The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c18.21

c18.21

Along with the Caṇḍālas there are mentioned in the Jātakas, in the enumeration of the castes, the Pukkusas, who are the Pukkasas or Pulkasas of the Brahmanical system where they are called descendants of a Niṣāda by a Śūdra wife. These Pukkasas were also most probably a non-Aryan caste occupying a very low position in society. According to the commentary on the Sīlavīmaṃsa Jātaka, by this are meant men who have for their profession the plucking of flowers (pupphachaḍḍaka III. 195): as, however, in Manu the catching and killing of cave-dwelling animals is given as their work, I don't believe that the Pukkasas were a special professional class but a race that lived generally by hunting and only occasionally by dirty work, like cleaning temples and palaces.¹