Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 22.djvu/35

 Buddha, in his first sermon at Benares, speaks of his religion as that yass’ atthâya kulaputtâ sammad eva agârasmâ anagâriyam pabbaganti: for the sake of which sons of noble families leave the house and enter the state of houselessness. That the Gainas too gave the Kshatriyas the preference over the Brâhmans is proved by that curious legend about the transfer of the embryo of Mahâvîra from the womb of the Brâhmanî Devânandâ to that of the Kshatriyânî Trisalâ, it being alleged that a Brâhmanî or another woman of low family was not worthy to give birth to a Tîrthakara.

On the other hand it is probable that Brahmanic ascetics did not regard fellow-ascetics of other castes as quite their equals, though they were just as orthodox as themselves. For in later times the opinion prevailed that only Brâhmans were entitled to enter the fourth Âsrama, and as a