Caste in India: The Facts and the System c7.s4.7

c7.s4.7

It is significant of the excessive hostility and contempt with which the Śūdra was regarded that a text ¹ puts on the same level the murder of a Śūdra and the destruction of a chameleon, a peacock, or a frog. A Brahman novice has the right to take summarily and without leave from a Śūdra what he requires to pay his master’s fees.² The most terrible punishments overtake a Śūdra who, even in external relations, should fail to keep at a proper distance from a person belonging to the three Āryan castes.