Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c9.5

c9.5

Society was formed of classes in the practical sense, and of castes in the theoretical sense. The classes were those of the *Khattiyas*, the *Brāhmaṇas*, the *Gahapatis* and the *Dāsakammakaras*. Family was the unit of social structure. People lived among relations of their own (*ñāti*). The position of women cannot be described as satisfactory when judged according to the modern standard. Arts and sciences were many and flourishing. People still believed in a variety of superstitions, while there was a slow but steady movement going on among the philosophers and the ascetics of the day towards a more rationalistic way of thinking and living. The common folk were, nevertheless, content with their life of sports and festivities.