Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c9.s2: Vajrasūcī and the Debate on the Caste System
Vāda in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c9.s2
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Vajrasūcī and the Debate on the Caste System
c9.s2.1
*Vajrasūcī* of Aśvaghoṣa (see Chap. 2) is an essay in refutation of caste system. Aśvaghoṣa takes the following stands and refutes them one by one:
1. The *jīva* (individual soul) is brāhmaṇa,
2. a person becomes a brāhmaṇa by birth,
3. a particular human body is brāhmaṇa,
4. because of knowledge one can become a brāhmaṇa, 5. the conduct of a person makes him a brāhmaṇa,
6. the good deeds of a person make him a brāhmaṇa, and
7. the knowledge of Veda makes a person brāhmaṇa.
c9.s2.2
After giving reasons for the rejection of these views, Aśvaghoṣa presents his own thesis about what-makes one a brāhmaṇa. Accordingly, it is the spiritual attainment of a person that endows him with brāhmaṇahood. He also describes the process of observing rigorous vows and austerities, etc. that leads to this attainment. He then rejects *cāturvarṇya* — the fourfold division of society into castes — acknowledging that a man is born with only one *varṇa*.
c9.s2.3
Aśvaghoṣa cites verses from *Śukra* and *Mānava Dharmaśāstra* to support his argument. *Vajrasūcyopaniṣad* is a later text composed in Upaniṣadic style, it only repeats Aśvaghoṣa’s arguments.
c9.s2.4
*Laghuṭaṅka*, a text written by Paṇḍit Subaji Bapu, is a rejoinder to *Vajrasūcī*. The author perhaps lived at Sehore near Bhopal and he prepared this rejoinder out of the discussions held in an assembly chaired by Wilkinson.¹¹
Linked texts (2)
- Mānava Dharmaśāstra — Manu & Bhṛgu, Sanskrit
- Vajrasūcī — Aśvaghoṣa, Sanskrit