Let us now come to the castes of the third type, the Vrâtyas, and their descendants. Vrätyas are those people who are born of twice-born castes marrying girls of equal caste, but have fallen in status as a consequence of neglecting the sacraments. Our writer has given more than a dozen castes as descendants of Vrātya-Brahmanas or Vrātya-Kshatriyas or Vrātya-Vaishyas. He makes no mention of their status. There is an important passage in which he mentions that several Kshatriya
the Mahär caste, which is a large but untouchably low caste, in the Maratha country. The story was told to me in my boyhood. I have forgotten the details of the story, but it runs somewhat like this: A boy of the Mahār caste who was very fair and handsome attended a Vedic school, called himself Brāhmana boy. In fact his father was only a keeper of dogs. The boy was a very clever and diligent student and the teacher being very much pleased with him gave him his daughter in marriage. The ill-assorted couple had several children, but the children instead of being desirous of studying Vedas played with bones and showed their fondness for dogs. (No one can conceal his real nature: the real nature will be manifest some time!) The Brāhmana's daughter, at once perceived the awkward and unbrahmanical tendencies of the boys, and suspected that her husband must have cheated her. She asked her husband about the matter and the husband confessed his guilt. The Brāhmana woman, extremely agonized for being thus polluted, ascended the funeral pyre. While dying she cursed her husband, that his children would be hated in the land of the Bhāratas. They shall be treacherous, worshippers of the rising sun, flatterers, and liars. (I think I am correct in recalling all the malicious adjectives.) They will worship dogs, their corpses will receive no cremation, but be devoured by vultures. But inasmuch as these children were progeny of hers they will take to trade, but will never get the rank of Vaishyas, but will be regarded perpetually as Mlechchhas. In the Maratha country there are still more fanciful theories about Englishmen, which need not be repeated here. Alberūnī in his work on India speaks of the habit of telling a tale among the Pundits, when they do not have any satisfactory explanation. He has given the Indian theory of the causes of difference of dress and manners between Arabs and Hindus.
