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Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c6: Section IV. Sociological Conditions

Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jātaka Stories c6

Language
English

Contents

Section IV. Sociological Conditions

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SECTION IV

Introductory

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SO FAR WE HAVE, more or less, easily discussed the various aspects of our study: political, administrative and economic. It is now, when we come to the Social side of the picture, that we are confronted with innumerable obstacles. It is here that we are faced with problems that are not so easy to solve. Theories abound here, and from that angle, the subject has been probed into by Fick in his valuable work and by many other scholars. Therefore we shall not go here into deep theoretical discussion but briefly notice some of the outstanding features of the social life of the *Jātaka* people, with a view to grasp the ordinary life and activities, and also the mind and thoughts prevailing in those days.

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THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE

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THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE of Ancient India was mainly based on caste-system. It was, in fact, the backbone of Ancient Indian society. Of course, we cannot expect as highly developed a system of caste from our stories as that in the Brāhmaṇical Law Books. There are two phases of the matter. In the ordinary circumstances we find no mention whatsoever of caste and everything that it implies. But when morality gains ground, and the story has to deal with Brāhmaṇa characters, caste-distinctions and allied matters do appear.

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Let us first take the theoretical side of the picture. The theory had established itself, or at least was beginning to do so, that the Great Brahmā created the world.

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THEORETICAL VIEW. And as regards the origin of the caste-system it is said:

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*Ajjenam Ariyā paṭhavim janindā*
*Vessā kasim pāricariyañ ca Suddā*
*Upāgu paccekam yathā padesam*
*Katāhu ete Vasinā ti āhu.*¹

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¹ J., VI, p. 207-G. 896.

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"Brahmins he made for study, for command
He made the Khattiyas : Vessa's plough the land;
Suddas he servants made to obey the rest;
Thus from the first went forth his high behest ;"
and then, "We see these rules enforced before our eyes"

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No doubt the law of society evolved for the most part out of such conceptions of religion. The *Uddālaka-Jātaka*² is, of course, the most important on this point. The penetrating *gāthās*, there, first declare that 'right conduct is the only way to bliss' (*sasamyamam caraṇam yeva saccam*) : a thousand Vedas will not safety bring (*sahassavedo pi na tam paṭicca*) : and then, who is a true Brāhmaṇa? When Uddālaka puts forth the character of a Brāhmaṇa as he apparently sees in real life, i.e., as one who rejects all worldly thoughts, takes the fire with him, sprinkles water, offers sacrifices and sets up the sacrificial post,³ the purohita, his father, finds fault with this conception and replies in his own way, giving out the list of virtues that a Brāhmaṇa should possess,⁴ and then says:

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² J., IV, pp. 297-304-GG. 62-76.

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³ J., IV, p. 302-G. 68.

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⁴ Ibid., p. 303-G. 71.

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"Khattiyā, Brāhmaṇa, Vessā, Suddā and Caṇḍāla Pukkusā,
All these can be compassionate, can win Nirvāṇa's bliss:
None among all the saints is found who worse or better is."[¹]

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¹ Ibid., p. 303-G. 72.

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Does this not show that there were in existence the above-mentioned classes, at least?

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Look at the *Silavimamsa Jātaka*[²] also. The gāthās say, that birth and caste (*jāti ca vaṇṇo ca*) cause conceit: virtue (*sīlam*) is the highest: Khattiya, Brāhmaṇa, Vessa, Sudda, Caṇḍāla and Pukusa—all become equal in the world of the gods, if they have acted virtuously here.

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² J., III, pp. 104-5-GG. 65-9.

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The same enumeration of classes of the people, and the same ideal of their equality, obviously viewed from ethical standpoint, are given again in the *Amba Jātaka*;[³] and other instances are not wanting,[⁴] above all the most wonderful verses of the *Bhūridatta Jātaka*[⁵] with their scathing remarks on the social conditions of the day.

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³ J., IV, p. 205-GG. 7-9.

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⁴ Cf. ibid., p. 304-G. 76 (*na tesam jātim pucchanti*); VI, p. 100-G. 427.

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⁵ J., VI, pp. 199-214-GG. 866 *ff.*

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This is quite sufficient to show that, however much the reformist section of the society of the times might try, as in the present day, to belittle the importance of birth, caste, the *Vedas* and the Brāhmaṇas and exalt the importance of virtue as the means to salvation, the division of society into classes named above, was *a fait accompli*.[⁶]

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⁶ Cf. Hopkins, C. H. I., I, p. 260.

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But did this class-distinction amount to caste-system as we understand it to-day or even that presented in the Brāhmaṇical Law Books? The question is indeed too big and complicated for us to answer at present. We may only take a general notice of the data presented in the *Jātakas* on this point, and need not bother ourselves with any technical aspect of the much-spoken-of caste-system.

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Class-struggles and conflicting influences belong to all epochs, and are grafted on the most diverse of social constitutions. And the present day caste-system is the outcome of various incidents and currents mingled in one another through the ages.[⁷]

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⁷ Cf. Senart, *Caste in India*, p. 214.

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Let us first take the Brāhmaṇas and see in what position they stood in the social structure of the times.

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THE BRĀH- MAṆAS.

