Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c13.28

c13.28

The Buddhist works Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra and Vajrasūci also supply some information about the position of the śūdras. The former was compiled before A.D. 443,³ but the date of the latter is not so certain. It does not seem to be the work of Aśvaghoṣa, who flourished in the post-Mauryan period, for it does not find place in the list of his works mentioned by the Chinese pilgrim I-tsing.⁴ The Chinese translation, done between A.D. 973-981, ascribes it to the Buddhist logician Dharmakīrti, who in all probability flourished in the fifth century A.D.⁵ Quotations from the Manu Smṛti in the Vajrasūci show that the latter belonged to a later period. The major Buddhist and Jain⁶ commentaries, which probably belong to this period, also give some incidental references about the subject of our study.