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Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c12.s1: The Ārya and the Anārya

Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c12.s1

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English

The Ārya and the Anārya

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Jain texts draw a distinction between the Ārya and the Anārya. According to the Vedic literature the characteristic physical difference between the two races was that of colour. The Āryans who were the conquerors were fair-coloured and the aborigines or the non-Āryans, who formed the subjugated race, were dark-coloured¹.

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¹ See Senart, *Caste in India*, p 122 f. For various theories of origin of caste, see *Census India*, 1931, Vol I, Pt. I, pp 433 ff.

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Jain texts divide the Āryans into five classes:—Āryan by country (*khetta*), birth (*jāti*), family (*kula*), trade (*kamma*), language (*bhāsā*) and art and handicraft (*sippa*)².

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² Panna 1 37.

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The twenty five and a half Āryan countries will be described later on. Among the Āryans by birth we have six respectable castes (*ibbhajāti*) such as *Ambattha*, *Kalinda*, *Videha*, *Vedaga*, *Hanta* and *Cuñcuna* (or *Tunṭuna*). Among Āryans by family there were *Ugga*, *Bhoga*, *Rāinna*, *Ikkhāga*. *Nāta* and *Koravva*.³ Among Āryans by trade we had dealers in cloth (*dosiya*), weavers (*sottiya*), dealers in cotton (*kappāsiya*), dealers in yarn (*suttaveḍhiya*), grocers (*bhandaveḍhiya*), potters (*kolāliya*) and carriers of litters (*naravāhaṇiya*).⁴ Among Āryans by art and handicraft we had tailors (*tunṇāya*), weavers (*tantuvāya*), silk weavers (*paṭṭagāra*), makers of leather bags for holding water (*deyaḍa*), feather-brush-makers or rope-makers (*varuḍa*), mat-makers (*chavviya*), wooden sandal-makers (*hatthapāuṇāya*), grass sandal-makers (*muñjapāuṇāya*), umbrella-makers (*chattakāra*), carriage-makers (*vajjhāra = vāhyakāra*), model-makers (*potthāra*), plaster-makers (*leppakāra*), painters (*cittāra*), workers in conch-shell (*saṅkhāra*), workers in ivory (*dantāra*), braziers (*bhaṇḍāra*), *jijjhagāra* (?), spear-makers (*sellagāra*), and workers in cowries (*koḍigāra*)⁵.

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³ However, it should be noted that *Ambattha* and *Videha* are mentioned as low castes; see infra.

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⁴ The *Anu Sū* 130, p. 136a adds grass cutters, stick-gatherers and leaf-gatherers, etc., also cf *Milindapañha*, p 331.

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⁵ Cf The *Rāmāyaṇa* (II, 83 12 ff) which mentions *maṇikāra kumbhakāra, sūtrakarmakṛt sastropajīvī, mayūraka krākacika, rocaka, vedhaka, dantakāra, sudhākāra, gandhopajīvī, suvarṇakāra, kambaladhātaka, snāpaka, ucchādaka, vardya, dhūṭaka, saundaka, rajaka, tunṇāya, grāmamahattara, ghoṣamahattara, sailūṣa, and kauṇḍaka*.

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