History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c16.s2.27

c16.s2.27

(E) Sindhu [the Indus valley] and the C h a n d r a-b h ā g ā, K a u n t ī (Cutch), and K a s h m i r were under the M l e c h c h h a s who were non-Brahmanical Śūdras [or according to some manuscripts, antyāḥ or the lowest, untouchables]. They were M l e c h c h h a Ś ū d r a s, i.e. those Mlechchhas [e.g. Śakas] who according to Hindu Law had acquired the status of Śūdras but were Mlechchhas all the same, i.e. foreigners (§ 146 B). The Purāṇas are here distinguishing these Mlechchha Śūdras from the Hindu Śūdras. The Viṣṇu Purāṇa actually calls them ‘the Mlechchha-Śūdras’.¹ The Viṣṇu Purāṇa adds after S i n d h u-t a t a ‘the D ā r v ī k a country’, i.e. Eastern Afghanistan which is now inhabited by the Darveshkhel and the Dauras, from the Khyber Pass westwards. Instead of Dārvīka, we have the form Dārvīcha in the Mahā-Bhārata.²