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144 INDIA. AS DESCRIBED 'IN EARLY TEXTS
man's internal nature. The jāti as a biological term meant birth, pedigroe or relationship, and as an ethical term, a particular mental or moral trait. Similarly the nikāya as a biological term meant a species, and as a social or cultural term, a distinct class, group or body. The claim of correspondence between the two meanings in all cases was absurd. There was no guarantee that one who was bright in complexion was in the same degree bright in internal nature; or that one who was of noble birth was also of noble disposition.
Taking jāti and vanna in their biological senge, Rhys Davids observed: "The basis of social distinctions was relationship; or, as the Aryans, proud of their lighter colour, put it, colour. Their books constantly repeat a phrase as being common amongst the people--and it was certainly at least among the Aryan sections of peoplem-which divided all the world, as they knew it, into four social grades, called colours (vannā). At the head were the Kshatriyas, the nobles, who claimed descent from the leaders of the Aryan tribes. They were most particular as to the purity of their descent through seven generations, both on the father's and the mother's side; and are described, as "fair in, colour, fine in presence, stately to behold, Then came the Brahmins, claiming descent from the sacrificing priests,
