Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c12.14

c12.14

Manu reaffirms the old theory that the śūdra is ordained by God to serve the higher castes.⁵ The king should order a vaiśya to trade, to lend money, to cultivate the land or to tend cattle, and a śūdra to serve the three upper varṇas.⁶ But in the chapter on times of distress (*āpad-dharma*) Manu declares that a śūdra should serve the brāhmaṇa, which would secure him all his ends;⁷ failing that he may serve a kṣatriya, or may maintain himself by attending even on a wealthy vaiśya.⁸ In this connection the phrase *api* (even) should be particularly noted, since it seems to imply that the vaiśya was seldom the master of the śūdra.¹ This further suggests that in times of distress the service of the śūdra was to be mainly reserved for the brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas. At another place Manu ordains that the king should carefully compel the vaiśyas and the śūdras to perform the tasks assigned to them; since, if these two varṇas swerve from their duties, they will throw the whole world into confusion.² This passage is of particular importance, for it is not to be found in any earlier text. Such a measure seems to reflect a period of socio-economic crisis, which is also evident from the *Yuga Purāṇa*, which informs us that during this period even women took to ploughing.³ That there seems to have been decaying farmers and traders, who were recruited as spies by the king, can be inferred from the comment of Kullūka to a passage of Manu.⁴ Another rule of Manu that the śūdras distressed for subsistence may settle down in any part of the country⁵ (i.e. even in the land of the Mlecchas) also points to some kind of crisis, which deeply affected the producing masses and encouraged migration. Hence Manu’s measure for making the vaiśyas and śūdras work may have been necessitated by social convulsions made worse by foreign invasions. Perhaps, when the strong rule of the Mauryans broke down, it was found increasingly difficult to keep the vaiśyas and the śūdras within the bounds of their assigned duties.