[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897) › c5.1 # The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c5.1 The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c5.1 - **Language:** English ### [c5.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c5.1) Thanks to the original conception and adroit execution of Sir Asutosh Mookerjee, Sarasvati, President of the Post-Graduate Department, a special Degree in M.A. in Ancient Indian History and Culture was instituted by the Calcutta University in 1918. And as the course in its entirety was too vast for the comprehension of any student within the time at his disposal, the subject was divided into four Groups. One of these Groups is Social and Constitutional History dealing with social life, manners, customs and ceremonies, as well as economic life, principles and methods of administration and ethnology. It is impossible to exaggerate the special difficulty with which the University lecturers had to struggle, because there were very few manuals or text-books which could be prescribed for the use of the student. Of the few books again that were available, most were either in German or in French. Such, e.g., was Dr. Richard Fick's \*Die Sociale Gliederung im Nordöstlichen Indien zu Buddhas Zeit\*. The importance of this book for the social and administrative history of ancient India cannot possibly be denied, based as it is on the Jātakas of the Pāli Buddhist canon. One has only to look to the contents of this book to be convinced of it. The different subjects handled in the different chapters throw a flood of light on the social life of northern India in and before Buddha’s time which is believed to have been portrayed by the Jātakas. Unfortunately for the students of India, Dr. Fick’s work is in German and could in no way be useful to them, most of them not being acquainted with German. In these circumstances the Board of History recommended that it should be translated into English and that this translation should be published by the University. It was no easy matter, however, to find out a scholar capable of undertaking this translation. Just at that time Dr. S. K. Maitra, Director, Indian Institute of Philosophy, Amalner, came to Calcutta from the Bombay Presidency on some business. He had already undertaken the translation of Dr. Ludwig Stein’s \*Die Philosophischen Strömungen der Gegenwart\* for the Calcutta University and done it satisfactorily. The History Board was thus in a way induced to approach him with their request, and he with his inherited zeal for the cause of education allowed this new task to be imposed on him, in spite of the multifarious duties that pressed on him heavily at that time. For the present publication, therefore, the University is highly indebted to him. How beautifully Dr. Maitra has performed his task will be seen from the fact that none who goes through the book ever feels or even suspects that it is a translation. - [Previous: c4.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c4.12) - [Next: c5.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c5.2) - [Up: c5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c5) ## Linked texts (1) - [Jātaka](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.jataka) — Pāli --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c5.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c5.1) · Pramāṇa