Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c12.2

c12.2

Most of our direct information about the position of the śūdras during this period is derived from the law-book of Manu, which is ascribed to the period 200 B.C.—A.D. 300.¹ But its major portion probably belongs to the second century A.D. As has been shown later in Appendix I, Chapter X, which deals with the mixed castes, may have been included in the text in about the fifth century A.D. Manu looks upon Brahmāvarta (the country between the Sarasvati and the Dṛṣadvatī² and Brahmarṣideśa (the plains of the Kurus, the Matsyas, the Pañcālas and the Śūrasenas) as sacred.³ On this basis it has been suggested that the law-book arose, and was first considered authoritative within this comparatively narrow province.⁴ Such a view, though possible, is by no means necessary, and the influence of the code of Manu may have extended over a much wider area.