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The Brāhmaṇas, of all the classes, seem to have formed a homogenous class, bound together by the consciousness of being the premier caste[⁸] the only one enjoying the privilege of acting as priest at a sacrifice[⁹] and by the observance of certain customs, relating especially to connubium and commensality with a view to preserve the purity of blood and ceremonial cleanliness.¹ But this kind of exclusiveness of the Brāhmaṇa class existed only in idea. We see frequent departures from the fixed standard of life. Whether this was a degeneration set in among the descendants of the older Brāhmaṇa colonists of the cast from the west and accelerated and completed by the mixture with non-Aryan Brāhmaṇas, we are not here to ascertain.² As Fick says, the great mass of Brāhmaṇas, spread over the whole of Northern India, does not constitute a well-organised body with a chief and a council.³ The Brāhmaṇa of the Jātakas is not very materially different from a member of any other class. He is to be found in all walks of life: "we see him now as a teacher asking the new scholar about the honorarium he has brought, now he meets us behind the plough, now in the court of the king interpreting signs and dreams or predicting from the constellation of the stars the future of the newly-born prince, now as a rich merchant in the midst of his accumulated treasures, now at the head of a big caravan."⁴

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⁸ J., III, p. 232 (*jātim nissāya mahanto māno*); IV, p. 328.

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⁹ For instance, J., VI, p. 199-G. 866—*ajjhāyako yācayogo āhutaggi ca brāhmaṇo*.

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¹ See e.g., J., IV, pp. 391-2.

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² Cf. Dutt, Origin and Growth of Caste in India, I, p. 259.

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³ Op. cit., p. 181.

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⁴ Fick, op. cit., pp. 182-3.

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It may be that some of the stories do commit the mistake of much overdrawing the picture, in as much as they give a prejudiced and contemptuous view of the Brāhmaṇas. In many cases, for instance, the Brāhmaṇas are represented as greedy, shameless and immoral and serve as a foil to the Khattiyas who play the part of the virtuous and noble humanity.⁵ The whole of the Junha Jātaka⁶ narrates the shameful behaviour of a Brāhmaṇa who pours out his wisdom only to fetch a handsome reward from the King. The greediness of the Brāhmaṇas is frequently brought out,⁷ even if we disallow the bitter remarks of the Bodhisatta of the Bhūri datta Jātaka.⁸ The sarcastic name Odariyā (fond of eating) given to them is interesting.⁹ The purohita's greedy nature we have already seen. But, on the whole, it seems to us that the instances, though they are exaggerated no doubt, reflect perhaps one side of the actual conditions. For we can also see the figures of 'true,' i.e., noble Brāhmaṇas, in the Brāhmaṇical sense.

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⁵ Fick, op. cit., p. 183.

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⁶ J., IV, pp. 96 ff.

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⁷ J., I, pp. 343, 425 (brāhmaṇā dhanalolā honti); 455; II, p. 46. IV, pp. 373-GG. 287-8; VI, . 211-2; Cf. Digha Nikāya, II, 245.

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⁸ J., VI, pp. 206 ff. GG. 883-930.

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⁹ Ibid., p. 208-G. 898.

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Fick¹⁰ distinguishes, and rightly, between two kinds of Brāhmaṇas: one the "proper," i.e., those who corresponded closely to the ideal sketched in the older scriptures and the other "worldly" i.e., those who did not much conform to the strict rules of their class, followed all sorts of occupations and represented the major

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¹⁰ Op. cit., pp. 192 ff.

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TWO KINDS.

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portion of their class. Let us notice a little further, with regard to these two types of Brāhmaṇas.

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THE ‘TRUE’ BRĀHMAṆAS. The Brāhmaṇa of the first kind ordinarily passed through these stages in his life: when grown up, he goes to a teacher, studies the Vedas, then sets up a household, later renounces the worldly life and goes to the forest where he lives either as a hermit or surrounded by a host of pupils and ascetics and which he quits in course of time to take up the life of the ascetic and live by begging.¹

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¹ Cf. J., II, p. 85—“Bodhisatto Kāsiraṭṭhe brāhmaṇakule nibbattitvā vayappatto Takkasilam gantvā sabbasippāni uggaṇhitvā gharāvāsam pahāya isipabajjam pabbajitvā gaṇasatthā hutvā Himavantapadese ciram vasitvā loṇambilasevanatthāya janapadacārikam caramāno Bārānasim patvā rājuyyāne vasitvā punadivase dvāragāṭhame sapariso bhikkhācāram cari”, also II, pp. 394, 411; III, pp. 147, 352.

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This seems to be the normal course of life of the Brāhmaṇa of the first type. Still there may be some differences and the different stages may overlap one another as we often notice.² This is but natural, for we cannot think of all the Brāhmaṇas as strictly observing the rules of the four āśramas of old.³

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² For instance in J., I, pp. 333, 361, 373, 450; II, pp. 131, 232, 262, we may see the Brāhmaṇa renouncing the world immediately after he is grown up, apparently without fulfilling the duties of a scholar and a householder; again in J., II, pp. 41, 145, 269, 437; III, p. 45, we may see him as an ascetic without any previous stage as scholar; becoming ascetic immediately after the completion of the studies: J., II, p. 72; III, pp. 64, 79, 110, 119, 228, 248, 308; V, pp. 152, 193.

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³ Cf. Senart, op. cit., p. 105.

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STUDY. Our stories are quite explicit on the first stage of the Brāhmaṇas, viz, that of student-life (ajjhenam). But we shall better reserve this subject for a separate chapter on Education as a whole.

