Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c13.217

c13.217

In the Gupta period trade appears as one of the normal functions of the śūdras. Yājñavalkya states that, if the śūdra cannot maintain himself by the service of the twice-born, he can become a trader.³ Bṛhaspati allows him to trade in all articles as one of his normal occupations.⁴ The Purāṇas also state that a śūdra can carry on buying and selling⁵ and can subsist on the profits of trade.⁶ Bṛhaspati lays down that a śūdra partner in business should pay ⅙ of the profits to the king, a vaiśya ⅛, a kṣatriya 1/10 and a brāhmaṇa 1/20.⁷ This would show that conditions for the śūdra traders were not so favourable as in the case of the members of the higher varṇas. Moreover, good śūdras were not expected to deal in some commodities such as wine.⁸ But it is certain that śūdras could carry on trade, and in this respect the brāhmaṇical lawgivers obliterated the distinctions not only between them and the vaiśyas, but in some cases between them and the first two varṇas. Generally the śūdra traders may have served as pedlars. The lawgivers of the period repeat the *Arthaśāstra* rule that a pedlar should get 1/10 of the sale proceeds,¹ but the *Śānti Parvan* raises this to 1/7.² Perhaps this change indicates the position in the Gupta period.