[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) › c10.447 # Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c10.447 Śūdras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c10.447 - **Language:** English ### [c10.447](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c10.447) The pulkasas or the pukkusas seem to have been an aboriginal tribe that lived by hunting,⁵ but they were gradually absorbed in brāhmaṇical society for certain tasks such as removing flowers from the temple and the palace.⁶ The fact that they could approach the temple premises to remove flowers shows that they were not regarded as being quite as degraded as the caṇḍāla. - [Previous: c10.446](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c10.446) - [Next: c10.448](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c10.448) - [Up: c10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c10) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c10.447](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c10.447) · Pramāṇa