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SOCIAL LIFE AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 143
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such unalterable. The allegorical fancy led him to name the four divisions in terms of vanna, jāti or nikāya. In Pali and other contemporary Indian texts these three terms occur as synonyms.1 The organic conception of society and its allegorical expressions were attractive so long as these were kept within their reasonable bounds. The difficulties arose when the theory was sought to be put into practice and the allegories and metaphors were sought to be interpreted literally, e.g., the term vanna in the sense of distinctive colour or complexion, jati in that of distinctive mode of birth, and nikāya in that of distinct species. The persistent Brahmanical tendency to give a hereditary character to occupational distinctions by birth-right led to the formation of castes and castes within castes. The early records of Jainas and Buddhists reveal a powerful movement of thought counteracting this rapidly increasing tendency.
As regards vanna, jāti or nikaya forming basis of social distinctions, each of them admitted a twofold interpretation: biological and psycho-ethical, biological and social or cultural. The vanna as a biological term meant colour or complexion and as a psycho-ethical-term, & particular colouring or modification of soul o
1 Law, Concepts of Buddhism, p. ¡1.
