The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c15.26

c15.26

The desire to preserve wealth and respectability in the family may have strengthened the inclination and practice in seṭṭhi families of marrying within their own *játi* and led to frequent marriages among themselves. The setthi of Râjagaha, mentioned in the Nigrodha Jâtaka, brings for his son the daughter of a setthi living in the country (IV. 37). The slave of the setthi of Benares succeeds, as narrated in the Kaṭâhaka Jâtaka, in winning by means of a false letter the hand of the daughter of a setthi friendly to his master and living in the frontier. The letter which the slave has written himself and which he hands over to the business friend of his master begins with the words: