On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c8.s8.3

v1.c8.s8.3

It will be seen from this passage that Yuan-chuang, like other Chinese writers on India, understood the term *Brāhman* as meaning those who had *brahman* in the sense of a *chaste continent habit of life*. The Kshatriyas were the hereditary rulers, and as such their minds were to be bent on benevolence and mercy. This is in accordance with Manu who lays it down that the king should be a protector to his people.¹ Yuan-chuang here puts the castes in the order given in brahmin books, but in the Buddhist scriptures the Kshatriyas are usually placed above the Brāhmins. The phrase which he applies to the Vaiśyas, whom he calls the trading caste, viz. "they barter what they have not" is one of some interest. The words are *mao-ch'ien-yu-wu* (貿遷有無), and they are to be found in the Shu-ching with the substitution of 貿 for 懋, the two characters having the same sound but very different meanings.² Our pilgrim, it will be noticed, makes the Śūdras to be farmers. But in Manu, and in some Buddhist works, the Vaiśyas are farmers, and the business of the Śūdras is to serve the three castes above them.³