The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c16.s1.t4.10

c16.s1.t4.10

The total population with all its interests and problems of all the different periods of life is then comprehended by the two categories, *varṇas* (classes) and *âśramas* (stages). If therefore the people is to constitute a state, every member of each of the *varṇas* (no matter what their number and what their occupations) must have to perform the duties (*sva-dharma*) of his “station” at each of the four *âśramas* or periods of life. Thus, the soldier at the front must “do or die”, the young man while at school must not marry, the king must keep to the coronation oath, and so forth. This is the doctrine of *varṇâśrama*,³ the counterpart of the Platonic correlation of “virtue” and status (*Republic*, II, III, IV).