[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) › c8.100.1 # The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c8.100.1 The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c8.100.1 - **Language:** English ### [c8.100.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.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. - [Previous: c8.99](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c8.99) - [Next: c8.100.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c8.100.2) - [Up: c8.100](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c8.100) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c8.100.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c8.100.1) · Pramāṇa