History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c22.4

v2.c22.4

It has been seen above (pp. 26-27) that the word ‘dāsa’ in the Ṛg. generally stands for the opponents of the āryas. It is possible that when the dāsas were vanquished in battle and taken prisoners they were treated as slaves. In the Ṛgveda, however, there are not many passages where the word ‘dāsa’ can be said to have been used in the sense of slave. In Ṛg VIII. 56. 3⁴²¹ we read 'thou madest a gift to me of one hundred donkeys, of one hundred fleece-bearing ewes and one hundred dāsas'. It appears that here dāsa means slaves or serfs. In Ṛg VIII. 5. 38 the sage praises his patron Caidya Kaśu 'the common people sit down at the feet of Caidya Kaśu like men crowding round tanners of hides, (Caidya) who honoured me by giving me ten noblemen that were like gold in appearance'. Here probably there is an allusion to the gift of ten captured nobles made to the sage by Caidya Kaśu, the victor. A sage declares in Ṛg. VIII. 19. 36 'Trasadasyu, son of Purukutsa, gave me fifty young women'. This probably refers to the gift of female slaves (dāsīs). The Tai. S. VII. 5. 10. 1 says 'dāsīs (girl slaves) place on their heads jars full of water and singing this *madhu* and beating their feet against the ground dance round the *mārjālīya*' &c.⁴²² The Tai. S. II. 2. 6. 3. refers to the gift of a horse or a male (slave). 'He obtains a portion of himself who accepts (in gift) a being with two rows of teeth, (such as) a horse or a human male; on accepting an animal with two rows of teeth one should offer to Vaiśvānara a mess cooked on twelve potsherds'.⁴²³ The Ait. Br. 39. 8 mentions large gifts such as 10,000 girls (dāsī) and 10,000 elephants made by a king to his *purohita* performing coronation. When the angel of Death tries to dissuade Naciketas from his curiosity to know the destiny of a person after death, he tempts the inquirer (Kaṭha Up. I. 1. 25) 'Here are such handsome women with chariots and musical instruments as cannot be secured (ordinarily) by men; make them, when gifted by me, serve you; do not ask me what happens after death'. The women referred to were probably meant to be serving (or slave) girls who attended on a man as maids and who could dance and sing. In the Bṛ. Up. IV. 4. 23 Janaka after receiving instruction in Brahmavidyā from Yājñavalkya exclaims 'I make a gift to your honour of the Videhas together with myself for being your slave'. We read in the Chān. Up. 'In this world they speak of cows and horses, elephants and gold, wives and slaves, fields and houses as *mahimā* (greatness).'