ksatriyas and vaisyas and sacred thread

[Guest guest]

Below are snips from correspondence I've been having and am forwarding here

for further discussion.

 

Although ksatriyas and vaisyas are also entitled to wear a sacred thread, it

has traditionally been the special prerogative of brahmanas.

 

Not that simply vaishyas & kshatriyas were also entitled to wear the sacred

thread, but that it was part of their kula-dharma, family duties. They were

obliged to undergo the samskaras and study the vedas. When these practices

went from compulsory to ceremonial is hard to say. The slide seems to have

begun at the beginning of the present kali-yuga, when most of the Rajas were

killed at Kurukshetra or during Krishna-lila. And most certainly it

accelerated during the period of Buddhism and under the rule of mlecchas &

yavanas.