Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c10.256

c10.256

Corporal punishment was, however, not only confined to the dāsas, who were not *sui juris*. Along with them the pessas and the *kammakaras* are frequently described in the Buddhist dialogues as working under the king harried by stripes and fear, weeping with tears on their faces.⁶ A simile from a Jain text informs us that the presyas (messengers or servants) are made to work by being beaten with sticks.⁷ Such being the treatment of workers who seem to have committed no fault, the fate of the guilty can hardly be expected to be better. That the smallest offence of the wageearners was visited with the most severe punishments forms the subject of the following passage from the *Sūyagaḍam*: “A man will (occasionally) severely punish even the smallest offence of his domestics, viz., a slave or messenger or hired servant or vassal (*bhāgilla-bhāgika*)⁸ or parasite ; e.g.