[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897) › c12.42 # The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c12.42 The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c12.42 - **Language:** English ### [c12.42](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c12.42) As the last of the royal officers who occupied a public office, the executioner, the \*coraghātaka\*, must be mentioned¹ who came close to the \*nagaraguttika\* and who sometimes represented him. According to the lawbooks¹ the office of the executioner was exclusively in the hands of the people belonging to the despised classes, Candâlas and Śvapacas; thus even in ancient India—at certain times and in certain places—this profession had the same contemptuous odour about it which it had in the Middle Ages when one pointed out the executioner among the "unholy people". The Jâtakas know nothing of such a contempt attaching to the position of the coraghâtaka; rather, parades and ceremonial processions in which he appeared in front of the king, point to a certain respect which the executor of the king's commands enjoyed. When summoned, he comes, a hatchet and a thorny rope in his hand, dressed in a yellow garment and adorned with a cross of red flowers, salutes the king and asks for his commands (III. 41; so also III. 179). - [Previous: c12.41](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c12.41) - [Next: c12.43](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c12.43) - [Up: c12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c12) ## Linked texts (1) - [Jātaka](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.jataka.313) — Pāli --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c12.42](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c12.42) · Pramāṇa