[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India)](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930) › v2.c19.75 # History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c19.75 History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c19.75 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c19.75.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c19.75.1) The Atharvaveda mentions rathakāra (III. 5.6), karmāra (III. 5.6) and sūta (III. 5.7). In the Tai. S. (IV. 5.4.2)¹⁰⁶ mention is made of kṣatṛ (royal chamberlain or doorkeeper), saṁgrahītṛ (treasurer), takṣan (carpenter) and rathakāra (maker of chariots), kulāla (potter), karmāra, puñjiṣṭa (fowler), niṣāda, iṣukṛt (maker of arrows), dhanvakṛt (maker of bows), mṛgayu (hunter) and śvani (those who lead packs of hounds). These also occur in the Vājasaneya-saṁhitā 16. 26-28 and these and a few more in Vāj. S. 30.5-13 and in Kāṭhaka Saṁhitā 17.13. In the Tai. Br. (III. 4.1 and the following anuvākas that deal with Puruṣamedha) we have āyogū, māgadha (bard), sūta, śailūṣa (actor), rebha, bhīmala, rathakāra, takṣan, kaulāla, karmāra, maṇikāra, vapa (sower or barber), iṣukāra, dhanvakāra, jyākāra (maker of bow-string), rajjusarga, mṛgayu, śvani surākāra (vintner), ayastāpa (heater of iron or copper), kitava (gambler), bidalakāra (worker in wicker-work), kaṇṭakakāra. The Śatapatha Br. XI. 8.1. speaks of kaulāla-cakra (the potter's wheel). The Tai. Br. III. 8.5. mentions also rājaputra ugra. The Śatapatha (S. B. E. Vol. 44 p. 397) speaks of Marutta Āvikṣita as an āyogava king. This latter is a pratiloma caste according to the dharmasūtras (vide below). Whether in the Śatapatha that word has the same sense is doubtful. The Tai. S. I. ### [v2.c19.75.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c19.75.2) 8.9.1-2 mentions among the 'ratnas' (the jewels), the sūta, grāmaṇī, kṣatṛ, saṁgrahītṛ, bhāgadugha (collector of taxes), akṣāvāpa (superintendent of gambling). Vide also Tai. Br. I. 7.3. In the Tāṇḍya Brāhmaṇa (19.1.4) it is said that 'eight brave persons hold up the kingdom viz. the king's brother, the king's son, the purohita, the crowned queen, the sūta, the grāmaṇī, kṣatṛ and saṁgrahītṛ'. Therefore it looks likely that kṣatṛ and saṁgrahītṛ were high officers of state and not castes. In the Śat. Br. XIII. 4. 1. 5 among the guards of the horse let loose in the Aśvamedha there were 'a hundred sons of kṣātra-saṁgrahītṛs carrying clubs'. As the word 'kṣātra' is prefixed to 'saṁgrahītṛ' it follows that 'saṁgrahītṛs' were officers who may have belonged to any varṇa. In the same passage mention is made of a hundred guardians who were the sons of sūtagrāmaṇīs. In another passage of the same brāhmaṇa (XIII. 2. 2. 18) the sūtas and grāmaṇīs are said to be no kings and yet are rājakṛt (i. e. king-makers).¹⁰⁷ This means probably that they are the principal persons on whose support the king depends. The Śat. Br. V. 4. 4. 15-19 arranges brāhmaṇa, king, king's brother, sūta or sthapati, grāmaṇī, sajāta in a descending scale of powerfulness. So the sūta appears to have been originally an important officer. It is hardly possible to say with assurance that all these had become petrified into castes in the modern sense, particularly when several persons associated with these in the Vāj. S. ### [v2.c19.75.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c19.75.3) and elsewhere were not castes such as the thief (taskara), the impotent (klība), humpbacked (kubja), dwarf (vāmana); but most of the avocations and crafts referred to above have corresponding castes and subcastes for hundreds of years. It is therefore possible to say that in the times of the Saṁhitās and Brāhmaṇas these were groups founded on occupations that had become castes or were in process of developing into castes. The Tāṇḍya Br. speaks of Kirātas (who were and are non-Aryan and were aboriginal tribes).¹⁰⁸ The Vāj. S. (30. 17) speaks of Paulkasa in connection with bībhatsā (nauseating filth) and of cāṇḍāla (in 30.21) in connection with vāyu (wind). The paulkasa and cāṇḍāla occur in Tai. Br. (III. 4. 14 and III. 4. 17 (respectively). In the Chāndogya Up. (V. 10.7)¹⁰⁹ the cāṇḍāla is ranked with the dog and the boar. 'Therefore even if one knowing thus were to give the leavings of his food to a cāṇḍāla that would in his case be an offering made into the Self as Fire'—Chāndogya V. 24. 4. This shows that the cāṇḍāla was the lowest in the social scale. 'Just as a pāśya or vaideha, or the son of an ugra, after having made his bow strung &c.'—Bṛ. Up. III. 8.2. In the Bṛ. Up. IV. 3.22 mention is made of both cāṇḍāla and paulkasa and in IV. ### [v2.c19.75.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c19.75.4) 3.37 it is said¹¹⁰ that 'just as when a king pays a visit, the ugras, pratyenasas (thief catchers), the sūtas and headmen of the village make arrangements for him with food and drink and with pavilions.' Here ugras seem to be a group of nobles subordinate to the king. In later literature ugra is the offspring of a kṣatriya from a śūdra woman (Yāj. I. 91). In the Ṛg. X. 97. 12 the word ugra occurs 'You destroy disease just as an ugra who is a mediator or arbitrator (removes dispute).' What ugra means here cannot be said with certainty. It may only mean a 'formidable chief or king.' --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c19.75](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c19.75) · Pramāṇa