Caste in India: The Facts and the System c7.s3.35

c7.s3.35

It is here that comparison with the Iranian texts assumes its full value. Between the four Iranian *pishtras* and the four Hindu *varṇas*, the symmetry is significant:¹ the Athravas or priests corresponding to the Brahmans, the Rathaeśthas or warriors to the Kshatriyas, the Vāstrya-Fshuyants or head of families to the Vaiśyas, and the Hūitis or manual workers to the Śūdras. The general resemblance is striking, and throws into the shade a few doubtful differences. The Vaiśyas are, in Brahmanic tradition, chiefly regarded as cultivators and merchants, but Buddhist literature in calling them generally gṛhapatis ¹ or ‘householders’ brings them strictly into line with the interpretation of the Iranian category. The Hūiti class is not described with a precision which allows us to institute a conclusive comparison with the Śūdras; but the very manner in which, as is often the case with Śūdras, it is left on one side, and consequently isolated from the three first classes, creates between the two, both represented as classes religiously and socially inferior, yet another and by no means a weak bond. In both cases the definite entry of the individual into the community of the higher classes is marked by an identical ceremony—the investiture of the sacred thread.² The correspondence is therefore perfect.