The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c14.84

c14.84

Whether the Brâhmaṇas enjoyed the remaining privileges which they claimed, according to the Brâhmaṇa texts, namely, complete ajyeyatâ (unmolestability) and *abadhyatā* (immunity from execution) in the eastern lands, cannot be determined with precision with the very limited materials which the Jātakas offer on this question. Most probably, the Brāhmaṇas were free from taxes, for whenever the question is of taxes, the *gahapati* is mentioned as the person who is taxed; on the other hand, the claim of the Brāhmaṇas to immunity from execution, even assuming that in ancient times it had more than a mere theoretical value, seems to have found only a local recognition. The Pali texts know of no privileged position of the Brahmanas in the eye of the law; rather the statement of Madhura Sutta that a criminal, no matter whether he is a Brāhmaṇa or belongs to any other caste, would be executed, appears in a number of passages of the Jātakas where one speaks of the execution of a Brāhmaṇa (for example, I. 371, 439).