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The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c15.s5: Section 9. Caste and Public Service

The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c15.s5

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Section 9. Caste and Public Service

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The gospel, "*Durch Nacht und Blut zum Licht*", i. e. the *dharma* of *puissance* or militarism is not intended exclusively for the so-called military (Kṣatriya or Samurai) caste. In Hindu thought army service has always been held to be national, i. e. the duty of every order of citizens. Brâhmaṇas (priests) can be soldiers according to the *Mahâbhârata*,¹ as well as according to the lawbooks of Gautama² and Vasiṣṭha.³ The Manu *Samhitâ* also recommends recruitment from the priestly caste.⁴ And, as noticed above, Śukra's opinion is quite clear. Baudhâyana is in favor of enlisting the Vaiśya⁵ (the so-called artisan and mercantile classes). They are eligible as soldiers in the *Mahâbhârata* also.⁶

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¹ Śânti, Ch. LXXVIII, 34.

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² VII, 6.

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³ II, 22.

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⁴ X, 81; Śukra, IV, vii, 599, 664—667.

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⁵ Baudhâyana, II, 2, 4, 18.

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⁶ Karṇa XLVII, 19, Śânti, CLXV, 34.

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No distinction is likewise made in the *Artha-śâstra* between castes (or hereditary and personal occupations) in the matter of inducting troops for national defense. The regulating principle is nothing but fitness or qualification as fighting material. In Kautilya's book there is a discussion as to the relative bravery of the different castes. "My teacher says," as we read, that "of the armies composed of Brâhmaṇas, Kṣatriyas, Vaiśyas or Śudras (lower orders), that which is mentioned first on account of bravery is better to be enlisted than the one subsequently mentioned." But to this Kautilya makes an objection on the ground, rather too idealistic for his usual commonsense attitude, that the Brâhmaṇas might be won over by prostration, because as priests they are likely to be sentimentally weak to those who are submissive. Hence the army of Kṣatriyas trained in the art of wielding weapons is better, or the army of Vaiśyas or Śûdras having greater numerical strength."⁷ Thus while Kautilya does not make the calling of arms the exclusive preserve or monopoly of any section of the community, he would exempt the Brâhmaṇas, if at all, on the sole ground of military incompetency.

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⁷ Bk. IX, ii.

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Further, the theory of national service on the question of castes is explicitly stated in the *Śukra-nîti*. According to this treatise caste is to play no part in the consideration of a person's qualifications for officership. No officer in the army hierarchy from *âjutika* (general in command of ten thousand troops) down to the *gaulmika* (head of thirty) and *pattipâla* (head of five or six) is to be selected from any privileged class, tribe or race. Only such persons as are well up in *nîti-śâstras*, in the use of arms and ammunitions, the manipulation of battle arrays, and in the art of management and discipline, as are not too young but of middle age, as are brave, self-controlled, able-bodied, always mindful of their own duties, as are devoted to their superiors and hate their enemies should be made commanders and soldiers, no matter whether they are Śûdras, Kṣatriyas, or Vaiśyas or even descended from *Mlechchhas* (or unclean barbarians).¹

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¹ II, 276—285. For Śukra's theory of caste in society see *Pos. Back*, Vol. II, pp. 89—95.

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But since the warrior caste is likely to specialize in valor, the *Śukranîti* would give the preference to a Kṣatriya, and failing him, to a Brâhmaṇa.² As a rule, it would not confer commission on the mercantile or agricultural classes, the Vaiśyas, because their service is needed in other fields. They can not be spared from attending to the normal economic interests of the state. And as for the Śûdras, they are usually to be held incompetent or unfit to take the lead, because like the ancient Greeks, the Hindu thinkers also postulated the existence of a class of "natural" slaves,³ born only to serve. Under ordinary circumstances, therefore, a Śûdra is not to be in command of troops. But even these conventional arguments against Vaiśyas and Śûdras are overridden by the supreme consideration of valor. Since fighting is treated as "the duty of the four pure as well as of mixed castes",⁴ the commander may be selected from any caste,⁵ for, after all, says Śukra finally, it is bravery that is to be looked for in a commander. The only persons against whom the theoretical injunction is absolute are the cowards, even though they be Kṣatriya by caste.⁶

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² II, 865—866.

