The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c8.69

c8.69

We must at once eliminate, if we wish to determine the concept of caste as it agitated the minds of the authors of the lawbooks, some of the attributes which have only reference to the castes of the present day; they are obviously of modern origin, for neither in the lawbooks nor anywhere else are found any traces which point to their existence in a former age. The caste in the Brahmanical theory is, although no less strictly isolated and self-contained, still externally not so well organised as the modern caste. A chief, a council, we notice as little as common festivals or assemblies for other purposes; what unites the castes of ancient times and isolates them from one another—be it well-understood, according to the theory—is, along with the confinement of every class within a wholly fixed profession, those customs which rule the modern caste. Precise rules with regard to marriage, food and even touch govern the mutual relationship of the castes in its minutest detail and try to prevent their fusion. Thus a Brâhmaṇa, although he is allowed wives of other castes, should have for his first wife one belonging to his own caste; for only such a one can attend to his bodily needs and can stand by his side in the performance of religious rites ¹; she alone assures for the son his belonging to the caste of the father. The Brāhmaṇa is forbidden ² to take food from a man belonging to a lower caste, and as especially impure, the leavings of a Sudra's table ³ are regarded. Even the sight of a despised human being, especially, of a Caṇḍāla, whose touch itself causes impurity ⁴, is sufficient to spoil a Brâhmaṇa's meal ⁵. All these prescriptions have the force of laws, a transgression of which involves special expiatory ceremonies and as the severest expiation, excommunication from the caste.