Hindu Administrative Institutions c6.s4.13

c6.s4.13

From this one can easily understand how even professions or *vṛttis* were fixed by birth in a caste or a community. But this was not a hard and fast rule. There was the exception so far as the *vṛtti* was concerned. Here we must guard against confounding the principles of *svadharma* with *vṛtti*. Though the latter finds a place in the category of *svadharma* yet it was not absolutely insisted upon. For *svadharma* refers to religious functions, the various penances, and miscellaneous rites and ceremonies. But *vrtti* refers to the worldly affairs of earning a livelihood. Sukra says¹ that the tilling of the soil by the Brahmans has been recommended by Manu and other teachers. Again in the *Śānti Parvan* of the *Mahābhārata*, in case of distress and for the sake of livelihood, a Brahman can live by taking to the profession of a Kṣatriya and even a Vaiśya.²