[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) › c8.86 # The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c8.86 The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c8.86 - **Language:** English ### [c8.86](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c8.86) Now a king was no doubt permitted intercourse with the Caṇḍāla, for as king he seemed to be placed above the danger of pollution; but even generally, people did not seem to be much afraid of the proximity of such a person, and it is doubtful whether there was a custom or a prescription whereby the higher classes were forbidden contact with the lower or residence in their vicinity, and if such a custom existed,¹ it is doubtful whether it was universally observed and was not rather violated every day and every hour. From the Jātakas what appears clearly is only this, that the fear of such pollution was not confined to Brâhmaṇas proud of their caste. For specially sensitive feminine natures proud of their high descent, the mere sight of a despised person sufficed for the production of the feeling of impurity in their minds. As the daughter of the seṭṭhi, who as the daughter of a gahapati belonged to a respectable but always middle class family and that of a purohita of Ujjayini who had gone to the city gate to play, noticed two Caṇḍāla brothers, they washed their eyes with scented water and returned to the town. The people, to whom on such occasions food and drink were provided gratis, regarded themselves as cheated of a fine meal by the maiden’s going away and so gave the Caṇḍālas such a sound beating that they were almost dead (IV. 391). A similar thing happened to another Caṇḍāla who wanted to go to the gate of Benares, but encountered the daughter of the setthi and attracted by her beauty, stood gazing. The maiden who was peeping through the curtain of the palanquin in which she was carried, saw him and asked, “Who is this?” and as the answer came, “A Caṇḍāla, noble one,” she washed her eyes with scented water, saying, “Oh, I see something which I should not see” and went back. Her escort struck the Caṇḍāla with his hands and feet till he fell down (IV. 378). - [Previous: c8.85](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c8.85) - [Next: c8.87](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c8.87) - [Up: c8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c8) ## Linked texts (1) - [Jātaka](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.jataka.498) — Pāli --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c8.86](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c8.86) · Pramāṇa