[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958) › c10.441 # Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c10.441 Śūdras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c10.441 - **Language:** English ### [c10.441](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c10.441) The caṇḍāla led a life of misery and squalor. A simile from a Pāli text informs us that a caṇḍāla boy or girl, clad in rags, with begging tray in hand, on entering village or town assumes a humble mein and then goes on.¹ We learn from a later Jātaka that the caṇḍāla possessed a pair of coloured garments (in order to distinguish him from the rest of the population), a girdle, a ragged robe and an earthen bowl.² - [Previous: c10.440](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c10.440) - [Next: c10.442](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c10.442) - [Up: c10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c10) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c10.441](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c10.441) · Pramāṇa