Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c10.226

c10.226

As to their role in the republican governments of this period, it has been rightly said that the "ruling assembly in the *Saṃgha-Gaṇa* consisted of a kṣatriya aristocracy ranking higher in the social scale than the brāhmaṇas and the gahapatis, not to speak of inferior classes."² On the basis of a passage from the *Gautama Dharma-sūtra* Jayaswal says that the śūdra could be a member of the *paura* (relating to the town or capital) body which was consulted by the king.³ Assuming that the *paura* was a corporate body, Jayaswal's interpretation in the case of the śūdra is not borne out by the commentary of Maskarin, who explains the term *paura* as *samānasthānavāsi*, i.e. an inhabitant of the same place.⁴