For the same reason, since the tribal blood and life is communicated through males, the birth and standing of the mother are of little importance, and children are, as has been seen, easily admitted to their father's rank.

But already in Manu's time the later and present view that both the father and mother must be of full status in the clan, tribe or caste in order to produce a legitimate child, has begun to prevail, and the children of all mixed marriages are relegated to a lower group.

The offspring of these mixed unions did probably give rise to a class of different status in the village community.

The lower-caste mother would usually have been taken into the father's house and her children would be brought up in it.

Thus they would eat the food of the household, even if they did not participate in the sacrificial feasts; and a class of this kind would be very useful for the performance of menial duties in and about the household, such as personal service, bringing water, and so on, for which the Sudras, owing to their impurity, would be unsuitable.