[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) › c8.6 # The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c8.6 The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c8.6 - **Language:** English ### [c8.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c8.6) The Assalâyana Sutta,¹ which tries to prove the worthlessness of the castes, likewise speaks of four castes: “Once stopped”—so it begins—“the Holy at Sâvatthi, in Jetavana, the park of Anâthapiṇḍika. At that time there lived in Sâvatthi five hundred Brâhmaṇas hailing from different places for some religious purpose; among them there was a rumour that this hermit (samaṇa) Gotama proclaimed the purity of the four castes. Who is in a position to challenge the samaṇa Gotama with regard to this question?” As the Sutta proceeds, this division is surely not always observed: the author is occasionally—as if unconsciously and perhaps against his will —forced by reality to mention, by the side of the Khattiyas and the Brâhmaṇas, the Râjannas¹ and as lower castes, the Caṇḍâla, Nesâda, Veṇa, Rathakâra and Pukkusa; but the existence of the four castes is still the tacit assumption which is in no way given up even in the admission which Gotama at the end of his dispute forces the Brâhmaṇa Assalâyana to make, namely, that caste is worthless and that the claim of the Brâhmaṇas to be the best caste is untenable. - [Previous: c8.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c8.5) - [Next: c8.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c8.7) - [Up: c8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c8) ## Linked texts (1) - [Assalāyanasutta](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.majjhima.93) — Pāli --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c8.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c8.6) · Pramāṇa