Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c13.133

c13.133

Nārada includes the *kināśa* (peasant) among those who are not fit to be examined as witnesses.¹ Asahāya, a commentator of the 7th cen. A.D.,² explains the term kināśa as a ‘śūdra’. ³ This interpretation seems to be correct, for next to the kināśa the son of a śūdra wife is also declared by Nārada to be an incompetent witness.⁴ This shows that śūdras were probably considered as peasants. This is also corroborated by Bṛhaspati, who provides a very severe corporal punishment for the śūdra, acting as a leader in boundary disputes relating to fields.⁵ It is obvious that they could lead these disputes only as owners of fields. The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa defines the village as a settlement where śūdras are numerous and cultivators thrive.⁶ Some of these cultivators may have been śūdras. Kātyāyana lays down that, if a person cannot pay his debt, he should be made to work it off; if he is unable to work, he should be sent to jail. But this law applies only to the members of the three lower varṇas who are cultivators, and not to the brāhmaṇas.⁷ The Bṛhat Saṃhitā states that the outbreak of fire in the south would cause pain to the ugras and vaiśyas, and its outbreak in the west to the śūdras and cultivators.⁸ This may suggest that śūdras and cultivators were regarded as closely connected with one another. Thus the above references indicate that śūdras were gradually becoming peasants.