[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India)](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930) › v2.c19.32.2 # History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c19.32.2 History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c19.32.2 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c19.32.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c19.32.2) therefore he does not go beyond washing the feet (of the three other varṇas), since he was created from the feet' (this last being an allusion to the Puruṣasūkta X. 90. 12 \*padbhyāṁ śūdro ajāyata\*). This shows that the śūdra, however rich in cattle he might be, had to perform the menial duty of washing the feet of \*dvijas\*. The Śatapatha Br. says that 'the śūdra is untruth' (S. B. E. vol. 44. p. 446), that 'the śūdra is toil' (S. B. E. vol. 44 p. 410), and that a dīkṣita (one who was initiated for a Vedic sacrifice) was not to speak with a śūdra (S. B. E. vol. 26 p. 4). The Aitareya Brāhmaṇa remarks that 'the śūdra⁷⁸ is at the beck and call of others (the three varṇas), he can be made to rise at will, he can be beaten at will.' When the father of Śunaḥśepa⁷⁹ (who had sold Śunaḥśepa for 100 coins and had shown himself ready to kill him as a paśu for another hundred coins) urged his son to come back to him after the boy had been taken into favour by Varuṇa and Viśvāmitra, he contemptuously discards his father's proposal with the words 'one who commits an evil deed once may commit another sinful deed thereafter; you did not leave aside the śūdra's line of conduct; - [Previous: v2.c19.32.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c19.32.1) - [Next: v2.c19.32.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c19.32.3) - [Up: v2.c19.32](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c19.32) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c19.32.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c19.32.2) · Pramāṇa