Tribes in Ancient India c65: Chapter LXIII. The Śūdras
Tribes in Ancient India c65
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Chapter LXIII. The Śūdras
c65.2
The Śūdras as a tribe (as distinct from the fourth caste) seem to have played some part in Ancient Indian History, and are several times mentioned in the *Mahābhārata* and Purāṇas, as also in the accounts of Greek geographers and historians.
c65.3
The Śūdras were a fairly important tribe of the north-west at the time when Alexander the Great invaded India (326 B.C.). They were among those who were vanquished by the Macedonian conqueror. Greek writers refer to them as Sodrai, in association with the Massanoi and Mousikaroi, all of whom occupied portions of modern Sind. The next datable reference to the tribe is contained in Patañjali’s *Mahābhāṣya* (I, 2, 3), where they are associated with the Ābhīras. In the *Mahābhārata* also they are associated with the Ābhīras,¹ and are said to have occupied the region where the river Sarasvatī vanishes into the desert, i.e. near Vinaśana in Western Rajputana.²
c65.4
¹ Śalyaparvan, 2119.
c65.5
² Mbh., IX, 37, 1: ‘Śūdrābhīrān prati dveṣād yatra naṣṭā Sarasvatī’.
c65.6
In the *Harivaṃśa*,³ we have ‘Madrābhīrāḥ’ (Madras and Ābhīras) where we would expect to find ‘Śūdrābhīrāḥ’; here Madra may be a misreading for Śūdra, for the Madras are hardly anywhere connected with the Ābhīras.⁴
c65.7
³ Cal. Ed., 12, 837.
c65.8
⁴ M. Langolis reads ‘Śūrābhīrāḥ’, evidently following the Viṣṇu, Bhāgavata, and some other Purāṇas. See his translation of the Harivaṃśa, Vol. II, p. 401; also Goldstücker’s Dictionary, p. 299.
c65.9
According to the *Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa* (57, 35), the Śūdras were located in the Aparānta region or western country, and were associated with the Vāhlīkas, Vātadhānas, Ābhīras, Pallavas, etc. The *Brahmapurāṇa*⁵ also places them in the west, and associates them with the Saurāṣṭras, Ābhīras, Arbudas, Mālavas, etc. The *Viṣṇupurāṇa* (II, 3) has *Śūrābhīrāḥ* for what obviously should be *Śūdrābhīrāḥ*. In the *Bhāgavatapurāṇa* (XII, 1, 36) also we have:
c65.10
⁵ 19, 17: ‘Tathāparāntyāḥ Saurāṣṭrāḥ Śūdrābhīrāstathārbudāḥ Mārukā Mālavāścaiva Pāriyātranivāsinaḥ.’
c65.11
‘Saurāṣṭrāvaityabhīrāśca Śūdrā Arbuda-mālavāḥ.’
Linked texts (6)
- Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
- Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
- Viṣṇupurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
- Brahmapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
- Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
- Harivaṃśa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit