Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c11.174

c11.174

The question of the civic status of the śūdra vis-a-vis the position of slaves in the Arthaśāstra needs some consideration. Like the authors of the Dharmasūtras, Kauṭilya clearly recognises an ārya as a free man, and states that on no account can an ārya be subjected to slavery.⁵ As a corollary to this he ordains that the selling or mortgaging by kinsmen of a śūdra who is not a born slave, has not attained majority, but is an āryaprāṇa (ārya in birth), shall be punished with a fine of 12 paṇas, and that everybody engaged in the transaction shall be severely penalised.⁶ This implies that sons of the three higher varṇas begotten on a śūdra woman,⁷ cannot be reduced to slavery through the process of purchases or pledging: perhaps they might be relegated to that position through other processes such as judicial punishment, capture in war, voluntary enslavement etc.⁸ Thus Kauṭilya refers to the āryaprāṇa captured in war being reduced to slavery.¹ Therefore his rule clearly shows that, with the exception of the minor śūdra sons of the members of the three varṇas, other members of the fourth varṇa could be made slaves. Even in the case of these specified śūdras, whose numbers must have been very small, the fine prescribed for making them slaves is the smallest, i.e. 12 paṇas, which gradually increases in the cases of the vaiśya, the kṣatriya and the brāhmaṇa.²