DDK HistoryF.p65 - CSIR

7.2ij MEGASTHENES ON MAGADHAN SOCIETY 193
the Hellenic city-state; the contempt accorded to the Graecuhis
esuriens by dassical antiquity was fully merited*
The account Megasthenes gave of the Indian caste system also
survived because it was extraordinary to the Greek eye. There were
seven distinct classes (genea, or mews) between which custom and
law forbade intermarriage. They were in order : 1) the philosophers,
brahmins as well as ascetic gym-nosophists; 2) husbandmen
cultivators, called georgoi; 3) herdsmen-hunters ; 4) artisans and retail
merchants ; 5) fighting men; 6) overseers or superintendents who
reported on all actions of the people to the king, or to the magistrates
of the free cities ; 7) the great assessors-councillors who determined policy,
officered the armed forces, administered justice, regulated all affairs of
state. This does not tally with the tradi^ tional Indian four-castes
system, so is used to discredit Megasthenes, without a glance at the
circumstances. It is clear that the envoy reported upon the Magadhan
organization, which ruled over th? country. Alexander saw no such casteclasses
in the Punjab, having met only the tribal priest, ascetic, and
warrior. Magasthenes does not colour his report with loans from Indian
sastra books (as did Albiruni 1300 years after him) but describes what he
saw. About the first class, (the only one not closed to recruits from any
other) there is question; the Sramana and brahmin were bracketed
together even in the Aso-kan edicts, receiving equal respect. The framana
was a celibate who did not propagate his kind, while the brahmin
underwent a training as rigorous as that of most ascetics till the age of
thirty-five, according to Megasthenes. Moreover, both had special claims
to sanctity, so the grouping into one caste is not unjustified. The third
class, described as tented nomads, were the surviving vratya tribes, Aryan,
Aryanized, commingling with society, or frtini guilds, not savages apart.
Sheep-herders still follow this routine in many parts of India, being
on the move except for the four monsoon months. The tribe jana
tended now to become a community, gana. The fighting men of class are
obviously the ksatriyas. The question remains about the rest. It will be
shown later that handicraft production had not as yet moved to the
villages. One class (no. 4) produced commodities in cities and
transported them for sale over the countryside; that they formed or