The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c18.24

c18.24

We have enumerated above (p. 193 sq.) the occupation of hunters and fishermen among the professions which from their very nature resist a castelike organisation; if, however, this in-itself despised profession is followed by an entire branch of a low race, then such a group, held together by unity of profession or race and separated from the rest of the population, takes the appearance of a caste and is regarded in all such cases as such by the Indians. This is the case also with the Nesâdas; along with the Caṇḍâlas, Veṇas, Rathakâras and Pukkusas they are introduced in the Assalâyana Sutta¹ as a low caste. Despised and avoided, they must, like the Caṇḍâlas, live outside the town. A Nesâda lives not far from the town of Sakuḷa in the Mahimsaka kingdom in a Nesâda village (nagarato avidûre ekasmim nesâdagâmake V. 337); he sells the birds which he caught with a noose in the city and in this way maintains himself.