Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c11.116

c11.116

The artisans and wage earners were the worst paid members of society, but we can have no precise idea about their standard of living on account of the lack of information about the purchasing power of the paṇa. Kauṭilya, however, provides that the dāsas and karmakaras in the employ of the state should be given "particles of rice" for their support by the superintendent of the storehouse.⁷ What remains after such disposal should be given to the cooks engaged in preparing cakes,⁸ who may have been slaves, for these were engaged in the pre-Mauryan period. In connection with the disposal of bad liquor it is said that this should be given as wages to the dāsas and karmakaras because of the low type of their work.¹ Kauṭilya differentiates between the diet of an ordinary ārya and that of a śūdra. An ārya should get as his ration one prastha of pure and unsplit rice, 1/4 prastha of salt, 1/4 prastha of soup and 1/4 prastha of butter or oil; while an avara should get the same quantity of rice and salt but 1/8 prastha of soup and only half of oil recommended for an ārya,² butter being not provided in his case. In this context an avara means a person of the low caste (nikṛṣṭānām) and is a śūdra. But an ārya stands for an ordinary member of the higher varṇas,³ for rations for the āryas of higher grades such as the king, queen and chiefs of army are provided in much greater quantities.⁴ All this would show that the śūdras were fed on inferior food.