[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.c20.227 # History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c20.227 History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c20.227 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c20.227](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c20.227) (9) The śūdra gradually came to be so much looked down upon that he could not touch a brāhmaṇa, though at one time he could be a cook in a brāhmaṇa household and a brāhmaṇa could eat food from his house. In the Anuśāsanaparva (59.33) it is said³⁷⁹ 'a brāhmaṇa should be served by a śūdra from a distance like blazing fire; while he may be waited upon by a kṣatriya or vaiśya after touching him.' Aparārka (p. 1196) quotes two smṛti texts 'a brāhmaṇa on touching a śūdra or niṣāda becomes pure by ācamana (ceremonial sipping of water); on touching persons lower than these, he becomes pure by bathing, prāṇāyāma and the strength of \*tapas\*; on seeing a ram, a cock, a crow, a dog, a śūdra and an antyāvasāyin (an antyaja), one should stop the rite that is being performed and on touching them one should take a bath'. On this Aparārka explains that if a man who touched a śūdra cannot bathe then he may resort to sipping water, but if able he must take a bath or that on touching a sat-śūdra one may have recourse to ācamana and on touching an asat-śūdra one must take a bath. We find from the Gṛhyasūtras³⁸⁰ that in Madhuparka offered to a snātaka the feet of the guest (even if he was a brāhmaṇa) were washed by a śūdra male or female. So there could have been no ban against a śūdra touching a brāhmaṇa then. The Āp. Dh. S. (II. 3. 6. 9-10) says that two śūdras should wash the feet of a guest, according to some teachers (in the case of a householder who has several dāsas), while Āpastamba himself says that one śūdra should wash the guest's feet and another should sprinkle him with water.³⁸¹ - [Previous: v2.c20.226](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c20.226) - [Next: v2.c20.228](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c20.228) - [Up: v2.c20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c20) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c20.227](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c20.227) · Pramāṇa