Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c12.269
Śūdras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c12.269
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c12.269.1
The company of the śūdra was considered contaminating for a brāhmaṇa. Manu states that a brāhmaṇa who lives in the company of the most excellent people and shuns all low people becomes most distinguished; by the opposite conduct he is degraded to the position of śūdra.⁶ He reproduces the provision that the snātaka should not travel with the śūdras.⁷ Manu recalls the old rule that if the vaiśyas and śūdras come to the house of a brāhmaṇa as guests, out of compassion they should be permitted to take their food along with the servants.⁸ Manu provides that the snātaka should not eat the food of a śūdra.⁹ In a long list of those whose food should not be taken by the snātaka are blacksmiths, niṣādas, stage-players, goldsmiths, basket-makers, trainers of hunting dogs, distillers and vendors of spiritous liquors (śauṇḍikas), washermen and dyers.¹ It is further stated that the food of a king impairs the vigour of the snātaka, the food of a śūdra his excellence in sacred learning, the food of a goldsmith his longevity and that of a leather-cutter (carmāvakartinaḥ) his fame.² Curiously enough, along with the food of the various sections of the śūdra community, the food of the king is also considered detrimental to the welfare of the snātaka.
c12.269.2
Manu further adds that the food of an artisan destroys the offspring of the snātaka, that of a washerman his physical strength and the food of the tribal groups and harlots excludes him from the higher worlds.³ If he takes the food of any of these people unintentionally, he must fast for three days; but if he has done so intentionally, he must perform a difficult penance known as the kṛcchra.⁴ It seems that in all these references the snātaka probably means a Vedic student from the brāhmaṇa varṇa. The result of these restrictions, if enforced, would be to prevent all social contacts between the lower orders and the educated brāhmaṇas. Manu lays down that the learned brāhmaṇa must not take the cooked food of a śūdra who does not perform the rites of śrāddha, but on failure of all other means of subsistence he might accept raw grain sufficient to maintain him for one night.⁵ But such a rule is not valid in abnormal times. Manu cites several examples of the distinguished sages who took forbidden food in time of distress.⁶ Thus hungry Viśvāmitra, who could distinguish between right and wrong, was ready to eat the haunch of a dog, receiving it from the hands of a caṇḍāla.⁷ Generally the food of the śūdras was accepted in normal times.
c12.269.3
Manu lays down that, among śūdras, one may eat the food of his sharecropper, a friend of his family, his cow-herd, his slave and his barber.¹ Patañjali informs us that the plates of carpenters, washermen, and blacksmiths could be used after proper cleaning.² This would suggest that in matters of food there were relations of give and take between the members of the higher varṇas and these sections of the śūdra community. To eat the leavings of the śūdras was considered a great sin. It is stated that he who has eaten the leavings of women and śūdras should remove the impurity by drinking barley gruel for seven days and nights.³ Perhaps this rule applies to the brāhmaṇa. Similarly a brāhmaṇa who drinks water left by a śūdra should expiate his sin by drinking water in which kuśa grass has been boiled for three days.⁴ Manu’s provisions throw some light on the dietary habits of the śūdras. The twice-born should perform the cāndrāyaṇa penance if he eats dried meat, mushrooms growing on the earth and meat about the origin of which he has no knowledge, or which had been kept in a slaughter-house.⁵ Similarly if the twice-born takes the meat of carnivorous animals, boars, camels, cocks, crows, human beings and asses, he should perform a very difficult penance known as the taptakṛcchra.⁶ If in these references the dvija is taken as a member of the first three varṇas, it would imply that śūdras were free to take all varieties of meat.
c12.269.4
Commenting on a passage of Manu Kullūka states that, by eating garlic and other kinds of forbidden roots, the śūdra cannot commit an offence leading to loss of caste.⁷ This would suggest that garlic, onion and various kinds of meat were regarded as the legitimate food of the members of the lower orders.