168 S C. Vidyabhnsnna —Vratya and SamJcara Theories of Caste. [No. 2, 
r III. * Sahara Castes. ' 
4 ■ ; • •• . 
In later Sanskrit works the word Vratya is very seldom found. 
The term that repeatedly occurs here is SamJcara. It is thus defined by 
Manu* :— 
u By adultery committed by persons of different castes, by marriages 
with women who ought not to be married, and by neglect of the duties 
prescribed by S'astras, are produced children who are called Varna- 
SamJcara (or simply SamJcara) 
Thus, according to tradition, Samkara signifies those castes that are 
said to have been produced by a mixture of different castes. As the 
mixture can take place in innumerable ways the number of mixed castes 
is unlimited. Thus the four original castes by intermarriage can give rise 
to twelve mixed castes. These twelve by mixture among themselves 
and with the four origiual castes may produce hundreds of other castes. 
In this way the mixed castes may be multiplied infinite-fold. This is a 
very brief statement of the traditional theory. My own theory about 
the Samkara is quite different. In my opinion, the Vratya and other 
people, having entered the hierarchy of Brahmanas, were called Samkara. 
The Samkaras were, in fact, the people (foreigners or aborigines) who 
entered the Brahmanic society at a comparatively late time. Let me 
illustrate my theory by reference to the Samkara castes mentioned in 
the Manusamhita (Book X). The Samkara castes which, according to 
Mann, were produced from parents of different castes are shown below 
with a short note of mine appended to some of them:— 
AmbastJia —is, according to Manu, son of a Brahmana father and 
Vaisya mother. But in all probability the Ambastha is identical with 
the tribe called Ambautai that, according to Ptolemy, lived in paropani- 
sadai (in Ariana) in the eastern part of the Hindu Kush mountain. 
Lassen thinks that these Ambautai may have been connected in some way 
with the Ambastai that lived round the country of Bettigoi. The locality 
of the Ambastai is quite uncertain. In Tule’s map they are placed doubt¬ 
fully to the south of the sources of the Mahanadi of Orissa. According to 
McCrindlef the Ambastai represent the Ambastha of Sanskrit, a people 
mentioned in the Epics, where it is said that they fought with the club 
for a weapon. In the time of Alexander tribes of Ambastkas lived in the 
Punjab (McCrindle’s Megasthenes, p. 149). 
Nisada .—According to Manu, son of a Brahmana father and Sudra 
mother. But in reality Xisada was-the name of an aboriginal people of 
sriitsr n ^3 n (Rgtrrrm \° i 
f McCrindle’s Ptolemy, pp. 160-161. 
