The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c10.21

c10.21

But even when we ascribe a great portion of the pre-eminence of the Khattiyas appearing in the Pali texts to the monks who were ill-disposed towards Brahmanism, there remains enough ground for supposing an actual superiority of the ruling class.¹ And this superiority of the Khattiyas appears not only in the social domain which was assured to them through their material power itself; just in the spiritual region, the princely families of the East fought for supremacy with Brâhmaṇas engaged in the ceremonial of the sacrifice as well as with grossly worldly Brâhmaṇas. We need not confine ourselves to Buddhistic literature to prove this; it is a known fact that in the Upanishads kings appear very often as teachers of Brâhmaṇas.¹ This circumstance makes the supposition well-grounded that the deep thoughts of the Upanishad doctrine which