History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.796

v4.c63.796

The kinds of slaves and the incidents of slavery have been already dealt with in H. of Dh. vol. II. pp. 180-189. A few matters not referred to there may be dealt with here. 'Buddhist India' p. 55 (by Rhys Davids) shows how slavery in the Buddhist period was not as miserable as under the Greeks. The Rājataraṅgiṇī IV. 39 states that king Vajrāditya of Kashmir (in the 8th Century A. D.) sold many men as slaves to Mlecchas. One cannot help blaming the British Indian Government for the Assam Labour and Emigration Act (VI of 1901) whereby a modified form of serfdom or slavery was legalised for the benefit of the tea planters of Assam, Bengal and other provinces and by sections 168-169 of which poor indentured labourers who were induced to labour on the sumptuous monthly wages of five rupees were liable to be sentenced to fine or in default to imprisonment, if they left off the work to which by agreement they were tied down in unhealthy districts and unhealthier surroundings.