The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c20.19

c20.19

Disabilities of Śūdras. Alberūnī, in fact, records that a Vaiśya or a Śūdra who dared to hear, pronounce, or recite Vedic texts was hauled up by Brāhmaṇas before magistrates who ordered his tongue to be cut out.² From the mention of Vaiśyas, the whole passage smacks of exaggeration but it certainly has a substratum of fact in it. Alberūnī is more correct in a later passage where he singles out the Śūdra for punishment for daring to arrogate the Dvija privileges of saying prayers, reciting the Veda and offering sacrifices to the fire.³