Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c10.444

c10.444

In popular parlance the term caṇḍāla signified a person who was without any virtues, a person without faith and morals.³ Fick rightly says that in their depiction of the caṇḍāla the Jātakas show that the reality was not far different from the priestly theory.⁴ But it is important to note that most of the references relating to the caṇḍālas are found in the later Jātakas, especially in the fourth volume, and hence may apply to the end of the pre-Mauryan period or even to later times.