Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c10.406

c10.406

Taking the social status of these crafts separately, the potter does not generally appear in dark colours.⁸ But at one place the work of the weaver (tantavāya) is described as of inferior type.¹ The barber also seems to have been an object of derision.² Thus although the barber Upāli became a monk, he was reviled by the nuns as one of low birth whose occupations are shampooing and cleaning of dirt.³ All this indicates a tendency to hold some crafts in low esteem. Since these crafts were practised by various sections of the śūdras in course of time the occupations of the śūdra varṇas as a whole came to be stigmatized. This is evident from a passage of the Dīgha Nikāya, which uses the phrase “luddācāra khuddācāra ti”⁴ in defining the functions of the śūdras. This means that the śūdras are those who live on hunting and other humble pursuits. In a Jain text also the terms vṛṣala, gṛhadāsa (born slave) and ‘low born wretch’ are used as terms of contempt like dog, thief, robber, cheat, liar etc.⁵