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SACRIFICE. Regarding Sacrifice (āhutaggi), the stories do not enlighten us much. “They only mention it, in order to exhibit its worthlessness and illustrate the swindling ways of the greedy Brāhmaṇas in filling their pockets.” The Bhūridatta Jātaka, for instance, in so many piercing gāthās, hurls a scathing indictment upon the Brāhmaṇas of the times who caused the slaughter of dumb and harmless creatures “struggling to the last breath” and who “wore long frauds to beguile the simple and strip him bare at last.”⁴ One of the interesting references given out here in an off-hand manner is this:

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⁴ J., VI, pp. 206-214-GG. 883 ff; cf. J., III, pp. 215, 238; IV, p. 373-G. 288; V, pp. 221-G. 93; 247; VI, p. 183.

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“The priests a shoot of Butea (palāsayaṭṭhi) must hold,
As part o’ the rite sacred from days of old;
Indra’s right arm ’tis called, but were it so,
Would Indra triumph o’er his demon foe?”⁵

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⁵ J., VI, p. 212-G. 914: “Indassa bāhā-asi dakkhiṇā ti Yaññesu chindanti palāsayaṭṭhim tañ ce pi saccam Maghavā Chinnabāhu Ken’assa Indo asure jināti,”

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But the ‘true’ Brāhmaṇas, honestly performing their duties, did undoubtedly enjoy certain privileges.¹ Respect (arcā) they generally received from the people. Though the stories seem to make their position inferior to that of the Khattiyas, we cannot forget that they ordinarily were held in respect and honour by the people. Brahmins are men of upright life-dhammikā honti Brāhmaṇā²—may be taken as an utterance of these respectful people. And the privilege of dāna i.e., of receiving presents, the Brāhmaṇas of the Jātakas enjoy in a much greater measure. In this connection we may recall, what we have already noticed, the liberality of the kings which probably laid the foundation for the wealth of individual Brāhmaṇas³ as Fick suggests,⁴ and which was, if not a duty, at least a recognized virtue.⁵ Not only kings, the people in general used also to give gifts to the Brāhmaṇas whose services they required on various occasions. On certain occasions, for instance, they invited the Brāhmaṇas to meals (Bāhmaṇa-vācanakam);⁶ they came, bathed and washed their face; in the meantime the rice was taken from the fire and set to cool down: then the guest-water (dakkhiṇodakam) was given and the dishes placed before them. After finishing the meals they took the ‘gifts’ (vācanakam), uttered benidiction (maṅgalam) and went away.

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¹ In the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, xi, 5, 7, 1 ff., the prerogatives of the Brāhmaṇa are summed up as: arcā—honour; dāna—gifts, ajyeyatā—unmolestability and avadhyatā—freedom from being killed: See Vedic Index, II, p. 82 ff.

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² J., VI, pp. 554-G. 2200; 576-G. 2348.

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³ J., I, pp. 303, 447; II, p. 272; III, p. 39; IV, pp. 15, 22, 28, 59, 237; V, p. 312.

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⁴ op. cit., p. 210.

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⁵ Cf. Brahmadeyam, J., II, p. 166; VI, p. 486.

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⁶ J., I, p. 318; III, p. 238; IV, p. 391; V, p. 247.

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Whether the Brāhmaṇas also enjoyed immolestability (ajyeyatā) and immunity from execution (avadhyatā) cannot be determined with precision from our stories. Most probably they were free from taxes, for whenever the question is taxes, the gahapati or the kuṭumbika is mentioned as the person who is taxed.⁷ And though immunity from execution (avajjho bhavati brāhmaṇo)⁸ was recognized, it was, for all practical purposes, a theoretical dictum, as in the eyes of the law we do not find anything like a favourable attitude shown towards them.⁹

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⁷ Fick, op. cit., p. 212.

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⁸ J., VI, p. 199-G. 866.

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⁹ See e.g., J., I, pp. 371, 429.

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But a large majority of the Brāhmaṇas was represented by those others whom Fick has liked to call ‘proper’ or ‘worldly.’

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The Jātakas seem to attach a certain superiority to the Brāhmaṇas belonging to the North (presumably, the older Kuru-Pañcāla land) i.e., the Udicca Brāhmaṇas.¹⁰ These Udicca-Brāhmaṇas, probably conscious of their high descent, tried to observe the rules and prescriptions of their class. In the Satadhamma *Jātaka*¹ we notice the pride with which the Brāhmaṇa, in reply to the Caṇḍāla’s question, says: “I am a Brāhmaṇa from the north.” In the *Maṅgala Jātaka*² such an *Udicca Brāhmaṇa* is pitted against a worldly native Brāhmaṇa. In the *Mahāsupina Jātaka*,³ again, it is an *Udicca Brāhmaṇa* who exposes the frauds practised upon the king by the Brāhmaṇas in his service.

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¹⁰ J., I, pp. 140, 324, 343, 356, 361, 373, 406, 431, 436, 450, 474, 494, 505; II, p. 83; III, p. 232; V, pp. 193, 227; VI, p. 32. The present day Audicya Brāhmaṇas are, probably, descended from these.

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¹ J., II, p. 83.

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² J., I, p. 371 ff.

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³ J., I, p. 343 ff.

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Thus we clearly see a marked distinction being made between the Brāhmaṇas settled from the north (-west) i.e., those whom we have called the ‘true’ or ‘proper’ Brāhmaṇas and others of the eastern land who had deviated from the rules and prescriptions of their class and whom we may call ‘worldly.’

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These worldly Brāhmaṇas followed, as we said before, all sorts of vocations which might be unworthy from the stricter Brāhmaṇical view-point. The *Dasa-Brāhmaṇa Jātaka*⁴ gives a list of ten classes of Brāhmaṇas as follows:—

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⁴ J., IV, pp. 361-65 GG. 225-266.

