down any law which would prevent a Shūdra from accumulating wealth, but it only advises him for his own benefit that it is not a good thing for him to accumulate wealth if spiritual merit be his aim; or if he should become wealthy he is likely to be arrogant and disrespectful and would forget his duty of being humble, and he would thereby lose all his merit and a great obstacle would thus be thrown in the way of his ultimate elevation. This verse means nothing else. With all that the critics have written about the matter I an as yet unable to discover the rascality of the Brāhmanas in that verse, which really contains an admonition similar to that in the English prayer-book advising a poor man, "therewith to be contented;" that is, not to strive to raise himself above his station, as is expressly said in the preceding verse with a view to his future life as well as to this.
What, then, was the line between a Vaishya and a Shūdra? The main difference between them was that one was Dwija (twice-born) while the other was not. There was no such thing as a Vaishya caste which existed then and has now disappeared. Vaishya was a varna and not a caste. The population consisted of various tribes then as it does now. These tribes differed in status then as they differ now. Some of these tribes or castes had gained the right of initiation while others had not. The question whether a certain person was a Vaishya or a Shūdra was decided, not by the actual condition of the man himself, but by that of the tribe or the caste to which he belonged. There were many tribes devoted to grazing cattle and agriculture, but these tribes were regarded as Vaishyas or Shūdras according as they possessed this sacrament or not. Those
