The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c8.100

Language: English

c8.100.1

In spite of all this it seems to me to go a little too far if we are to speak of a strict rule of endogamy; there are instances in the Jātakas in which the caste barriers are considered not insurmountable and thus the sharp lines of demarcation which we are inclined to draw by reason of the numerous instances prescribing marriage within the caste to be the rule are wiped away. If marriage within the caste was more than a universal custom, if it had been a law prescribed by the caste, then its transgression would have led to the non-recognition of children born of an illegitimate marriage. This seems, however, as a matter of fact, not always to have been the case. We have seen that the purohita recognises the son born of his union with a public woman, after he is satisfied about his identity, as his own son; a fact, which if universalised makes the influence of caste upon actual life very small for us. Are we, however, justified in making such a generalisation? It almost seems that we are, when we read the introductory explanation in Bhaddasâla Jâtaka (IV. 144 sq.), where the question whether the wife of a khattiya belonging to a low caste and the children born of such a wife are to be looked upon as of the same rank as the khattiya, is made the principal topic of discussion between Buddha and the Kosala King. The latter had—so it is narrated here—sent a messenger to Kapilavatthu for getting for him a Sâkya daughter.

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The Sâkya princes, very little inclined, on the one hand, to fulfil his desire,¹ and on the other hand, fearing the wrath of the king, to whom they stand in a dependent relationship, resolve, on the advice of Mahânâma, to send him his daughter, the Vâsabhakhattiyâ, who, on her mother’s side is born of a slave but had a khattiya for her father. The messengers are deceived—in the manner already mentioned—by a stratagem and bring the daughter of Mahânâma to their king who makes her his principal consort (aggamahesî) and gets a son by her. This son wants, when he grows up, to see the family of his grandfather (maternal) and takes from his mother who tries in vain to dissuade him, a letter to Kapilavatthu in which she asks her kinsmen not to notice any difference in point of birth between themselves and her son. What is feared happens, however, although things begin very well: He is taken to the audience hall and placed before his kinsmen. "This," people say to him, "my dear, is your grandfather, this your uncle." He goes round, accosting everybody with reverence, wonders why whilst he gets pain in the back through continuous bowing, he sees nobody who bows to him. But the Sâkiyas want to clear his doubts and explain to him, "The young princes, my dear, have gone to the country" and heap courtesies upon him. A few days later, he goes away in great pomp.

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Just at this time, however, a slave washes the place where he has eaten with milk water¹ and cries aloud, "At this place the son of the slave Vâsabhakhattiyâ has eaten." A man belonging to the retinue of the prince who has forgotten to take his weapons and returns, hears this insulting cry, asks for its cause and when he has heard the whole story, narrates it to others. Thus, the Kosala king also learns of the descent of his wife from a slave; in a fit of wrath, he divests her and her son of all honour and throws them in the company of slaves only. Some days later Buddha comes to the place and he narrates to him the incident, complaining of the deceit practised upon him by his kinsmen. The master replies that no doubt the Sâkiyas have done wrong, they ought to have given him a girl of the same caste, but that his wife is a king's daughter and the marriage took place in the house of a khattiya king and his son also is a king's son : for—he adds—" the old wise men acted according to the principle : *the family of the mother does not matter ; the family of the father alone is important* (mâtigottam nâma kim karissati, pitigottam eva pamânam) and cites as proof the Kaṭṭhahâri Jâtaka.