➥ vasala:

• for vasala:
  • wretch
  • wretched
• for vasali:
  • wretched woman

On insulting non-brahmans

Vasala literally means ‘little man’ (PED). It was a term of abuse used by brahmans in reference to members of other social groups. For example, when Aggika Bhāradvāja saw the Blessed One coming in the distance, he shouted:

• ‘Stop, you! Right there, shaveling! Right there, sham ascetic! Right there, wretch!

tatreva muṇḍaka tatreva samaṇaka tatreva vasalaka tiṭṭhāhī ti.

On insulting other brahmans

Brahmans also used it to insult other brahmans. For example, when a brahman’s wife praised the Buddha, the brahman said (of his own wife!):

• On the slightest pretext this wretched woman spouts praise of that shaveling ascetic!

evamevaṁ panāyaṁ vasali yasmiṁ vā tasmiṁ vā tassa muṇḍakassa samaṇassa vaṇṇaṁ bhāsati. (SN i 160)

On insulting one’s own posterior

Brahmans used it to insult their own bodies:

• Now at that time a certain bhikkhu who had been born a brahman, having defaecated, did not want to rinse himself, thinking: ‘Who would touch this wretched, stinking thing?’ A worm remained in his anus.

Tena kho pana samayena aññataro bhikkhu brāhmaṇa jātiko vaccaṁ katvā na icchati ācametuṁ ko imaṁ vasalaṁ duggandhaṁ āmasissatīti. Tassa vaccamagge kimi saṇṭhāsi. (Vin.2.221)

No castes, no outcastes

Caste is ‘one of the hereditary social classes in Hinduism that restrict the occupation of their members and the association with the members of other castes’ (Webster’s).

The four classes of the Buddha’s time were therefore not technically castes because intermarriage was still possible (DN i 97). Marriage to even low-class women was common amongst brahmans (AN iii 229). Queen Mallika was King Pasenadi's wife, though her father was a garland-maker.

So vasala cannot mean ‘outcaste’.