Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c10.263

c10.263

The above passage describes the conduct of the unrighteous people, who were evidently outside the fold of Jainism, and therefore may not be free from an element of exaggeration. But it undoubtedly shows that the master inflicted different kinds of cruel punishments not only on his slaves but on various other categories of workers employed by him. All this would suggest that corporal punishment for the offending members of the serving class was not uncommon though the artisan members of the śūdra varṇa were perhaps free from this humiliation. In Greece also the slave might pay for minor misdeeds with corporal punishment, but the free man was exempt from this indignity.³