Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c10.107

c10.107

Slavery was not exclusively confined to the members of the śūdra varṇa. Even gāmabhojakas (village headmen),² ministers,³ brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas and men of high birth might be reduced to slavery,⁴ but the nature of their subjection may have been different. In any case the number of such people cannot have been considerable, the mass of the slave labour being supplied by the śūdra varṇa.⁵ Slavery arising out of debt, purchase, free will and fear⁶ can be rather expected in the case of the people of the lower orders than in that of the members of the higher varṇas. For example, Isidāsī, the daughter of a cart-driver was carried off as a slave by a merchant on account of her father's failure to pay his bebts.⁷ But it is indicative of the limited number of slaves during this period that in the Jātakas there is no mention of slaves captured in war.⁸