Claudius F. Mayer: From Plato to Pope Paul / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 17. (Budapest, 1989)

48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 50 See BOAS (1. c. in footnote 14). NANSEN; q. by CARR-SAUNDERS, 1. c., 151. Willoughby. 1886. cf. SUMNER (1. c. in footnote 16, 325, etc.)—See also BANCROFT, H. H. (1875-76): The Native Races etc., vol. 1. 112, New York. He mentions an old squaw who was abandoned by her children because she was blind. She was found wandering in the mountains of California. FUSTEL de COULANGES, N. D. (1920): The Ancient City, 12. ed. Boston. In the laws of MANU (III, 138; 274): "May there be successively born of our line sons who, in all coming time, may offer us rice, boiled in milk, honey, and clarified butter." The ancient Aryas said that the oldest was begotten for the accomplishment of the duty to the ancestors; the others wére the fruit of love. HAMMETT, F. S. (1928): Heredity concepts of the ancient Hindus. Scientific Monthly, 27, 452. "That one (plant) should be sown and another be produced cannot happen: whatever seed is sown (a plant of) that kind comes forth." (Laws of MANU, vol. 25, 9, 35-40). Cf. The Sacred Books of the East, Oxford Press. "The same seed which is laid is brought forth." (Satapatha Brahmana, vol. 41, 6, 1, 3, 20). "It is from the remote and downwards that a race is propagated" (Ibid., vol. 12, 1, 4, 2, 4). "Seed is.

.. infused into the descendants, and by that infused seed descendants are generated again and again" (Ibid., vol 12, 1, 5, 3, 16). "In the offspring thou art born again, that, mortal, is thy immortality." (Apastamba, vol 2., 2, 9, 24, 2). "The generative power is immortal." (Satapatha Brahmana, vol. 41, 7, 3, 1, 46). See Laws of MANU. See Laws of MANU, vol 25, 10, 59. The same source also contains practical rules for mate selection, and for avoiding ten kinds of families in marriage, including those in which never had been a male child. Girls with hemorrhoids, phthisis, weak digestion, epilepsy, white and black leprosy, thick reddish hair, etc, should not be taken into matrimony. (Cf. Laws of MANU, vol. 25, 3, 6-10). According to the legend, the caste system started long ago when the Hindus were still on the eastern highlands. Around 2000 B. C., the conquering Aryans were reluctant to mix with aboriginal tribes which were at a very low level of civilization. The castes were produced by Brahma; from his mouth came the Brahman (priest caste) from his arms the Rajput or Kshatra (soldier caste), from his legs the Waisya (merchant and agricultural caste), and from his feet the Sudra (servant caste). Below these are the untouchables or depressed classes. Cf. REIBMAYR A. (1897): "

Unzucht und Vermischung beim Menschen

", Leipz., 99. The four main castes, or varñas, are subdivided into about 3000 castes which are in turn broken down into several thousand subcastes; these are again split up into gotras or exogamous groups which finally are divisible into kulas or families. Cf. GILBERT, W. H. (1944): Peoples of India, Washington.

—MANTEGAZZA hoped that this Hindu caste system will sometimes disappear (Never, says REIBMAYR, 1. c., 99.) PETROS (1963): A study of polyandry, The Hague, 1963; mentions that polyandry has not been unknown is India, and among the ancient invaders of that country. The five Pandava brothers are heroes of the Mahabharata

; they all married Draupadi, having her in common, since she was won as a prize in an archery contest. She had five sons, and each brother affiliated to him only one son. Cf. GILBERT. (1. c. in footnote 57). Cf. REIBMAYR, 1. c. in footnote 56. See also footnote 55. The law is related to the faith in soul migration which holds that, according to their previous bad lives, people are punished to be reborn as deafmutes, blind, or otherwise crippled. Cf. REIBMAYR, I.e. Child marriage has been prohibited by the Sarda, Act of 1929. A religious prescription of Narada (Narada Brihaspati, XII, title of law, Sect. 25. and 27.) orders that "no girl should reach the period of her maturity without notifying her relatives. When these do not arrange a matrimony, then they must be considered almost as murders of the womb's fruit". See also DRONAMRAJU, K. R. (1967): Caste and consanguinity in Andha Pradesh. Eugenic Quarterly, 14: 238, where he states that the Hindu mating system becomes as random as in Europe or North America, after an existence of at least 3500 years. The consanguinity rate is rapidly declining. See also KUMAR S. et al. (1967): Consanguineous marriages and the genetic load due to lethal genes in Kerala.