Hindu Administrative Institutions c8.s2.24

c8.s2.24

To this sentiment may be added another dictum of Yājñavalkya. The latter says, ‘he is no Brahman worthy of respect if he is devoid of good character, though learned and austere.’³ The same idea is repeatedly insisted on in the pages of the *Mahābhārata*. A Brahman devoid of good conduct could not be termed a Brahman but a Brāhmaṇaka, a man of low caste. That is patent to demonstrate the social equality of all castes and communities. The idea underlying this fact is that it is character and conduct that made and unmade the castes.⁴ Any Brahman who fell short of the ideal of his *svadharma* was not respected but regarded as a degraded outcaste.⁵