Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c10.53

c10.53

The nature of social inequality in the age of the Buddha cannot be understood without a reference to its material background, which is provided by the North Black Polished (NBP) Ware archaeology. The NBP period lasted roughly for more than three centuries from around 600 B.C. In its pre-300 B.C. phase the NBP culture was almost confined to eastern U.P. and Bihar, i.e., lands of Kosala and Magadha, but its post-300 B.C. phase obtained in almost the whole of north India and in a good portion of Madhya Pradesh. NBP sherds are found even in the Deccan. Even its initial phase was marked by a greater use of iron for agricultural tools, large-scale settlements in the thickly forested and heavy-soil areas after clearance, beginnings of town life and use of metallic money in the form of the punch-marked coins made of silver and copper. Once one of the most fertile lands in the country were opened to cultivation through the use of the iron ploughshare,³ the near subsistence economy of western U.P. was turned into the surplus-producing economy of the middle Gaṅgā basin. For clearing and cultivating large stretches of land a good many peasants and labourers were required. Probably the method of paddy transplantation leading to wet paddy production were learnt in this period.⁴ The paddy surplus produced by the peasants and labourers made possible not only the rise of sixteen great kingdoms with their towns but also the support of professional types of religious, political administrative, and military functionaries who tended to close their folds. On account of the new methods of production it was possible to have a full-fledged class society in which taxes, tributes, tithes and gifts in cash and kind were available for collection by the religious and administrative segments of the ruling class. For the first time we encounter a large number of monks and nuns living on charities. Similarly interests could be collected by moneylenders and profits could be made by traders, and thus the market exchange could intensify social stratification. Because of the use of money, it was possible to accumulate wealth and create wide chasms between those who produced and those who were engaged in the distribution and appropriation of the social surplus. The brāhmaṇical ideologues devised and elaborated a social mechanism through which the fruits of economic expansion in the age of the Buddha could be cornered by priests and warriors to the exclusion of peasants and labourers. The Buddhist ideologues helped to stabilise the new material culture and social set-up by laying emphasis on non-killing of animals and shutting the doors of the Saṃgha to slaves and debtors; at the same time it tried to soften its rigours by giving ordination to women and śūdras and stressing kindness towards slaves and servants.