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VARIED OCCU- PATIONS:

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1. “Some carry sacks upon their backs, root-filled and fastened tight; They gather healing herbs, they bathe and magic spells recite. These are physician-like (*Tikicchakasamā*).

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2. Some carry bells and go before, and as they go they ring, A chariot they can drive with skill, and messages can bring: These are like servants (*Paricārakasamā*)....

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3. With waterpot and crooked staff some run to meet the king, Through all the towns and villages, and as they follow, sing— ‘In wood or town we never budge, until a gift you bring.’ Like tax-men (*Niggāhakasamā*) these importunate......

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4. Some with long nails and hairy limbs, foul teeth, and matted hair, Covered with dust and dirt-begrimed as beggar-men they fare: Hewers of wood (*Khānughātasamā*)....

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5. Myrobolan and *bilva* fruit, rose-apple, mangoes ripe, The labuj-fruit and planks of wood, tooth-brush and smoking-pipe, Sugar-cane baskets, honey sweet, and ointment too, All these they make their traffic in, and many other things These are like merchants (*Vāṇijakasamā*)....

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6. Some follow trade, and husbandry, keep flocks of goats in fold. They give and take in marriage, and their daughters sell for gold: Like Vessa and Ambaṭṭha these (*Samā Ambaṭṭhavesehi*)....

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7. Some chaplains fortunes tell, or gold and mark a beast for pay. With proffered food the village-folk invite them oft to stay. There kine and bullocks swine and goats are slaughtered many a day: Like butchers (*Goghātakasamā*) base are these......

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8. Some Brahmins, armed with sword and shield, with battle-axe in hand, Ready to guide a caravan before the merchants stand : Like herdsmen these or bandits bold (*Samāgopanisādehi*)......

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9. Some build them huts and lay them traps in any woodland place, Catch fish and tortoises, the hare, wild-cat and lizard chase : Hunters are these......(*Luddakā*)

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10. Others for love of gold lie down beneath the royal bed, At Soma-sacrifice : the kings bathing above their head.¹ These are like barbers (*Malamajjanasamā*)....

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¹ For this rite, *cf.* Oldenberg, *Religion des Veda*, p. 407 ff.

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All these, in Vidhura’s eyes, though Brāhmaṇas by birth, are not worthy of being called Brāhmaṇas : “*apetā te Brāhmaṇā*—strayed have they.” And even if the picture given by Vidhura be a prejudiced and an exaggerated one, we cannot fail to see from other passages also “where a subjective colouring on the part of the narrator is out of the question,” that the Brāhmaṇas did follow such professions and that they did form an extremely parti-coloured society, not a body solely confined to the study of the Vedas and the performance of sacrifices.

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In the first place, the Brāhmaṇas were employed by the kings for sacrifice; in the *Mahāsupina Jātaka*,² the King is frightened with evil dreams. He asks the Brāhmaṇas at once who readily advise him to preform a complete fourfold sacrifice (*sabbacatukkena*). In another story,³ also, the Brāhmaṇas are called upon by the king to avert the impending misfortune, and the Brāhmaṇas, here also, advise him to perform the fourfold sacrifice. The king orders a great crowd of victims which is brought and fastened to the stakes (*mahājano thūṇūpanīto*). When however the king later learns the true cause of the moan, he causes the sacrificial pit (*yaññāvāṭam*) to be destroyed.

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² J., I, pp. 343 ff.

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³ J., III, p. 45 ff.

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These and such other instances,⁴ no doubt, suggest the conclusion that the practice of sacrifice was still adhered to, though it seems to have begun to decline during the period of our narratives.

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⁴ J., I, p. 272; IV, p 79, 230, 335; V, p. 211.

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But the most prominent of the Brāhmaṇical professions presented in the Jātakas are those of dream-reading (*supinapāṭhakā*) and fortune-telling (*nemittā*), which enabled them to practice fraud and deception on a large scale.⁵

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⁵ On the modern astrologer see Nesfield, *Caste System*. 58 ff.

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On the birth of a king's child, it seems to have been a standing custom to have been the future of the child predicted by the Brāhmaṇas, as we saw before. The Brāhmaṇas used to predict the future from the signs (lakkhaṇa) on the body of the newborn babe. Also as versed in the power of Divination (Aṅga-vijjāpāṭhakas) they were in a position to judge from the signs on a man's body, not only his past and future but also his worth and character.¹ The Ummadantī Jātaka² describes, in the most charming manner, the behaviour of these Brāhmaṇas who have come to examine the extremely beautiful girl Ummadantī. After an honourable reception, they sit to partake some rice-porridge, when Ummadantī appears, magnificently attired. At her sight the Brāhmaṇas lose all self-control. Seized with passion, they forget that they have not yet finished their meal. Some put their food on their head, instead of into their mouth, others let it fall on their hips, others again throw it against the wall. Every one is beside himself. When the girl sees their conduct, she says: 'These should examine me for my signs! Sieze them by the throat and drive them out.' Sorely annoyed, the Brāhmaṇas report to the king: 'O king, the woman is a witch, she is not suitable for you.'

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¹ FORTUNE-TELLING.

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² J., V, pp. 211 ff.

