Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c10.550

c10.550

There is very scantly information as to how the śūdras reacted to these disabilities. But even on this basis it is difficult to accept the view that "the bitter struggle for existence was wanting" and that the social order worked harmoniously.⁴ A passage from Vasiṣṭha enumerates the following characteristics of the śūdras: backbiting, untruth, cruelty, fault-finding, condemnation of the brāhmaṇas and continued hostility.⁵ This may give an indication of the hostile attitude of the śūdras to the existing order in general and to its ideological leaders, the brāhmaṇas, in particular. But, as shown earlier, the masters seem to have been more hostile and callous towards their slaves and hired labourers¹ than the latter towards their masters. The solitary instance of the revolt of the dāsas, which is found in the *Vinaya Piṭaka*,² is of a mild nature. It is said that at one time the slaves of the Śākyas of Kapilavastu got out of hand, and robbed and violated some Śākyan women, who had gone off to a jungle for feeding some monks.³