Title: Examining Kamma/Karma Doctrine in the Buddhist Jātakas
Published on: December 1, 2019
Published in: Proceedings of the Indian History Congress
The hierarchies based on birth have not been justified through the use of the doctrine of karma here. But what is a matter of concern here is a social order (not varṇa per se) in which the family structure is key (paradāragamana is evil) as well as favor to the saṅgha in the form of dāna, so that it can be sustained. In spite of giving stress on karma and ahiṁsā, it is more plausible that stress on family as a unit of society with its practices of endogamy sustained varṇa/jāti structure.