The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c21.43

v1.c21.43

The Dharma Sūtras add to the data of social life material evidence which shows that there were recognised customs not approved in one part of the country but doubtfully admitted as good usage because locally approved in other parts. For, in discussing usage, Baudhāyana (*Dh.S.*, I, 1, 17 f.) expressly says that customs peculiar to the South are to eat in the company of an uninitiated person, in the company of one's wife, to eat stale food, and to marry the daughter of a maternal uncle or of a paternal aunt, while customs peculiar to the North are to deal in wool, to drink rum, to sell animals that have teeth in the upper and in the lower jaws, to follow the trade of arms, and to go to sea. He adds that to follow these practices except where they are considered right usage is to sin, but that for each practice the local rule is authoritative, though Gautama denies this¹. Baudhāyana also admits the doctrine that a priest who cannot support himself by the usual occupations of a Brāhman may take up arms and follow the profession of a warrior; though here again his opinion is opposed to that of the earlier Gautama, who argues that such an occupation on account of its cruelty is not fitted for a priest. Whether the Gautama here represented as opposed be the Gautama whose Sūtra has come down to us may be doubted, but the two passages show that caste-integrity was not regarded as essential, for no one could be a warrior and retain the mode of life deemed proper for a priest.