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Here the Jātaka is at its best in ridiculing and reading the psychology of the Brāhmaṇas of the day.³

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³ Fick observes: "To see in such things, as fortune-telling interpretations of dreams, etc., only lying and deception, shows that these stories are a product of their age and their land. Originating in the circles of the common people in whose religious thought superstition occupied a large place, they retain traces of their origin notwithstanding the complete rejection and deprecation of superstitious ideas." op. cit., pp. 229-30.

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Alongside with these, there was the kindred profession of magic and demon-worship. Once we find a Brāhmaṇa who, by fixed characteristics (for example, by scent) knows the goodness of a sword and says, "The sword has a lucky sign, it is luck-bringing."⁴ At another time we come in touch with a Brāhmaṇa who sees an unlucky omen in a cloth eaten by rats.⁵ Even the art of interpreting the stars (nakkhattayoga)⁶ was practised by the Brāhmaṇas in such a manner that it deserved the name of "a swindling trade" (nicchajīvā).

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⁴ J., I, p. 290 ; II, pp. 21, 200, 250 ; III, pp. 122, 158, 215 ; V, pp. 211, 458.

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⁵ J., I, p. 455 (asilakkhaṇapāṭhako Brāhmaṇo.)

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⁶ J., I, p. 373 (Sāṭakalakkhaṇa Brāhmaṇo.)

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Regarding magic and demon-worship we may, first, note the following verse of the Junha Jātaka, wherein king Junha questions the Brāhmaṇa who has come to ask for a reward:

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"Hast thou a penance (tapo), Brahmin, dread to tell,
Or has thou many a charm (mantā) and many a spell,
Or goblins (yakkhā) ready your behests to do,
Or any claim for having served me well?"⁷

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⁷ J., I, p. 257 ; II, p. 427 ; IV, p. 231 ; V, p. 476. J., IV, pp. 98-G. 16.

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Here we see that asceticism, magic and demon-worship are taken for granted as belonging to the Brāhmaṇas. Of some of these mantas or magic incantations and their employment we read in the stories. Vedabbhamanta¹ could bring about a rain of precious stones at a certain position of the stars. It was very valuable (agghamahāraho). Paṭhavijayamanta² was a charm with the help of which one conquered the earth. Cintāmaṇivijjā³ was a charm which enabled one to follow after the lapse of 12 years in the steps of those that have gone away.

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¹ J., 1, p. 253.

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² J., II, p. 243.

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³ J., III, p. 504.

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Magic and demon-worship go together. As Fick says, “the ancient belief in an innumerable number of small superterrestrial beings, who as tree or snake gods endanger the life of man, frighten him as man-eating or child-robbing demons or torture him as disease-bringing spirits, occupies naturally, in our narratives which reflect the conceptual world of the lower people, an important place.”⁴ And the art of making these beings harmless or useful through magic practices is known. This is called Bhūtavijā.⁵ This art of exorcism was mainly employed in freeing the “possessed” of the evil spirit dwelling in them (amanussaviddhassa).⁶

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⁴ op. cit., p. 235.

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⁵ J., III, p. 511.

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⁶ J., II, p. 215-G. 155.

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Besides all these⁷ which were no doubt “crafts” which could bring livelihood,⁸ there were many other civil professions in which the Brāhmaṇas were to be seen engaged.

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⁷ The Brahmajāla-Suttanta of the Dīgha Nikāya (See Dialogues of the Buddha, I, pp. 15-9) and also the Jaina Uttarādhyayana Sūtra, xv, 7, and the Sūtrakṛtāṅga, I, 12, contain a long list of such professions.

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⁸ J., III, p. 504: “manussaloke sippaṃ ajānantā jīvitum na sakkonti.”

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The medical profession (Vejjakamma) in general ‘which among most people separated itself from the beginning from the spiritual,’ seems to have been principally a matter for the Brāhmaṇas, as many a reference will show.⁹

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⁹ For instance, J., II, p. 213 (Vejja Brāhmaṇa); VI, p. 181-G. 793 (Vejjo maṃ Brāhmaṇa vidu).

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The land-cultivating and cattle rearing Brāhmaṇa, i.e., one engaged in agricultural pursuits (kassaka-Brāhmaṇa) is, in our stories, a more permanently recurring figure, indeed. In the Uraga Jātaka,¹⁰ for instance, we read of a Brāhmaṇa who goes along with his son to the field and ploughs it, whilst the boy collects the weeds and burns them. In another story,¹¹ we see a poor Brāhmaṇa farmer complaining, as one of his oxen is dead, that he cannot any more drive the plough. Elsewhere a Brāhmaṇa peasant (Kassaka Brāhmaṇa) is seen unyoking his oxen after ploughing and beginning to work upon his land with a spade.¹² Sometimes these farmers were much more wealthy, possessing as many as 1000 karisas of land.¹ The Mahāsāla Brāhmaṇas are frequently referred to in our stories.² How such great wealth arose and how it was employed we cannot now ascertain.

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¹⁰ J., III, p. 163.

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¹¹ J., II, p. 165 (kasikammaṃ napavaṭṭati) G.?

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¹² J., V, 68 (khettaṃ kasitvā goṇe viesajjetvā kuddāla kammaṃ kātuṃ ārabhi).

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¹ J., III, p. 293; IV, p. 276.

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² J., I, p. 140; II, p. 272; IV, pp. 237, 325; V, pp. 193, 227; VI, p. 32.

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TRADE. Trade they also carried on, both as an ordinary hawker³ and as a big merchant prince.⁴ Other callings adopted by the Brāhmaṇas are those of a hunter,⁵ a carpenter,⁶ a shepherd⁷ an archer⁸ and so on.

