History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c22.19

v2.c22.19

Nārada (abhyupetyāśuśrūṣā) and Kātyāyana among the smṛtikāras contain the most elaborate treatment on slavery. Nārada first says that a śuśrūṣaka (one who serves another) is of five kinds viz. a Vedic student, an antevāsin (an apprentice who is learning a craft), adhikarmakṛt (a supervisor over workmen), bhṛtaka (hired servant) and dāsa. The first four are called *karmakara*. They can be called upon to do only work that is pure, while a dāsa may have to do impure work⁴³⁰ such as cleaning the entrances to the house, filthy pits (for leavings of food), the road, dunghill heaps, touching (or scratching) private parts, taking up and throwing away ordure and urine (verses 6–7), doing bodily service to the master if he so desires. Nārada mentions 15 kinds of slaves viz. one born in the house, one bought, one acquired (by gift or other means), one inherited, one saved in a time of famine, one pledged by the master, one discharged from a large debt, one captured in a battle, one vanquished in a bet, one who accepts slavery by saying 'I am yours', an apostate from the order of asceticism, one who stipulates to be a slave (for a certain time), one who is a slave for food (as long as food is given to him), one who is tempted to become a slave out of love for a female slave, and one who sells himself. Nārada says that the first four of these are not freed from slavery except by the favour of the master (v. 29), while one who sells himself is the worst kind of slave and he also does not become free from slavery (v. 37). Nārada (v. 30) and Yāj. (II. 182) state a rule applicable to all slaves, viz. that when a slave saves a master from imminent danger to the latter's life the slave becomes a free man and (Nārada adds) that he gets a share in the inheritance as a son. One who is an apostate from the order of ascetics is a slave of the king till the former's death (Yāj. II. 183). One saved in a famine becomes free by giving a pair of cows, one pledged⁴³¹ if the master who pledged him repays the debt, the slave in lieu of discharge of debt by paying off the debt with interest, one who accepted slavery or who was captured in battle or became so under a bet is freed by giving a substitute who is equal to him in work, one for a stipulated period by the lapse of the period, one who is a *bhakta-dāsa* becomes free by the master ceasing to give food, one who is '*vaḍavāhṛta*' (tempted by a female slave) by abandoning his intercourse with her (Nārada vv. 31-34, 36). Yāj. (II. 182) and Nārada (v. 38) say that one who was made a slave by force or was carried away by raiders and sold should be set free by the king. Yāj. (II. 183) and Nārada (v. 39) prescribe that a man can be a slave to a master only in the proper order of varṇas⁴³² i. e. the three varṇas next to a brāhmaṇa may be slaves to a brāhmaṇa, a vaiśya or a śūdra may be a slave to a kṣatriya but a kṣatriya cannot be the slave of a vaiśya or a śūdra, nor a vaiśya of a śūdra. There is one exception viz. an apostate from asceticism may be the slave of a vaiśya or a śūdra king. Kātyāyana emphasizes that a brāhmaṇa⁴³³ cannot be made a slave even to a brāhmaṇa, but if he himself chooses, he may do pure work for a brāhmaṇa endowed with character and Vedic learning, but no impure work. Kātyāyana (v. 721) says that when a brāhmaṇa becomes an apostate from the order of asceticism he should be banished from the kingdom and the kṣatriya or vaiśya apostate may become a slave to the king. Dakṣa (VII. 33) quoted by Aparārka (p. 787) adds that the apostate's head should be branded with the mark of dog's foot.