Caste
Myths and Folktales from Indiaedited by
D. L. Ashliman
© 2026
These were, in succession, beings of the several castes: Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras -- produced from the mouth, the breast, the thighs, and the feet, of Brahma.
The natural duty of a Brahman compriseth tranquility, purity, self-mastery, patience, rectitude, learning, spiritual discernment, and belief in the existence of another world.
Those of the Kshatriya sprung from his nature, are valor, glory, strength, firmness, not to flee from the field of battle, liberality and a lordly character.
The natural duties of the Vaisya are to till the land, tend cattle and to buy and sell; and that of the Sudra is to serve, as is his natural disposition.
Men being contented and devoted to their own proper duties attain perfection; hear now how that perfection is attained by devotion to natural duty.
If a man maketh offering to the Supreme Being who is the source of the works of all and by whom this universe was spread abroad, he thus obtaineth perfection. The performance of the duties of a man's own particular calling, although devoid of excellence, is better than doing the duty of another, however well performed; and he who fulfils the duties obligated by nature, does not incur sin. A man's own natural duty, even though stained with faults, ought not to be abandoned. For all human acts are involved in faults, as the fire is wrapped in smoke.
But at length shall Vishnu appear as Kalki, destroy the barbarians, and reestablish the pure customs and morals which depend on a due observance of the duties prescribed to castes and to the four classes: after which shall Hari [Vishnu] return to heaven; and the Satya Yuga, then returning, shall restore the world to purity, virtue, and piety.
In like manner, from him who has attained perfection, the rules of caste fall away of themselves, but so long as this exalted knowledge is not reached, he ought to observe their distinctions. To throw them off out of self-will is merely an act of Egotism.
"O Chando, we understand that you are the greatest being in the world and we have come to marry our daughter to you."
Chando answered, "I fancy there is some one greater than I."
"Who is he?" asked the parents.
"The cloud is greater than I, for it can hide my face and quench my rays."
At this the father and mother hurried off with their daughter in search of the cloud, and when they found him, told him that they had brought their daughter to give him to wife, as he was the greatest being in the world.
"I may be great," said the cloud, "but there is a greater than I, the wind. The wind rises and blows me away in a minute."
So they went in search of the wind and when they found him, explained to him why they had brought him their daughter.
The wind said, "I am strong but there are stronger than I. The mountains are stronger. I can blow things down or whirl them away, but I cannot move the mountains."
So on they went to the mountain and explained their errand.
The mountain said, "I am great but there are more powerful than I. The ground-rat is more powerful, for however high I may be the ground-rats burrow holes in me and I cannot resist them."
The poor parents by this time began to feel rather discouraged, but still they made up their minds to persevere and went on to look for the ground-rat. They found him and offered him their daughter in marriage, but the ground-rat denied that he was the most powerful being on earth. The Musahars were more powerful for they lived by digging out ground-rats and eating them.
The hapless couple went home very dejectedly, reflecting that they had begun by despising their own caste and had gone in search of something greater and had ended where they began. So they arranged to marry their daughter to a man of their own caste after all.
MoralYou should not despise your own caste or race; you cannot help what caste you are born into. A Santal may learn to read and write and associate with men of good position and thereby his mind may be perverted. He may wish to change his caste and become a Sadhu, or a Kherwar, or a Boistab, or a Mussulman, or a Christian or anything else; but people will still know him for a beef-eating Santal. If he becomes a Christian, no one will think him the equal of a Saheb or a Brahman; no Saheb will marry his daughter or give him his daughter in marriage.
Remember what happened to the Musahar, who despised his own caste. God caused you to be born in a certain caste. He and not we made the different castes, and He knows what is good and bad for us.
At one time there were a great many Brethren who used to get a living by being physicians, or runners, doing errands on foot, exchanging alms for alms and the like, the twenty-one unlawful callings. All this will be set forth in the Saketa Birth.
When the Master found out that they got their living thus, he said, "Now there are a great many Brethren who get their living in unlawful ways. Those who get their living thus will not escape birth as goblins or disembodied spirits; they will become beasts of burden; they will be born in hell; for their benefit and blessing it is necessary to hold a discourse which bears its own moral clear and plain."
So he summoned the Community together, and said, "Brethren, you must not win your necessaries by the one-and-twenty unlawful methods. Food won unlawfully is like a piece of redhot iron, like a deadly poison. These unlawful methods are blamed and rebuked by disciples of all Buddhas and Pacceka-Buddhas. For those who eat food gained by unlawful means there is no laughter and no joy. Food got in this way, in my religion, is like the leavings of one of the lowest caste. To partake of it, for a disciple of the Religion of the Good, is like partaking of the leavings of the vilest of mankind."
And with these words, he told an old-world story.
Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was born as the son of a man of the lowest caste. When he grew up, he took the road for some purpose, taking for his provision some rice grains in a basket.When this discourse was concluded, the Master declared the Truths and identified the Birth -- at the conclusion of the Truths many Brethren entered upon the Paths and the Fruit thereof -- saying, "At the time of the story, I was the low-caste man."At that time there was a young fellow in Benares, named Satadhamma. He was the son of a magnifico, a Northern brahmin. He also took the road for some purpose, but neither rice grains nor basket had he. The two met upon the highway.
Said the young brahmin to the other, "What caste are you of?"
He replied, "Of the lowest. And what are you?"
"Oh, I am a Northern brahmin."
"All right, let us journey together."
And so together they fared along. Breakfast time came. The Bodhisatta sat down where there was some nice water, and washed his hands, and opened his basket.
"Will you have some?" said he.
"Tut, tut," says the other, "I want none, you low fellow."
" All right," says the Bodhisatta.
Careful to waste none, he put as much as he wanted in a leaf apart from the rest, fastened up his basket, and ate. Then he took a drink of water, washed his hands and feet, and picked up the rest of his rice and food.
"Come along, young Sir," says he, and they started off again on their journey.
All day they tramped along; and at evening they both had a bath in some nice water. When they came out, the Bodhisatta sat down in a nice place, undid his parcel, and began to eat. This time he did not offer the other a share.
The young gentleman was tired with walking all day, and hungry to the bottom of his soul; there he stood, looking on, and thinking, "If he offers me any, I'll take it."
But the other ate away without a word.
"This low fellow," thought the young man, "eats every scrap without a word. Well, I'll beg a piece. I can throw away the outside, which is defiled, and eat the rest."
And so he did. He ate what was left.
As soon as he had eaten, he thought: "How I have disgraced my birth, my clan, my family! Why, I have eaten the leavings of a low born churl!"
Keen indeed was his remorse; he threw up the food, and blood came with it.
"Oh, what a wicked deed I have done," he wept, "all for the sake of a trifle!" and he went on in the words of the first stanza:
What a trifle! and his leavings! given too against his will!Thus did the young gentleman make his lamentation; adding, "Why did I do such a wicked thing just for life's sake?"
And I am a highborn brahmin! and the stuff has made me ill!"
He plunged into the jungle, and never let any eye see him again, but there he died forlorn.
When this story was ended, the Master repeated, "Just as the young brahmin, Brethren, after eating the leavings of a low-caste man, found that neither laughter nor joy was for him, because he had taken improper food. So whosoever has embraced this salvation, and gains a livelihood by unlawful means, when he eats the food and supports his life in any way that is blamed and disapproved by the Buddha, will find that there is no laughter and no joy for him." Then, becoming perfectly enlightened, he repeated the second stanza:He that lives by being wicked, he that cares not if he sins,
Like the brahmin in the story, has no joy of what he wins.
Then her retinue came together again, and she returned to her palace with her heart captivated by the great courage and striking good looks of the young Chandala.
And she remained in a state of despondency at being separated from him, saying to herself: "Either I must have that man who delivered me from the elephant for a husband, or I must die."
The young Chandala, for his part, went home slowly, and having his mind captivated by the princess was tortured by thinking on her.
He said to himself: "What a vast gulf is fixed between me, a man of the lowest caste, and that princess! How can a crow and a female swan ever unite? The idea is so ridiculous that I cannot mention it or consider it, so, in this difficulty, death is my only resource."
After the young man had gone through these reflections he went at night to the cemetery, and bathed, and made a pyre, and lighting the flame thus prayed to it: "O thou purifying fire, Soul of the Universe, may that princess be my wife hereafter in a future birth, in virtue of this offering up of myself as a sacrifice to thee!"
When he had said this, he prepared to fling himself into the fire, but the God of Fire, pleased with him, appeared in visible shape before him, and said to him: "Do not act rashly, for she shall be thy wife, for thou art not a Chandala by birth, and what thou art I will tell thee. Listen:
There is in this city a distinguished Brahman of the name of Kapilasarman; in his fire-chamber I dwell in visible bodily shape. One day his maiden daughter came near me, and, smitten with her beauty, I made her my wife, inducing her to forgo her objections by promising her immunity from disgrace. And thou, my son, wert immediately born to her by virtue of my power, and she thereupon, out of shame, flung thee away in the open street; there thou wast found by some Chandalas and reared on goat's milk. So thou art my son, born to me by a Brahman lady. Therefore thou canst not be deemed impure, as thou art my son; and thou shalt obtain that Princess Kurangi for a wife.When the God of Fire had said this he disappeared, and the Matanga's adopted child was delighted, and conceived hope, and so went home.
Then King Prasenajit, having been urged by the god in a dream, investigated the case, and finding out the truth gave his daughter to the son of the God of Fire.
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Revised September 9, 2026.