Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c10.390

c10.390

The śūdra was, however, permitted to offer funeral oblations.³ But Gautama and Vasiṣṭha provide that the impurity caused to him by birth or death of a kinsman (sapinḍa) shall last for a month.⁴ According to Vasiṣṭha this period lasts for ten, fifteen and twenty days respectively in the case of a brāhmaṇa, rājanya and a vaiśya.⁵ Gautama, however, cuts down the period by four days in the case of a kṣatriya and eight days in that of a vaiśya.⁶ The longest period of impurity in the case of a śūdra, if observed, must have caused great hardship to him. Unable to earn his living, he would be compelled to throw himself at the mercy of a creditor or his master. Even in recent times, in the period of impurity caused by death, poor śūdras have been seen begging from door to door. But in one respect the śūdra’s position was better. He was not considered so impure as to be forbidden to touch the corpse of the higher varṇas. He could carry the corpse even of a brāhmaṇa⁷ to the cremation ground, where he could touch the funeral pyre.⁸