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³ J., II, p. 15.

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⁴ J., IV, p. 15; V, pp. 22, 471.

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⁵ J., II, p. 200; VI, p. 170 ff. (luddaka-kamma).

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⁶ J., IV, p. 207 ff (Brāhmaṇa-vaḍḍhaki)

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⁷ J., III, p. 401 (ajapāla-Brāhmaṇa).

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⁸ J., III, p. 219; V, p. 127.

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Thus we see that the vast majority of the Brāhmaṇas, like the rest of the people, followed whatever profession they liked and which could give them their livelihood, unmindful of the Vedic studies or sacrificial rites. The poor Brāhmaṇa farmer of the Somadatta-Jātaka, of whom we spoke a while ago, is able to commit to memory a single verse with great difficulty and at the decisive moment says before the king exactly the opposite of what he wants to say.⁹

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⁹ J., II, p. 165-6 GG (?)

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In the words of Fick, “with the Brāhmaṇa agriculturists, merchants, hunters and carpenters, we leave the solitary height upon which is enthroned the Brāhmaṇa, who is raised according to his own theory above all other members of society, and descend to the motely groups of people where the care for material existence drives out all spiritual interests and throws into the shade the question relating to birth and caste.”¹⁰

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¹⁰ op. cit., p. 247; Cf. VI, p. 214-G. 929, where the theorist, like the theoretical Brāhmaṇa, condemns the wordly Brāhmaṇa for following varied occupations for the sake of bread.

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THE KHATTIYAS. In the Jātakas, as in the general Buddhist Literature, the premier position in society is generally assigned to the Khattiyas instead of the Brāhmaṇas.

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CONSCIOUSNESS OF SUPERIORITY. A Khattiya has always an air of superiority about his person. We probably never hear him addressed by his name or in the second person by any person belonging to the lower classes. In the Gaṅgamāla Jātaka¹¹ we see the mother of King Udaya whom the barber Gaṅgamāla has called by his family name (kulanāmena), crying out angrily: “This lowcaste shampooing son of a barber (hīnajacco malamajjano nahāpitaputto) does not know his place: he calls my kiugly high-descended (puttam paṭhavissaram Jātikhattiyam) son Brahmadatta.” Even with regard to a Brāhmaṇa, the Khattiya seems to be conscious of his superiority, so much so that king Arindama, for instance, calls Sonaka, the purohita’s son, a man of low birth (Brāhmaṇo hīnajacco)¹² and himself he calls asambhinnakhattiyavamse jāto, born of an unbroken line of nobles, i.e., "in a family the members of which both on their father's and their mother's side were recognized as Khattiyas." From this it more over appears clear that the Khattiyas too attached great importance to purity of blood and would not regard even the son of a Khattiya by a Brāhmaṇa wife as a true-born Khattiya.¹

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¹¹ J., III, p. 452.

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¹² J., V, p. 257.

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¹ *Cf.* Dīgha Nikāya, III, 1, 24.

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And in the enumeration of the castes the Khattiyas are almost always mentioned first: *Khattiyā Brāhmaṇa Vessā Suddā Caṇḍāla-Pukkusā*.² This may be due partly to the fact, that the Buddhist writers were ill-disposed towards Brāhmaṇism, and partly, perhaps to a greater extent, to the actual superiority of the ruling class in general and the degraded condition of the Brāhmaṇas in the east.³

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² J., I, p. 326; III, p. 194; IV, pp. 205, 303.

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³ *Cf.* Chalmers, J. R. A. S., 1894, p. 342.

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Also, the Khattiyas of the time seem to show as much zeal as the Brāhmaṇas in the study of the *Vedas* and other *Śāstras* and, as we have seen, many of them went to stay at the famous University of Takkasilā. Hence the superiority of their class appears not only in the social and political domain which was assured to them through their material power itself, but even in spiritual field they were not inferior to the Brāhmaṇas.

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Now, what constituted this Khattiya class? As in the Epic,⁴ and probably in a somewhat narrower sense, the *Jātakas* understand by a Khattiya a member of the ruling class which includes the king, his great lords and vassals, along with the higher portions of the army.⁵ As such the term Khattiya may well correspond to the Vedic *Rājanya*.⁶

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⁴ Hopkins, J. A. O. S. 13, p. 73.

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⁵ Fick, op. cit., p. 79.

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⁶ *Cf.* Vedic Index, II, p. 216. The expression Kṣatriya later normally takes the place of rājanya as a designation for the ruling class.

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The Khattiyas had perhaps the sole or main duty of defending the honour of their country and so far they could be looked upon as "warriors *par excellence*."⁷ But like the Brāhmaṇas, the Khattiya also could and did employ himself in any occupation he liked without any restriction of class-consciousness.⁸

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⁷ Khattiya is used as a synonym for Rājan at J., II, p. 166; III, pp. 106, 154; V, pp. 99, 112; for warriors in general balakāye (III, p. 319) and yodhe (I, p. 363; II, p. 401) are used. *Cf.* also J., IV, pp. 309-30.

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⁸ See for instance J., II, p. 87; IV, pp. 84, 169; V, pp.390-3.

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The Khattiyas did not form a compact whole. They only represented the political power. As Fick⁹ says, "certain customs especially those relating to connubium and the prohibition of impurity may be noticed in certain ruling families which led to separation from the rest of the population, but these customs did not seem to have the authority of laws as in the Brāhmaṇical theory."

