The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c10.14

c10.14

In the introduction to the Jâtakas, in the Nidânakathâ which in a legendary form contains the history of Buddha before his last birth, as well as his life-history before the attainment of his *Buddha* condition, it is narrated that the future Buddha reflects in which caste he will be re-born. "The Buddhas," he thinks, "have never been born in the Vessa or the Sudra caste, but they have been born in one or other of the two highest classes, the Khattiya caste or the Brâhmaṇa caste; and because *just now the Khattiya caste is the highest*¹ (I. 49), I will take my rebirth in this caste.” One should never, however, attach much importance to this sentence as well as to the prominence given to Khattiya monks in other passages of the Nidânakathâ and in the explanation of the commentator mentioned above (§ 10 of Chap. 2), because the Nidânakathâ,² in which really we see no portion of the Jâtakas but rather a tradition independent of it and externally connected with it, as well as the commentary is of later origin and because its author probably imagines that the caste to which Buddha actually belonged is the highest. On the other hand, it must be admitted that such haughtiness as is exhibited in the words of Arindama (V. 257) already quoted, is hardly thinkable if the Khattiya did not as a matter of fact feel himself as of higher rank than the Brâhmaṇas. This perfectly agrees with the description given in the Digha Nikâya of the interview between the Brâhmaṇa Pokkharasâdi and the Kosala King Pasenadi: "The latter"—so it is said (III. 26)—"never allows the Brâhmaṇa who is a dependant of his to see his face; even when he consults him he speaks to him through a curtain." This is further in agreement with the complaint of the Brâhmaṇa Ambaṭṭha regarding the conduct of the haughty Sâkyas.¹ The complaint is as follows: He came one day to Kapilavatthu and entered the hall of the Sâkyas where they were seated upon high chairs. At his entrance he was pushed back with the finger² amidst a loud outburst of laughter, and indeed they made merry at his expense and nobody asked him to take his seat.