows that he held that even s'ūdras could go into the
order of sannyāsa. But the trend of the dharmaśāstras and other ancient authorities is
that a s'ūdra could not be a sannyāsin. Vide 30 Bom. 168 at p. 174 where it was assumed
that sannyāsīs are confined to the three higher castes.
P 207 ( text )