Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c14.99

c14.99

Kauṭilya calls the Śūdra an *Ārya* by birth (*Āryaprāṇa*). He contemplates the possibility of a man selling himself into slavery (*Sakṛidātmādhātā*), children being provided for in that way in times of distress, and also captives of war. But in all such cases it is open to the so called slave under Hindu Law to buy back his freedom by means of earnings which he is permitted to make, irrespective of his earnings in his master's service. Over and above this, there was a provision that his kinsmen could and should redeem him from bondage by payment of ransom. A slave was also entitled to the inheritance of his father. The slave woman who has been taken to her master's bed acquires freedom thereby, as also do her children (*Svāminaḥ svasyāṁ dāsyāṁ jātaṁ samātṛikaṁ adāsaṁ vidyāt*) [*Ib.*].