The occupations of the Kayasths have been treated in discussing the
origin of the caste. They set the greatest store by their profession of
writing and say that the son of a Kayasth should be either literate
or dead. The following is the definition of a Lekhak or writer,
a term said to be used for the Kayasths in Puranic literature:
"In all courts of justice he who is acquainted with the languages of
all countries and conversant with all the Shastras, who can arrange
his letters in writing in even and parallel lines, who is possessed
of presence of mind, who knows the art of how and what to speak in
order to carry out an object in view, who is well versed in all the
Shastras, who can express much thought in short and pithy sentences,
who is apt to understand the mind of one when one begins to speak,
who knows the different divisions of countries and of time, [462]
who is not a slave to his passions, and who is faithful to the king
deserves the name and rank of a Lekhak or writer." [463]