India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s1.14

c8.s1.14

Patañjali makes clear the social status of the Śūdras in his time. Firstly, there were Śūdras who were not excluded from Āryāvarta but were living within its social system. Secondly, there was another class of Śūdras who were living outside Āryāvarta and its society. He cites as examples (1) Kishkindha-Gabdikam (2) Śaka-Yavanam and (3) Saurya-Krauñcham. Of these Kishkindhā may be identified with Pāli Khukhundo in Gorakhpore, Gabdikā with the Gaddis of Chambā, who were deemed as living outside the limits of Āryāvarta, Saurya with Soreyya or Soron in Etah district and Krauñcha with the later Krauñcha-dvāra somewhere in Garhwal. The Śakas and the Yavanas who are termed Śūdras were not yet parts of the Aryan society and were outside Āryāvarta in Patañjali's time. The Aryan society was at pains to repel the invasion of the Yavanas (Greeks under the leadership of Demetrius and Menander) and this hostility must have emphasized the cleavage between them. The Śakas geographically were still living outside the borders of India in the second century B.C. But in the first century B.C. we find Śaka settlements springing up at Takshaśilā, Mathurā and Ujjayinī.