Caste and Race in India c8.150

c8.150

The traditional scheme of occupations of the four castes is laid down as usual, but with some modifications, quite in keeping with the changed attitude towards the status of some of these groups. Thus, Yājñavalkya allows a Śūdra, in case of necessity, to engage in trade, which was erstwhile regarded as the sole preserve of the Vaiśyas.⁴ Agriculture, again, in the opinion of some, was a proper occupation for the Śūdra. Further, it was more and more regarded as a suitable occupation for all castes.⁵ Nevertheless, Manu, as usual, represents the more orthodox view. Remarking that some regard agriculture as an excellent occupation, he contends that it is blameworthy because the plough injures the earth and the living organisms.¹ There are indications that the ideal occupations prescribed for the four castes were not necessarily followed by them. The Brahmins particularly seemed to have taken to many of the occupations that were either entirely forbidden to them or allowed only in straightened circumstances. This is the only legitimate inference we can draw from the long lists of unholy Brahmins who must not be invited to a Śrāddha dinner.² Cārudatta, a Brahmin by birth, is represented in the play "Mṛcchakaṭika" as following the occupation of a Vaiśya.³ That the occupation of the Kshatriya was often usurped by other castes is abundantly clear from the accounts of some of the ruling houses of this period. Harshavardhana of Kanauj, by contemporary account, was a Vaiśya,⁴ while the Kadamba rulers of Banawasi were Brahmins.⁵