Caste and Race in India c8.114

c8.114

The Śūdra gets socially more degraded, though ways and means are discovered for his religious emancipation. In the latter connection, the later division into "sat" and "asat"—good and bad—Śūdras first makes its appearance. And the rules regarding social and moral life, evincing greater degradation of the class, must evidently have been devised for the use of the latter class, viz. the asat Śūdras. Servitude is proclaimed to be a permanent condition of a Śūdra, whether he be actually bought or not. A Śūdra must not acquire wealth, because thereby he causes pain to the Brahmins. Manu roundly declares that a Śūdra cannot commit an offence causing loss of his caste, so degraded was he.¹ Where some kinds of spirituous liquors are forbidden to the members of the twice-born castes, the Śūdra is left to himself.² Evidently the Śūdra was regarded beyond the pale of moral influence. The Brahmin did not even condescend to expect of him an adherence to his high moral precepts. A householder, when sipping water for personal purification, must not use it if brought by a Śūdra. A member of the first three castes must not travel in the company of Śūdras. It seems that the Śūdras were considered to impart some sort of defilement to objects like bed and seat by their touch.³