Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c11.229

c11.229

The above-mentioned provisions of Kauṭilya are not noticeable in the early Dharmasūtras. But Kauṭilya fixes practically the same waiting periods for the wives of the absent husbands of the different varṇas as is done by Vasiṣṭha, the shortest period being prescribed in the case of the wife of a śūdra.⁶ All such injunctions show that the marriage tie was not considered so strong in the case of the śūdras as in the case of the members of the higher varṇas, among whom women were much more dependent upon man.