The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c10.2

c10.2

It will, however, be well before we examine more closely the question of the participation of the *khattiyas* in the spiritual activities of that time, to make clear who the *khattiyas* were. We are accustomed to identify the Pali expression corresponding in Sanskrit to the word *kshatriya* with "warrior" and thus characterise the second highest caste in the Brahmanical theory as "warrior caste." If we, however, freeing ourselves from the influence of the theory consider the data relating to the *kshatriyas* contained in the epics, then we become aware that the expression "warrior" applies only in a certain sense to them, that we have rather to understand by a *kshatriya* a member of the ruling class which includes the king, his great lords and vassals, along with the higher portions of the army.¹ In a still more narrow sense is the concept of the *khattiya* of the Pali texts to be understood; it corresponds to the Vedic *rájanya* and is applied to the descendants of the victorious classes under whose leadership the Aryan people acquired their new dwelling-places in the Gangetic lands and to the conquerors of the aboriginal peoples who in their fight with foreign invaders maintained their independence. According to this, there belong to the *khattiya* class the kings standing at the head of the great monarchies of the east with their kinsmen—the rulers of Kośala, Magadha, Videha, etc.,—further, the ruling princely houses of the small bordering states of this kingdom, such as the family of the Sâkyas in Kapilavatthu, the Mallas of Kusinârâ and Pâvâ, the Licchavis of Vesâlî; on the other hand, the holders of high political and military offices do not belong as such to this class but only so far as they are connected with ruling houses. In the time of war, probably, there fell to the *khattiyas* who were also invested with the highest offices in the army, the chief part in the conduct of the war and so far they could be looked upon as “warriors *par excellence*”; but it would be a mistake to suppose that the *khattiyas* only held military offices or that the army was composed only of *khattiyas*.¹