15'8 S. C. Yidyabhusana —Vratya and Samltara Theories of Casie. [No. 2, 
scholars* have asserted that the Graha-vipras (whose occupation consists 
in the science of planets) belong to a certain branch of the S'aka-dvipi 
Brahmans. The Kula-panji (family-record) of a certain class of Graha- 
vipras does, in fact, corroborate the assertion. Jyotis ^astra (the science 
of time and planets) is indeed regarded in the Suryya-siddhanta as 
having been first propounded by a person f who descended from the 
disc of the Sun (£aka-dvipi Brahmana?). On the other hand, I should 
add here that the ancestors of other Graha-vipras J were the same as 
those of other classes of Brahmans in India. Referring to the Indian 
Brahmans, who are designated as Sophists, Arrian § (in the second 
century A. D.) observes :— 
“To this class the knowledge of divination among the Indians is 
exclusively restricted, and none but a Sophist is allowed to practise that 
art.” 
II. Yratya Castes. 
In the previous section we have fonnd that each of the four original 
castes had to observe certain religions rites enjoined on it by pastras. 
Those members of the first three castes who would not observe these 
rites, specially those who failed to invest themselves with the sacred 
thread at the proper time, had to be degraded from their community. 
These unfortunate members were called Vratyas or fallen. Vratya is thus 
defined to be a Brahmana, Ksatriya or Yai^ya who has lost caste through 
non-observance of gastric rites. In the Manu-samhitaj| the word Yratya 
is thus defined :— 
“ Those children whom the twice-born beget on wives of equal 
caste, but who, not fulfilling their sacred duties, are excluded from the 
Savitrl (investiture with the sacred thread), one must designate by the 
appellation Yratyas.” 
* In this connection vide Mahiunahopadhyaya Hara Prasad Sastri in the Pro¬ 
ceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, December 1901, and Babu Nagendra 
Nath Yasu in Banger Jatiya Itihasa. 
*r^T’ ^ ii ( \ I ^ ) H 
X The Sarajupari Graha-vipras came to Bengal from Ondh (vide their Kula- 
pnnji). 
§ McOrindle’s Megasthenes and Arrian, p. 209. 
man vfa n 
( \ c i ) n 
