ve
in concealment or openly, they should be known by their occupations. The
duties have been laid down in the scriptures for only the four principal
orders. As regards the others the scriptures are entirely silent. Among
all the orders, the members of those castes that have no duties assigned
to them by the scriptures, need have no fears as to what they do (to earn
their livelihood). Persons unaccustomed to the performance or for whom
sacrifices have not been laid down, and who are deprived of the company
and the instructions of the righteous whether numbered among the four
principal orders or out of their pale, by uniting themselves with women
of other castes, led not by considerations of righteousness but by
uncontrolled lust, cause numerous mixed castes to come into existence
whose occupations and abodes depend on the circumstances connected with
the irregular unions to which they owe their origin. Having recourse to
spots where four roads meet, or crematoria, or hills and mountains, or
forests and trees, they build their habitations there. The ornaments they
wear are made of iron. Living in such places openly, they betake
themselves to their own occupations to earn their livelihood. They may be
seen to live in this way, adorning their persons with ornaments and
employed in the task of manufacturing diverse kinds of domestic and other
utensils. Without doubt, by assisting kine and Brahmanas, and practising
the virtues of abstention from cruelty, compassion, truthfulness of
speech, and forgiveness, and, if need be, by preserving others by laying
down their very lives, persons of the mixed castes may achieve success. I
have no doubt, O chief of men, that these virtues become the causes of
their success. He that is possessed of intelligence, should, taking
everything into consideration, beget offspring according to the
ordinances of the scriptures, upon women that have been declared proper
or fit for him. A son begotten upon a woman belonging to a degraded
caste, instead of rescuing the sire, brings him to grief even as a heavy
weight brings to grief a swimmer desirous of crossing water. Whether a
man happens to be possessed of learning or not, lust and wrath are
natural attributes of humanity in this world. Women, therefore, may
always be seen to drag men into the wrong path. This natural disposition
of women is such that man's contact with her is productive of misery to
him. Hence, men possessed of wisdom do not suffer