[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) › c10.522 # Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c10.522 Śūdras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c10.522 - **Language:** English ### [c10.522](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c10.522) While stabilising the existing social and economic relations Buddhism and Jainism tried to improve the position of slaves in some other ways. Thus a Dharmasūtra forbids trade in human beings only for the brāhmaṇa,⁶ who can, however, exchange slaves for slaves.¹ But the Buddhist and Jain sources prohibit trade in human beings even for their lay devotees.² Nevertheless, a Buddhist text states that the āryan disciple grows in servitors and retinue,³ which shows that the lay devotees could increase the number of their slaves by other methods. The monks did not keep slaves. A passage from a Jātaka story⁴ has been represented as meaning that the slaves of the bhikkhus go to town to get dainty fare for their sick masters.⁵ But this is based on an incorrect rendering of the passage,⁶ which does not refer to slaves or servants but to other bhikkhus who attended on their sick brethren and who are addressed as āvuso — a term usually applied to the monks.⁷ - [Previous: c10.521](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c10.521) - [Next: c10.523](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c10.523) - [Up: c10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c10) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c10.522](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c10.522) · Pramāṇa