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⁹ op. cit., p. 81.

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Very seldom does the word Vessa (Vaiśya) occur in the Jātakas, and when it occurs it is used only in connection with theoretical discussions, and not to mean any existing social unit or group. "A caste, in the sense of the Brāhmaṇical theory, the Vaiśyas never became even in the western Brāhmaṇical lands," says Fick.¹ "Originally, in the oldest Vedic age, a name for the class of cattle-breeding, and land-cultivating Āryan settlers, it served later the purpose of the theorizing Brāhmaṇas to bind together the unlimited number of social groups."²

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¹ op. cit., p. 252.

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² Ibid.; Cf. Vedic Index, II, pp. 333-5.

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If any social division of our period corresponds to the traditional Vaiśya order, and has a similar meaning, it is that of the Gahapati (Gṛhapati) or the householder. The Jātakas make us quite familiar with these Gahapatis. In these Gahapatis, we can see the land-owning and mercantile class ranking just below the Khattiyas and the Brāhmaṇas. The Gahapatis had their own importance and played a significant part even in the court of the king. They appear permanently in the retinue of the king, along with the ministers and the Brāhmaṇas; (Amaccā ca Brāhmaṇa-gahapatikādayo.³)

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³ J., I, pp. 152, 470; II, pp. 124, 241; IV, pp. 227-G. 63; 317, 499. Cf. Mahāvagga, I, 22-3. The Gahavai of the Jaina Uvāsagadasāo is also a rich land-owner. pp. 45-6; Cf. J., VI, p. 297-G. 1301.

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Like the Khattiyas and the Brāhmaṇas, these Gahapatis also seem to have distinguished themselves from the great mass of the people by a certain conciousness of position and perhaps also by pride in their higher descent. There was also this custom, not a rigid rule, that the Gahapati parents should bring for their grown-up son a girl of good family, of their own class, as we shall notice hereafter.⁴ We shall also see that the Gahapatis, at least the richer section represented by the Seṭṭhis, devoted a part of their life to study, and sometimes in old age became homeless ascetics in common with the other classes of the people. Moreover, the Jāti or caste of a Gahapati seems to have been hereditary, for though ruined through the loss of fortune and compelled to maintain himself on ignoble professions, a Gahapati still remains a Gahapati. We have the instance of one such Gahapati who deals in vegetables and fruits (pannikagahapati).⁵ Another poor Gahapati maintains himself and his mother with difficulty by working as a hired labourer.⁶ Equally with the two higher classes, the Gahapatis, and the Seṭṭhis, had deep contempt for the low-caste people as will appear.⁷

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⁴ See for instance, J., II, p. 121 (Bodhisatto Bārānasito avidūre gāmake gahapatikule nibbatti. Athāssa vayappattassa Bārānasito kuladhitaram ānesum).

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⁵ J., III, pp. 21; also IV, p. 446.

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⁶ J., II, p. 139; also III, p. 325.

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⁷ e.g., J., IV, p. 378.

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The Gahapati engages himself in whatever occupation he likes. And even as the term denotes, the Gahapati class embraces in its fold all those traders and businessmen, the craftsmen and the artisans whom we noticed in the course of our investigation of the Economic life of the day,¹ in fact the large mass, a conglomeration of differing groups of people following different professions and different rules of life. Though not forming anything like a closed rank, with a social exclusiveness about them or with rigid caste rules binding them all, the Gahapatis can be differentiated from the Khattiyas and the Brāhmaṇas on the one hand and the Suddas and other lower strata of the people on the other. A distinctive atmosphere does, no doubt, surround this class of the Gahapatis.

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¹ Cf. Senart's remarks: The Vaiśyas are, in Brāhmaṇic tradition, chiefly regarded as cultivators and merchants, but Buddhist literature in calling them generally Gahapatis or 'house-trya-fehuyants), op. cit., pp. 117-8.

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THE IBBHAS. It is interesting to note in this connection that these Gahapatis are also known as Ibbhas (Ibhyas) in our Jātakas. This term, Ibbha, meaning wealthy, occurs also in one of the Upaniṣads² and in one of the Rock Edicts of Aśoka;³ by it is, no doubt, designated the rich upper and middle class of the society of the times.

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² See Vedic Index, I, p. 80.

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³ R. E., V, See Bhandarkar, Aśoka, p. 183.

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Of these Ibbhas, one of the gāthās in the Bhūridatta Jātaka⁴ says,

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⁴ J., VI, p. 214-G. 929: "As householders to gain a livelihood Count all pursuits legitimate and good."

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"Yathāpi Ibbhā dhanadhaññahetu

Kammāni kārenti puthū paṭhavyā ..."

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The most important and aristocratic representative of the Gahapati class is, of course, the Seṭṭhi whom we have already known before and therefore we need not repeat here what we have already said about his position, status and functions.

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THE KUTUM- BIKA. Almost synonymous with the word Gahapati is the word Kuṭumbika in the Jātakas.⁵ It also denotes members of the citizen class, as a rule like the Gahapatis, wealthy citizens at the head of a household. The Kuṭumbikas lived in towns and villages, but mostly in villages: a leading citizen (nagaravāsi kulaputta) seeks for his son the daughter of a Kuṭumbika living in a village. The Kuṭumbikas living in the town, engage in some business or the other, like that of a cornselling (dhaññavikkaya).⁵ Sometimes they are very rich carrying on extensive trade.⁶ The Kuṭumbikas in the village are well-to-do peasant-proprietors.

