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Pärasaka the fifth varna
P, V. Bapal,
In the Assalayana sutta No. 93 of the Majjhimanikaya, there is a discussion between Gotama Buddha and a young Brahmana, Assalā yana by name, about the superiority of the Brahmanas, claimed by the latter, over the other three social groups, Ksatriyas, Vaisyas and Sudras. He maintained that only the Brahmanas can be considered to be pure as against the view held by Gotama Buddha, that purity can be attained by all the three groups of Ksatrivas, Vaisyas and Sudras as much as by the Brahmanas.
In this connection Buddhaghosa tells us that, apparently, in his time there were not merely four social groups (varnas), but actually there were five varnas-Brahmaņas, Kssatriyas, Vaisyas, Sudras and a group, which he calls Parasaka.
The Commentator, Buddhaghosa, tells us that the fifth group was the result of a mixed marriage between persons belonging to different varņas. One who is born of a Ksatriya man and a Brāhmaṇa woman is called Ksa!riya Pārasaka and one who is born of a Brāhmana man and a Ksatriya woman is called a Brahman Parasaka. Boih the kinds of progeny are considered to be of low birth (hina-jati). They are considered to be an independent group, the fifth group (pancamassa vannassa atthitaya.) Her: he definitely asserts that there was a fifth varna. Thus in his time, the theory of four varnas only was definitely exploded and a fifth varna had already come to be recognised (Ettha catuvanno ti niyamo natthi; Pancomo hi Parasika-vanno pi atthi). Manusmrti (X. 4) denies the existence of a fifth group (nasti tu pancamah)
Now about the name Parasaka, There is no certainty about the correctness of this reading. The variants found are (Parisaka Padasaka.) I am inclined to believe that the reading here is corrupted, and the original may be Parasava, corresponding to the Sanskrit word Parasava. This word is found in Manusmrti and other Dharmasastral texts which all confirm that this is a name given to the progeny of a mixed marriage Manusmrti, however, restricts this word to the progeny of a Brahmana father and a Sudra mother. This progeny is also described in Manu (X, 8) as Nisāda. Even in the Mahabharata (BORI ed. 13. 48. 5) Parasava is described as follows
Param savad Brahmanas y esa putrah
Sudraputram Parasavam tam ahuh Vidura is also spoken of as Parasava (Sorensen's Index to the Mbh. I. 4361)
The identification of Parasava with Nisada has perhaps led to the use of this term (pancama varna) in south India for the out-caste people. And it is evident from the evidence of Buddhaghosa that this term had already come into existence by the time of Buddhaghosa.
1. See p. 140 in the Glossarial Index to Pracina Smrti by Suresh chandra Bannerji (Annals) of the
Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona, XL, 1960
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