The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c22.46

v1.c22.46

The slave possessed nothing; his tax was paid in manual labour, for he had no money or other possessions, 'there is no *suum* in the case of a slave' (*ibid.* XII, 60, 37). The slave comes 'from the foot of God' (as the warrior is born of God's arm) and hence is 'born to servitude.' The Çūdras are especially the slaves of the merchants and farmers; for though they are told to be 'faithful to priest and warrior' they are said in particular to 'serve the people-caste' (*ibid.* I, 100, 11). They are also marked as the 'blacks' in distinction from the priests who are white¹. The military character of the epic precludes much attention to the slaves, who as a fighting host are naturally not of importance, though they may be referred to under the designation ‘the black mass,’ for the great hosts led into the field comprise many of the slaves as camp followers and helpers. What is very important is that the lowest Āryan caste, the body of farmers, is on the verge of mingling with the slave-caste. No priest may become a slave, however distressed for sustenance he may become; but a slave may become a herdsman or trader if he cannot support himself by service (this is the epic and legal rule), and in fact the farmer population was largely composed of slaves. In the ethical parts of the epic, where caste-distinctions are theoretically abolished in favour of the rule that ‘there is no distinction of caste’ (religiously), the slave is even allowed to study and may get a reward for practising religious exercises (*Mbh*., XII, 328, 49; XIII, 132, 14), and a learned slave gives moral instruction; but this does not seem to correspond to real conditions where the slave is reckoned next to the beast (*ibid*. XIII, 118, 24). The old spirit of the Brāhman period, which declares that ‘priest, warrior, and people constitute the whole world’ is still practically in force.