The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c17.140

v1.c17.140

On the other hand, the Çūdra was approximating more and more to the position to which the humbler freeman was being reduced. In the passage referred to, he is still described as 'the servant of another, to be expelled at will and to be slain at will'; but in the Sūtras we find that, while the Vaiçya has a wergeld of 100 cows, the Çūdra has a wergeld of 10 cows; and, even if we assume that this is merely for the benefit of his master—which is very doubtful—still unquestionably the growing complication of the social scheme was abolishing the relation of simple slavery. Slaves proper there were, as we see in the Buddhist texts; but, where whole tribes were reduced to subjection, the tendency must have been to assign villages and their inhabitants to the king and to the nobles, sometimes, perhaps, also, though in a less degree, to the commoners who at this period must still have formed the bulk of the army. While some of the aboriginal inhabitants would thus become slaves pure and simple, the rest would rather stand in the relationship of serfs; and, as we have seen, there is reason to suppose that in many cases the true Vaiçyas also were approximating to the position of tenants of the nobles. There is an interesting parallel in the early history of England, where the ordinary freeman gradually fell into feudal dependence on his superiors, while the slave as gradually acquired the position of a serf, and became more and more assimilated to the position to which the freeman had sunk.