High and Low strata in Buddhist texts

A basic opposition between high and low appears in the context of jati, kula, kamma (work), and sippa (craft); thus there are high jatis and low jatis; high kulas and low kulas; high kamma and low kamma; and high sippas and low sippas. The conception of high and low is quite explicit in the classifications of jati and kula.^[1] A long passage in the Vinaya texts represents jati, nama, gotta, kamma, and sippa as being of two kinds: ukkatta (high) and hina (low). While nama and gotta refer to individuals, jati, kamma, and sippa refer to groups. We shall confine ourselves to the groups being categorized as high and low. Thus ukkatta jati is defined as khattiya and brahmana, while hina jati is difined as candala, vena, nesada, ratthakara, and pukkusa.^[2] The latter categories are conventionally translated as low casteman, bamboo worker or basket maker, hunter, Cartwright, and flower sweeper or scavenger, by Buddhist scholars. The exact repetition of the same division in the same form can further be seen in the Vinaya Pitaka.^[3]

In the Anguttara Nikaya we get an unusual scheme of jatis: the khattiya, brahmana, vessa, sudda, and the candala-pukkusa, but they are not classified as high or low.^[4] A significant point to note in the above mentioned classification of jati is the absence of the vessa and sudda from the list of categories which is difficult to account for. Oldenberg has drawn our attention to the fact that the text gives no indication of the possibilities of any other jati being considered either high or low.^[5]

According to the Buddhist kula classification the khattiyas, brahmanas and gahapatis are considered high whereas other kulas such as the candala, vena, nesada, ratthakara and pukkusa are considered low.^[6] In one reference the high kulas of khattiya, brahmana and gahapati are associated with white and low kulas of candala, vena, nasada, ratthakara, and pukkusa with black.^[7] Further the high kulas or the unit of khattiya, brahmana, and gahapati are invariably associated with attributes which are evaluated as high such as wealth, eminence and learning.^[8] In contrast the candala vena, nasada, ratthakara, and pukkusa are described as low and it is stated that fools will be born into such kulas in their next life.^[9] It may be noted that there is a correspondence between the Buddhist enumeration of the jati and the kula categories except for the marked inclusion of the gahapati among the high kulas which is missing in the high jatis.