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⁵ J., II, p. 267.

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⁶ J., IV, p. 370 (asītikojivibhavo).

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During the course of our study of the Economic life of the times, we noticed the two main trade-associations, viz., the merchant unions and the craft-guilds.¹ We saw that merchants often formed into a union having the characteristics of the hereditariness of membership and the institution of the elder (Jetthaka). With the gradual development of trade relations and the growing complexities of society, the significance and the inner compactness of, and the sense of solidarity among, those unions deepened. Being similar to the castes on account of the traditional organization, they gradually got, in course of time, certain rules and customs of their own and tended to appear a distinct order in the social structure.

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¹ Supra, pp. 212-18 ff.

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The distinctive appearance of a class by itself is much more pronounced in the case of the manufacturers and the handicraftsmen. Here, as already noted, we see three circumstances: local division of different kinds of work, hereditary character of branches of profession and the existence of an elder. These indicate clearly a compact organization of handicrafts into guilds. Such were the organizations of potters, of smiths, carpenters, ivory-carvers and so on. With regard to these, Fick rightly observes: "....the more in the course of centuries the caste theory obtained currency, the greater the exclusiveness of, and respect for, the leading castes, the more did the manufacturers' corporations become incorporated in the caste order. After the example set by the nobility and the Brāhmaṇical caste, they surrounded themselves with limitations by which a common bed and a common table were forbidden with members of castes who on account of the lowness of their race occupied a lower stage of human society than they themselves."²

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² Op. cit., pp. 284-5.

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Between the guilds of tradesmen and most of the manufactures mentioned before and the despised classes consisting of the Caṇḍālas and others, there lie, in the social structure of the day, a 'multiform and chaotic' mass of the people which resists, more or less, every attempt at classification. In this are included the great number of manufacturers standing outside their corporations, the wandering dancers and musicians who roam from village to village, eking out their livelihood by showing their skill, the tramps who consider every means good which helps them to earn their bread and then, the herdsmen, the hunters and the fishermen living in the country, in the forest and in the mountains.

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Apart from those artists who are exclusively in the service of the king or the rich tradesmen, we see a large mass of these people earning their daily bread with difficulty by catering for the amusement of people at festivities. We read of a dancer (naṭa) who lives in a village, not far from Benares, and goes with his wife into the town, where he gets money through dancing and singing.¹ Elsewhere² a dancing family (*naṭakakulaṃ*) maintains itself by begging. Other acrobats, showing the javeline dance³ and exhibiting a wooden puppet worked by hand,⁴ the tumblers rolling about and playing on the ground⁵ and the jugglers (*māyākārā*) deceiving the people's sight with their sleight performing on the stage⁶ are some of the representatives of this class of 'tramps.'

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¹ J., III, p. 507.

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² J., II, p. 167; also III, p. 61.

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³ J., I, p. 430.

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⁴ J., V, p. 16-G. 40.

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⁵ J., II, p. 142.

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⁶ J., IV, p. 495-G. 337 "Māyākārā raṅgamajjhe karontā Mohenti Cakkhūni janassa tāvade."

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In the same category of wandering jugglers, are to be placed the snake-charmers (*ahiguṇṭhikā*). They are seen roaming about from village to village exhibiting their charms and powers over the snakes.⁷ One such snake-charmer trains a monkey (*makkaṭo*), gives him an antidote (*osadhaṃ gāhāpetvā*) and then allows to play with a snake and in this way earns his livelihood.⁸ Another also has trained an ape; when a festival is announced (*ussave ghuṭṭhe*), he keeps it with a grain merchant, travels seven days and then lets his snake play (*ahiṃ kiḷāpento*).⁹ These snake-charmers were clever in their business of catching the snakes. The *Bhūridatta Jātaka*¹⁰ describes in minute details how the snake-charmer Ālambāyana first anoints his body with some drug, eats a little of it, seizes the snake by the tail, and holding him fast, opens his mouth and spits into it the drug that he himself has eaten, then presses him like a pillow and then at last throws him into a basket of creepers (*Vallīpelaṃ*). The story also describes the various appearances the snake has to make at the order of his master. The snake charmer was of course a pastmaster in curing snake-bites.¹¹

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⁷ J., I, p. 370; II, p. 429.

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⁸ J., II, p. 267.

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⁹ J., III, p. 198.

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¹⁰ J., VI, pp. 181-5, Cf. III, p. 348.

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¹¹ "The snake charmers chew some narcotic like tobacco and stupefy the snake with their breath. The docile snake then dances to the tune of music." Q. J. M. S., XXII, p. 429.

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We have also mention of a mongoose-tamer (*koṇḍadamako*) of whom it is said that his was a servile occupation (*paratantiyuttabhāva*).¹²

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¹² J., IV, p. 389.

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Then there were the musicians (*Gandhabbā*) and their co-artists. Occasions were not rare in those days when festivities (*samajjā*) were held and people enjoyed music and dance. The above-mentioned dancers themselves very often made singing and playing on musical instruments accompany their dances. And there were professional musicians also who came to the festivals and earned their livelihood by their music. A drummer (*bherivādaka*) living in a village, goes with his son to the city when a festival is announced, plays on the drum in the midst of the gathering of the people and gets a good deal of money.¹³ Elsewhere we meet with a conch-blower (*saṅkhadhamaka*) who in the same way earns money by blowing on his conch.¹ And there were master-musicians also like Guṭṭila² and Sagga³ employed in courts and by private persons.

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¹³ J., I, p. 283.

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