292 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
III. 13. It is declared that a Sudra woman alone can be the wife of a Shudra.
III. 14. A Shudra woman is not mentioned even in any (ancient) story as the (first) wife of a Brahmana or of a Kshatriya, though they lived in the (greatest) distress.
III. 15. Twice-born men who, in their folly, wed wives of the low (Sudra) caste, soon degrade their families and their children to the state of Sudras.
III. 16. According to Atri and to (Gautama) the son of Utathya, he who weds a Sudra woman becomes an outcast, according to Saunakaon the birth of a son, and according to Bhrigu he who has (male)offspring from a (Sudra female, alone).
III. 17. A Brahmana who takes a Sudra wife to his bed, will (after death) sink into hell; if he begets a child by her, he will lose the rank of a Brahmana.
III. 18. The manes and the gods will not eat the (offerings) of that man who performs the rites in honour of the gods, of the manes, and of guests chiefly with a (Sudra wife’s) assistance, and such (a man) will not go to heaven.
III. 19. For him who drinks the moisture of a Sudra’s lips, who is tainted by her breath, and who begets a son on her, no expiation is prescribed.
Brahmanism was not satisfied with the prohibition of intermarriage. Brahmanism went further and prohibited interdining.
Manu lays down certain interdicts on food. Some are hygenic. Some are social. Of the social the following are worthy of attention:
IV. 218. Food given by a king, impairs his manly vigour; by one of the servile class, his divine light; by goldsmiths, his life; by leathercutters, his good name.
IV. 219. Given by cooks and the like mean artizans, it destroys his offsprings: by a washerman, his muscular strength;
IV. 221. That of all others, mentioned in order, whose food must never be tasted, is held equal by the wise to the skin, bones, and hair of the head.
IV. 222. Having unknowingly swallowed the food of any such persons, he must fast during three days; but having eaten it knowingly, he must perform the same harsh penance, as if he had tasted any seminal impurity, ordure, or urine.
I said that Brahmanism acted with the ferocity of an outranged brute in undertaking the task of prohibiting intermarriage and interdining. Those who have doubts in this matter ponder over the language of Manu.