[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) › c14.45 # The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c14.45 The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c14.45 - **Language:** English ### [c14.45](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c14.45) with food by begging (Bodhisatto Kâsiraṭṭhe brâhmaṇakule nibbattitvâ vayappatto Takkasilam gantvâ sabbasippâni uggaṇhitvâ gharâvâsam pahâya isipabbajjam pabbajitvâ gaṇasatthâ hutvâ Himavantapadese ciram vasitvâ lonabilasevanatthâya janapodacârikaṃ, caramâno Bârâṇasiṃ patvâ râjuyyâne vasitvâ punadivase dvâragâme sapariso bhikkhâcâraṃ cari. II. 85. Similarly also II. 394, 411; III. 147, 352). Here we have the four âsramas of the lawbooks—the period of life of the scholar, the period of life of the householder, the period of stay in the forest and the period of wandering as a beggar. The formula quoted, by which the mode of life of an "upright" Brâhmaṇa should be characterised, occurs in exactly the same words at the beginning of a large number of Jâtakas. Still on a more minute comparison we notice differences; sometimes the Brâhmaṇa renounces the world immediately after he is grown up, apparently without fulfilling the duties of the scholar and the householder, and becomes a homeless ascetic (I. 333, 361, 373, 450; II. 131, 232, 262); sometimes we read of the beginning of the householder's stage and later renunciation of worldly life without any previous stage as scholar (II. 41, 145, 269, 437; III. 45); sometimes, the adoption of the houseless condition—residence in the forest or wandering—takes place immediately after the completion of the studies (II. 72; III. 64, 79, 110, 119, 228, 249, 308; V. 152, 193). Between these two last stages of life, no distinction, as between two successive stages, is made anywhere in the Jâtakas, and it is probable that in practice also no distinction between the two was made, as inclemencies of weather and the necessities of life compelled every ascetic at times to exchange residence in the forest for the mode of life of a wandering beggar. If we do not wish to suppose that the Jâtakas purposely vary the wording, in order not to use the same words always, in enumerating the different stages of life of a Brâhmaṇa—a supposition which is contradicted by the words which were wholly current in the then Pali literature and repeated to the point of weariness—we can, in my opinion, conclude from these variations that there was in reality no question of a schematic partition of the course of life of a Brâhmaṇa. Often might the four stages in the life of an orthodox Brâhmaṇa overlap one another and it rested with the authors of the lawbooks to try to make a model of this ideal in their theory: we should, however, be greatly mistaken if we would think of all Brâhmaṇas as given one and all to study and asceticism and suppose that they had divided their life into four stages and dedicated the last two to the occupation of a hermit and a wandering beggar.¹ - [Previous: c14.44](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c14.44) - [Next: c14.46](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c14.46) - [Up: c14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c14) ## Linked texts (1) - [Jātaka](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.jataka.76) — Pāli --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c14.45](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c14.45) · Pramāṇa