Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c14.91

c14.91

**Caste and Occupation.** When Megasthenes states that "a soldier cannot become a husbandman, or an artisan a philosopher," or that "no one is allowed to marry out of his own caste, or to exercise any calling or art except his own," or "to exchange one profession or trade for another," or "to follow more than one business", he is evidently making a confusion between Caste and Occupation. An 'artisan' who was a Śūdra by caste could not become a 'philosopher' or a Brahmin, nor could a soldier, a Kshatriya by caste, become a husbandman who was a Vaiśya. Megasthenes further states [Frag. XXXIII]: "An exception is made in favour of the philosopher who for his virtue is allowed this privilege." This points to the Hindu law permitting a Brahmin to follow an occupation belonging to the lower castes, by way of an *āpad-dharma*, for the sake of livelihood as a necessity which knows no law, in an emergency.