5. Possibility of Changing One's Caste
Was there any possibility of changing from one caste into another, in the times under consideration? I think not. There is one reference to Vishvamitra becoming a Brāhmana owing to his humility (vii, 42), but here the writer is speaking of times long gone by and we have no reason to infer that he meant that a person could become a Brāhmana in his days by adopting good conduct. This idea is entirely foreign to our text. Again, this verse is included in the treatment of duties of Kshatriya and the object is to point out to the kings the great importance of their being humble (toward priests) and courteous, and to show how things recognized as most difficult to be accomplished can be accomplished through modest demeanor. Our text again says (x, 41) that through the power of austerities or by or through the power of descent (the seed) the people obtain more exalted or lower rank among men in successive generations. In this passage the author makes a statement that the people can raise their status by austerities. This is no doubt true. That a caste, or a group of men in a certain caste, may receive sacraments, and adopt purer conduct, and thus raise their status, is a phenomenon which he is recording, and is true even of to-day, but whether a person could go from one caste into another is something not known. It may not be impossible that a tribal chief, calling himself a Kshatriya and succeeding in inducing Brāhmanas to confer on him the sacraments, may even marry with another person of Kshatriya varna. But I have shown that Kshatriya was not a caste
