Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c12.403

c12.403

Probably the above statements refer to conditions in the early Christian centuries. They do not seem to apply to the times of Aśoka, who, with all his zeal for Buddhism, cannot be charged with such gross intolerance towards the brāhmaṇas, as is represented in the Purāṇic statements. Although the insertion of the description of the Kali age in the Kūrma Purāṇa is ascribed to the period A.D. 700-800,⁴ it looks back to post-Mauryan times. Some of the passages in this description are exactly the same as can be found in the earlier texts of the Vāyu and the Brahmāṇḍa.⁵ In an inscription of the first half of the fifth century A.D. the Pallava ruler Siṃhavarman is described as ever ready to save the dharma from the sins of the Kali age.⁶ This may suggest that the conception of the Kali age was not very old.¹ As pointed out earlier, the mention of the mlecchas and of the intermingling of various peoples in the description of the Kali age better suits conditions obtaining in the post-Mauryan period. The Purāṇic statements that the foreign rulers will kill the brāhmaṇas and seize the wives and wealth of others is generally applied to this period,² and is in consonance with the spirit of similar allegations in the *Yuga Purāṇa*.³