(43) Of the four castes, three were created from the conquering race at that time: Brahmins (priesthood), Kshatriyas (warriors and nobility), and
Vaisyas (herdsmen initially, later included farmers, traders and artisans).
Of course he successfully manages to interpret the stanzas 41-44 of the Chapter 18, but strangely avoids the issue as dealt with in the stanzas 32-33 of the Chapter 9 where Krsna arguably refers to the inferiority of women,
vaisyas and sudras debarred from performances of the Vedic sacrificial rituals--signified by the conditionals kim punah.
The highest (priestly) caste, the Brahmins, and the third highest, the
Vaisya or Bania (merchant) caste neither drank alcohol nor ate meat.
As people were divided into four castes, Bahun, Chhetri,
Vaisya and Sudra, each was enjoined to follow a caste specific occupation.
Leading national newspaper Hindustan Times published (70) under the category of 'grooms wanted': "High status industrialist Brahmin family seeks alliance for their Very Fair, beautiful daughter ..."; Suitable match for Rajput fair, slim M.A., M.Com., M.Ed...."; Match for "Punjabi Arora girl 34/5'2" beautiful Very Fair NRI software developer well settled Boston ..."; Jaiswal (
Vaisya) fair girl May 80/5'3" MBA (HR)..."; "Suitable match for Very Fair, 5'3", Dec.
Status-wise, Gandhi, who was a
vaisya, was lower than the Brahmin priest.
A boy of a
vaisya family, who gained a crore from being rulers [of a village according to the Vinaya reference quoted above].
The interconnectedness between state and society becomes further evident when we look at organization of the governor's court (adalat), where local merchants such as Virji Vora and Hari
Vaisya occupied a prominent place.