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³ Manu VIII, 413—414.

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⁴ *Śukra* II, 868.

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⁵ *Ibid* II, 867.

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⁶ *Ibid* II, 866.

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This principle of indifferentism to caste regulates Śukra's thought not only in regard to the officers and privates of the army but to every branch of the public service. As usual, the Śûdra is normally declared ineligible for a seat on the council of ministers and the traditional preference is accorded to the Brâhmaṇa, failing him to the Kṣatriya, and failing that, to the Vaiśya.⁷ But this stereotyped order of selection for the ten *prakritis* or councillors is thrown overboard in the general discussion on the subject. We are told that only those who are versed in politics and are men of good deeds, habits and attributes, and who are gentle in speech and old in age "should be made members of council irrespective of caste."¹ In making appointments to offices "one should not notice only the caste or race or only the family,"² though the "accident of birth" is of course an important consideration. "Work, character and merit; — these three are to be respected — neither caste nor family.³ Neither by caste nor by family can superiority be asserted." The importance of caste is relegated in the *Sukra-nîti* only to social functions, such as marriages and dinner parties.⁴

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⁷ II, 859—861.

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¹ II, 333—336.

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² II, 110.

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³ II, 111—112.

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⁴ II, 113.

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Further, among the six officers⁵ to be appointed in each village as representatives of the Crown, it is interesting to observe that the chief executive may come even from the priestly caste, and that even the warrior caste can contribute men to the department of revenue.⁶ Thus according to Sukra, the Brâhmana need not always have to pursue the religious avocation, nor the Kṣatriya always to be a soldier. In political theory, therefore, caste (birth-affiliation) is not the supreme factor in an individual's occupation or professional activity, as it has been alleged to be by the scholars in indology.⁷

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⁵ II, 242—245.

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⁶ II, 862—863.

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⁷ A rare exception is Hopkins. *Vide* his article in the J.-A. O. S., 1889, p. 185.

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Incidentally, it may be pointed out that the Hindu theory of social orders did not treat the castes as water-tight compartments even in regard to marital relations. Inter-caste marriages were held valid by Kautilya, Manu, Yâjnavalkya and Viṣṇu.⁸ Race-fusion or blood intermixture, both horizontal and vertical, was therefore accepted as a normal phenomenon of actual life in the legal investigations of those sociologists who interested themselves in the problems of inheritance, succession, and partition of property.

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⁸ Kautilya LXIV; *Mahâbhârata*, *Anuśâsana-parva*, xlvii, 17, 28, xlviii, 4, 7, 8; Manu, III, 13, X, 6—7; Viṣṇu, XXIV, 1—4; Baudhâyana, I, viii, 2—6, I, ix, 3, 5; Yâjnavalkya, I, 57, 91, 92, II, 125. These references are borrowed of Vanamali Vedantatirtha's *Bengali* article in the *Prabâsî* (Calcutta) for Vaiśâkha, 1326 (April, 1919). Enough data are not available yet for an epigraphic study of the caste system. But already it might be shown that the *râjâs* of the ruling dynasties and of the *gaṇas* (republics) belonged very rarely to the so-called Kṣatriya caste, as the theory of water-tight compartments would lead one to presume. Similarly generals and officers of the army were contributed by the priestly, trading and Sûdra classes. *Cf.* Mookerji's *Local*, 59—62, Majumdar, 146—149, 160, 164, 171, 172. A "military interpretation" of Hindu history with special reference to the ethnic elements has been suggested in Sarkar's *Chinese Religion*, pp. 195—208 (A Melting-pot of Races). Note the cephalic index

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tests as well as legends and inscriptions on the strength of which Rama Prasad Chanda maintains that Brâhmaṇas of the "outer countries" were "outlandic" in stock, and that Brâhmaṇas and non-Brâhmaṇas are of common origin (*The Indo-Aryan Races*, 163, 167, 180, 182, 188—191, 194).

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