; but a
/S/udra does not study the Veda, for such study demands as its
antecedent the upanayana-ceremony, and that ceremony belongs to the
three (higher) castes only. The mere circumstance of being in a
condition of desire does not furnish a reason for qualification, if
capability is absent. Mere temporal capability again does not constitute
a reason for qualification, spiritual capability being required in
spiritual matters. And spiritual capability is (in the case of the
/S/udras) excluded by their being excluded from the study of the
Veda.--The Vedic statement, moreover, that the /S/udra is unfit for
sacrifices intimates, because founded on reasoning, that he is unfit for
knowledge also; for the argumentation is the same in both
cases[221].--With reference to the purvapakshin's opinion that the fact
of the word '/S/udra' being enounced in the sa/m/varga-knowledge
constitutes an inferential mark (of the /S/udra's qualification for
knowledge), we remark that that inferential mark has no force, on
account of the absence of arguments. For the statement of an inferential
mark possesses the power of intimation only in consequence of arguments
being adduced; but no such arguments are brought forward in the passage
quoted.[222] Besides, the word '/S/udra' which occurs in the
sa/m/varga-vidya would establish a claim on the part of the /S/udras to
that one vidya only, not to all vidyas. In reality, however, it is
powerless, because occurring in an arthavada, to establish the /S/udras'
claim to anything.--The word '/S/udra' can moreover be made to agree
with the context in which it occurs in the following manner. When
Jana/s/ruti Pautraya/n/a heard himself spoken of with disrespect by the
flamingo ('How can you speak of him, being what he is, as if he were
like Raikva with the car?' IV, 1, 3), grief (su/k/) arose in his mind,
and to that grief the /ri/shi Raikva alludes with the word /S/udra, in
order to show thereby his knowledge of what is remote. This explanation
must be accepted because a (real) born /S/udra is not qualified (for the
sa/m/varga-vidya). If it be asked how the grief (su/k/) which had arisen
in Janasruti's mind can be referred to by means of the word /S/udra, we
reply: On account of the rushing on (adrava/n/a) of the grief. For we
may etymologise the word /S/udra by dividing it into its parts, either
as 'he rushed into grief (/S/u/k/am abhidudrava) or as 'grief rushed on
him,' or as 'he in his grief rushed to R