Page:History of India Vol 1.djvu/286

236 and wild fruits, lived in Ancient India, bearing the name of Sramanas, before and after the time of Gautama Buddha. And when that great reformer preached a holy life and retirement from the world as the essence of his religion, his followers, who retired from the world, were called Sakyaputriya Sramans, or ascetics who followed the Sakya, to distinguish them from other sects of ascetics.

Elsewhere Megasthenes says of the philosopher-caste that they, "being exempted from all public duties, are neither the masters nor the servants of others. They are, however, engaged by private persons to offer the sacrifices due in lifetime and to celebrate the obsequies of the dead. They forewarn assembled multitudes about droughts and wet weather, and also about propitious winds and diseases."

Of the military class, or the Kshatriya caste, Megasthenes gives a very brief sketch. The soldiers were organized and equipped for war, but in times of peace gave themselves up to idleness and amusements.

Of the husbandmen, shepherds, and artisans, Megasthenes gives us a more interesting and lifelike sketch. Being exempted from fighting and other public services, the husbandmen "devote the whole of their time to tillage; nor would an enemy, coming upon a husbandman at work on his land, do him any harm, for men of this class, being regarded as public benefactors, are protected from all injury. The land thus remaining unravaged, and producing heavy crops, supplies the inhabitants with all that is requisite to make life very