[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.c20.52.1 # History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c20.52.1 History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c20.52.1 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c20.52.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c20.52.1) As already said above teaching could have brought very little wealth. There was no state educational system as in modern times with stability of tenure and graded rates of salary. Nor was there any Copyright Act under which a learned man could make money by writing books for students and the general public. The brāhmaṇas had no organised corporate body like the Anglican Church with its hierarchy of Archbishops, Bishops and other divines, nor was there in ancient India any practice of making wills whereby large estates came to the Church as in England (where statutes of Mortmain had to be passed to prevent enormous estates from going to the Church).²⁵⁴ The emoluments of officiating priests and gifts given by charitably disposed persons must have been fitful and offered only a precarious means of livelihood, as they depended upon the volition of others and as the smṛtis recommended that even in śrāddha too many brāhmaṇas should not be invited.²⁵⁵ Besides all brāhmaṇas could not have possessed the memory, intelligence and patience required to master the Vedic Literature after intensive study for decades of years. Therefore, there is no wonder that many brāhmaṇas were compelled by the force of circumstances to pursue for their livelihood avocations other than the three prescribed ones. From ancient times this was recognised by the dharmaśāstra works. Gaut. (VII. 6 and 7) says that if a brāhmaṇa cannot maintain himself by means of the three peculiar modes of livelihood viz. - [Previous: v2.c20.51](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c20.51) - [Next: v2.c20.52.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c20.52.2) - [Up: v2.c20.52](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c20.52) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c20.52.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c20.52.1) · Pramāṇa