The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c18.19

c18.19

Also by their speech the Caṇḍâlas apparently were distinguished from the rest of the population. To their isolation, their complete separation, is to be ascribed the fact that in the midst of a population speaking an Aryan dialect they preserved even in linguistic matters their racial individuality. In the Citta-Sambhûta Jâtaka it is narrated how two Caṇḍâlas dressed as Brâhmaṇas go to Takkasilâ and study there; later, however, as one of them, on the occasion of a Brâhmaṇavâcanaka, burns his face with a heated lamp, they forget themselves and are detected by their language (caṇḍâlabhâsâ IV. 391).