[383] Muir, _loc. cit._ 3, 108 ff. BOOK VI. BUDDHISTS AND BRAHMANS. CHAPTER I. THE STATES ON THE GANGES IN THE SIXTH CENTURY B.C. The list of the kings of Magadha, preserved not only among the Brahmans, but from the seventh century B.C. downwards among the Buddhists who then came forward to oppose them, allow us to assert with tolerable accuracy that the dynasty of the Pradyotas, which ascended the throne of Magadha in the year 803 B.C., was succeeded in 665 B.C. by another family, known to the Brahmans as the Çaiçunagas.[384] The first two kings of this house were Kshemadharman and Bhattya (the Kshatraujas of the Brahmans). In 603 B.C. Bhattya was succeeded by his son Bimbisara. In the reign of this king, according to the ancient sutras of the Buddhists, justice, morals, and religion were regulated in Magadha and the neighbouring states according to the wishes of the Brahmans. In these narratives we find the rules of the law-book generally recognised and carried out in all essential points, and in some respects they are even transcended. The system of exclusive castes is complete. The stricter marriage law, forbidding union with a woman of another caste, is victorious over the more liberal view that the husband fixed the caste. "Brahmans marry Brahmans only, nobles only nobles; a man takes a wife only from an equal family."[385] Within the castes those of equal position are divided into separate corporations. Among the Vaiçyas and Çudras, merchants, artisans, barbers, form special castes, in which the occupation of the father descends to the son; the son of a merchant is a merchant, and the son of a butcher a butcher.[386] The laws on the order of the castes and forbidden food were strictly observed. The lower and impure castes thoroughly believe in their vocation. The Kshatriya, though sick to death, refuses to take even as a remedy the forbidden onion (p. 169), which the physician hands to him.[387] The Chandalas give notice of their approach that the higher castes may not be rendered impure by contact with them; they eat dog's flesh as the law requires, and carry the dead out beyond the gates of the city.[388] Invested with the holy girdle, the Brahmans, as the law directs (p. 173), bear continually in their hands the staff of bamboo and the pitcher of water for purification. The learned among them are occupied with the study of the Veda; they recite the hymns, instruct pupils, and hold discussions on theology and philosophy. Occasionally the princes take an interest in these learned contests, and cause the disputations to go on at their courts in their presence; one king favours this system, another that; one protects this school, the other a different school. The penitent Brahmans live as anchorites in the forest, in the mountains, on the holy lakes Ravanahadra and Manasa, under Kailasa, the lofty peak of the Himalayas. Some live in complete solitude, others dwell in such a manner