Chapter 7 - The Division of the Society According to Varṇa and Āśrama

[Note: This chapter corresponds to Chapter 7 of the original Samarāṅgaṇa-Sūtradhāra]

[Full title: The Division of the Society According to Varṇa and Āśrama (varṇāśrama-pravibbāga)]

The subject-matter of this chapter, as the very name indicates is the fourfold division of the society. A well-knit social structure needs a well-ordered government established by the Law of the Lord to be promulgated and enforced by the Paramount authority of the first king on earth, the celebrated Pṛthu. The Cāturvargya-system requires the Cāturāśramya also and hence the respective duties and responsibilities of all the Varṇas and the stages of the manhood, the student, the house-holder, the foresteer and the Sannyāsī together with duties and responsibilities of the women-folk, the teacher and the taught all are described. So far all this description is of non-architectural interest, but the community life, the essence of the social structure needs a suitable planning of the towns, villages, and the houses wherein to evolve the means of livelihood and satisfy the wants for the preservation of the society and its good government. Hence the maintenance and safety of mankind is entrusted to the ruler of the land. King Pṛthu did discharge his duties by milking the earth and planning the human habitation on it. Milking the earth may stand here for surveying the vast lands and finding out characteristic wealth of the regions.