The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c23.29

v1.c23.29

¹ The slave of the rules cited above is a Çūdra-slave. The law defines slaves as of seven kinds, war-captives, daily workers for food, slaves born in the house, men bought, given, inherited, and those enslaved for punishment. Slaves of war are known in the epic (*v. sup.* p. 270) and there is no reason for supposing that a captive warrior may not be a slave (the commentator confines the captive to the Çūdra caste). According to practice, the warrior-caste slave is in bondage only for a year. The 'slave by punishment' means a debtor unable to pay. It may be observed that prisons are for malefactors and traitors rather than for debtors. Manu speaks of prisons situated by the roadway where all who pass may see the punishments suffered by the wretches within, and the tortures of hell have the appearance of being copied from models nearer home (Manu, VIII, 288).