[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) › c9.15 # The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c9.15 The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c9.15 - **Language:** English ### [c9.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c9.15) ¹ Cf. E. W. Hopkins, \*The social and military position of the ruling caste in ancient India, as represented by the Sanskrit Epic.\* In the "Journal of the American Oriental Society," Vol. 13, p. 179 sq., Hopkins speaks of the entrance of a king into the ascetic state as a change of caste. A change of caste, however, this action does not itself produce, especially, when, as is related of Viśvamitra, a king tries through austerities to reach the rank of a Brâhmaṇa. The priestly compilers of the epics wanted to see in the resignation of the kingdom and acceptance of the homeless condition, as they looked upon the last as a privilege of the Brâhmaṇas, an inadmissible change of caste. - [Previous: c9.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c9.14) - [Next: c9.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c9.16) - [Up: c9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c9) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c9.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.fick-1897.c9.15) · Pramāṇa