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Social thought of Yajnavalk ya-(1)
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fully scientific, talks only in legal language and establishes legal preciseness. The Adhyāya on Vyavahāra is the most systematic and scientific ia his work.
(12) Thus, even if we were to say that Yajnavalkya is not a sucio
logist in the modern sense of the term, his whole outlook is that of a sociologist and it would be rational and just to call this work sociology in the Indian sense of the term. If we therefore state that Manu's work on social thought is dominantly religioethical and that Yajnavalkya's work on Indian society is purely realistic, we will be perfectly logical in our statement.
This is the difference of approach between the two. If after this discussion on the direction of social change, we study the different social Institutions and following that the social structure from the viewpoint of Yājoavalkya, we will get a fairly thorough grasp of the social thought of Yājoavalkya.
Varņa and Jāti
In the sphere of social thought and social change, Manu's is the period of transition from the comparative liberalism of the Vedic period to the conservatism and piritanism of the later days. Manu's work bears these important facts in the matter of Varna and Jāti --
(1) Maou accepts Varna by action and Varna by birth both, with a
positive leaning towards the latter,
(2) He is very much anxious to see that the Varna system remains
intact as pure and he adjusts the Jātis in the limits of Vama.
(3) He discusses in detail the expanding Jātis, their occuptions, their
status, and shows how Jātis expand. His treatment proves that atleast in his time the relation between Jāti and occuption has remained unchanged, very much firm.
(4) In his social stratification Manu's sentiments and ideas are firm
and clear.
We thus get in Manu a clear picture of the Varna system. We are also convinced about the highest social status of the brahmin, the higher
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