Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c11.191

c11.191

Kauṭilya uses two terms to indicate the emancipation of servile people. In the case of the āryas the term āryatvam is used. But when the non-āryan slaves are to be freed, the term adāsa is used. For instance, it is laid down that, if the master begets a child on his woman slave, the mother along with the child should be regarded as free.¹ If, for the sake of supporting her family, the mother decides to continue as a slave, her mother, brother and sister shall be liberated (adāsāḥ syuḥ).² It seems that these dāsas ceased to be slaves, but they could not become āryas. We may note that in the early Pāli texts the term used for the manumission of the slaves is bhujjissa,³ and it is expressly stated that only among the Yavanas can an ārya become a dāsa and vice versa.