The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c20.8

v1.c20.8

In point of fact, even the Buddhist writings recognise the formal castes; and it is simply impossible that a social structure so widely pervading as that of the so-called castes, a structure revealed not by didactic works alone but implicitly as well as explicitly presented to us in every body of writings whether orthodox or heterodox, should have been made out of whole cloth. What we loosely call by this name to-day are later refinements; and we do not need to turn to Buddhist works to show that in ancient times the castes were merely orders socially distinct but not very strictly separated or ramified into such sub-divisional castes as obtain at the present time.