The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c14.168

c14.168

Things were different in the eastern lands. Through the liberality of the Khattiyas in possession of great land, there were no such strict caste-rules restraining individual conduct and this would lead to a limited or cautious use of the goods presented. At every step we find Brâhmaṇas driving the plough in the Jâtakas and not only such as had their lands cultivated by slaves or day-labourers but also small farmers who worked their fields themselves. We read of a Brâhmaṇa who goes along with his son to the field and ploughs it, whilst the boy collects the weeds and burns them (III. 163); another Brâhmaṇa unyokes his oxen after ploughing and begins to work upon his land with a spade (V. 68). The poor Brâhmaṇa farmer of the Somadatta Jâtaka who ploughs with two oxen complains, as one of his oxen is dead, that he cannot any more drive his plough (*kasikammam na pavattati* II. 165).