History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c19.29

v2.c19.29

The word 'dāsa' in later literature means 'a serf or a slave.' It follows that the dāsa tribes that we see opposed to the Āryas in the Ṛgveda were gradually vanquished and were then made to serve the Āryas. In the Manusmṛti (VIII. 413) the śūdra is said to have been created by God for service (dāsya) of the brāhmaṇa.⁷¹ We find in the Tai. S., the Tai. Br. and other Brāhmaṇa works that the śūdra occupies the same position that he does in the smṛtis. Therefore it is reasonable to infer that the *dāsas* or *dasyus* conquered by the Āryas were gradually transformed into the śūdras. From being enemies they were brought into friendly relations and given a very subordinate position. Traces are visible even in the Ṛgveda that friendly relations had begun to be established between certain dāsas and the priests. For example in Ṛg. VIII. 46. 32 we read 'the singer took a hundred (cows or other gifts) from the dāsa Balbūtha and from Tarukṣa.' In the Puruṣasūkta (X. 90. 12) the brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya and śūdra are said to have sprung from the mouth, arms, thighs and feet of the supreme Puruṣa. In the very next verse the sun and the moon are said to have been born from the eye and mind of the Puruṣa. This shows that the composer of the hymn regarded the division of society into four classes to be very ancient and to be as natural and God-ordained as the sun and the moon.