Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c10.179

c10.179

We can have some idea of the economic position of the śūdras from some rules governing the relations between the employers and the employees. It is characteristic of the predominantly agrarian and pastoral economy of the pre-Mauryan period that the rules of this kind refer to the relations between the master on the one hand and his agricultural labourers and herdsmen on the other. It is laid down by Āpastamba that, if the servant in tillage gives up his work, he shall be given physical punishment.¹ The same provision applies to the herdsman who abandons tending the cattle;² it is further provided that in such a case the cattle shall be entrusted to some other herdsman.³ If the loss of the cattle is due to the negligence of the herdsman, he is held responsible for it.⁴ Gautama does not refer to these provisions, but he ordains that the master of the cattle or his herdsman, as the case might be, shall be called to account for any damage caused to anyone by the cattle in his charge.⁵ None of these lawgivers state the obligations of the master towards his herdsman or agricultural labourers. Thus, compared to their masters, these wage-earners were placed in a disadvantageous position.