[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) › c7.14 # The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c7.14 The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c7.14 - **Language:** English ### [c7.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c7.14) That the inadequacy of the orthodox theory and the necessity for making certain concessions to truth was felt is shown by numerous exceptions to the general rule recognised for particular cases. The law, according to which every caste was assigned a wholly fixed calling, could not be maintained in this its exclusive form; people permitted at first the higher castes to follow the mode of life of the caste next in order in the system, but people could not stop there and allowed, evidently, under pressure of circumstances, the higher castes to adopt the professions which were originally considered proper for the lower ones. Thus, a Brâhmaṇa may, if he cannot earn his living by the work proper to his own caste or by that of the warrior caste, adopt the life of a Vaiśya and earn his livelihood by agriculture and rearing cattle. (Manu X. 82). In practice people went further and we may suppose that even among the Brâhmaṇas of ancient times the ways of earning a livelihood were no less manifold than they are to-day.¹ - [Previous: c7.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c7.13) - [Next: c7.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c7.15) - [Up: c7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c7) ## Linked texts (1) - [Mānava Dharmaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.manu.10.82) — Manu & Bhṛgu, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c7.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c7.14) · Pramāṇa