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Social Conditions
245
THE DESPISED CASTES
There were certain castes which were looked down upon by the higher sections of society either due to their ethnic origin or on account of their following low professions. The Chandālas, the Venas, the Nishādas, the Rathakāras, and the Pukkusas appear as low castes.
Among the despised castes, the Chandālas were the most unfortunate. 'Contemptible like a Chandala' became a proverbial expression. He was the lowest and the meanest on the earth, and the Sigāla Jataka compares a jackal, low and wretched among animals, with a Chandala.2 The Chandalas were not only untouchable but also unseeable. The daughter of the Sethi and wealthy merchant washed her eyes when she saw the Chandāla at the city gate. Food was polluted at the sight of a Chandala. Sixteen thousand Brāhmaṇas were once ostracized because they committed the sin of eating the food served by a Chandāla. One Brāhmaṇa was starved to death because of the same sin. The wind, that had touched the body of a Chandala, was considered impure. The Chandālas lived outside the city gates. Their dialect was different and showed thcir ethnic difference. They were often engaged as carriers of corpses and as slaughterers of criminals condemned to death by the
king.
However, we also come across some Chandalas who were respected in the society. Harikeshabala, born in the family of Chandalas, became a monk possessing some of the highest virtucs. He subducd his senses and observed the rules of walking, begging, speaking ctc. He controlled himself and was always attentive to his duty. Hc protected his thoughts, speech and body from sins.3
Along with the Chandūlas, there were Nishadas, Pukkusas, and others. The Nishādas were generally hunters and foresters. The Pukkusas used to pluck flowers and lived generally by hunting and only occasionally by dirty work like clcaning temples and palaces. There were carpenters, baskci-makers,
1. Ja, IV, 397. 2. Ibid, II. 6. 3. Uliara, XII.
