Caste and Race in India c7.25

c7.25

The name of the fourth class, the Śūdra, occurs only once in the Rigveda. It seems the class represented domestic servants, approximating very nearly to the position of slaves. The Śūdra is described as "the servant of another", "to be expelled at will", and "to be slain at will". The Pañchaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa defines this position still more precisely when it declares that the Śūdra, even if he be prosperous, cannot but be a servant of another, washing his superior's feet being his main business. Yet according to the same work some of the king's ministers were Śūdras. The milk to be used for fire-oblation was not allowed to be milked by a Śūdra. He was not to be addressed by a person consecrated for a sacrifice. He is declared to be unfit for sacrifice and not allowed even to be present in the hall where the sacrifice was being offered. The Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa goes to the length of declaring that the Śūdra is untruth itself.² Illicit connection between an Ārya male and a Śūdra female is mentioned, and the uneasiness felt by the Śūdra husband whose wife is a mistress of an Ārya is also hinted at.³ In this connection we may mention that Vasisṭha quotes a Brāhmaṇa text to the effect that a woman of the black race, meaning the Śūdra people, was meant only for enjoyment and not for the furtherance of any higher motives.⁴