DDK HistoryF.p65 - CSIR

170 BUDDHIST SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS [6.6
nature. The Jains admitted caste, even to the theory of new ones arising
from a mixture of the original four. There was an attempt to ascribe a
brahmin origin to Mahavira by a supposed exchange of embryos; he
had the Kasyapa gotra, so prominent in UP. of the day, and among
“new brahmins “ thereafter.
In DN. 5, the Buddha narrates the legend of a king Mahavijita
advised by his fire-priest to abandon the vedic yajna. To gain
prosperity for his people, to abolish banditry and thieving, the
purohita suggested instead that the king should furnish seed to the
peasants, capital to the trader, suitable employment for those who
wished to serve the state. In this way, all would be busy with their
own duties, there would be no revolt, taxes would be promptly collected
and the treasury full. This is surely a modern approach to the problem.
In another sutta (DN. 26) the king tries but fails to abolish pilferring,
which grew out of poverty, by charity, which only encouraged thieves
; then by draconic punishment, which led to armed brigandage, revolt,
chaos. So it was not superstition but grasp of contemporary economic
reality that led to the ancient Pali verses : “ Cattle are our friends, just
as parents and other relatives ; for cultivation depends upon them. They
give food, strength, freshness of complexion, and happiness,
knowing this, brahmins of old did not kill cattle”. This makes a strange
contrast with the blunt statement by the brahmin Ylajnavalkya that
he would continue to eat beef, or with Upanisad mysticism which tries
to explain the inner essence of ritual without abandoning ritual or
animal sacrifices. The conservative brahmins persisted in a way of life
formed when cultivation was relatively unimportant to the food supply.
This way could no longer be practised when the free, open range had
been sadly interrupted by ploughed 1 fields which cattle herds could
not be allowed to trample except when fallow.
None of the sects fought to abolish all caste from society even though
the Sramana himself renounced caste. Though the Buddhist monastic
Order functioned along the lines of a tribal sabha council, the
Buddhist precepts were meant for a class society far beyond the
tribe, caste, or cult. It must be kept in mind that we are in the presence
of the FIRST society divided into classes, linked indissolubly to a new form