[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) › c8.92 # The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c8.92 The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c8.92 - **Language:** English ### [c8.92](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c8.92) The eating of the leavings of a Caṇḍāla’s table was looked upon, according to the Jātakas, as such a great sin for the Brāhmaṇa that it had for its consequence exclusion from the caste.² In the Mātaṅga Jātaka it is narrated how sixteen thousand Brahmanas had to undergo rebirth, because water which had been mixed with rice which was the remnant left out of a Caṇḍāla's meal, dropped into their mouths. The immediate consequence of this pollution, for which they themselves were in no way to blame, was their exclusion from the caste. They ceased to be Brâhmaṇas (te brâhmaṇâ: ,imehi caṇḍâ-lucchiṭṭhakaṃ pîtan' ti abrâhmaṇe karimsu. IV 388) and left Benares in disgrace. This passage—so far as I have seen, the only one in the Jâtakas which speaks of a punishment prescribed by the caste and thus, to some extent, of a jurisdiction exercised by it—sounds extremely legendary; still the actual occurrence of an excommunication from the caste, or at least, of any other difficult expiation for the sin of eating impure food, will appear extremely probable if we consider the realistic account given in the Satadhamma Jâtaka (II. 82 sq.). - [Previous: c8.91](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c8.91) - [Next: c8.93](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c8.93) - [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.497) — Pāli --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c8.92](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c8.92) · Pramāṇa