Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c13.325

c13.325

Viṣṇu provides the highest amercement for connection with a woman of one's own caste, and the second amercement for adultery with a woman of the lower caste.⁴ Curiously enough he lays down the punishment of death (unless the term vadhya be taken in the sense of beating) for adultery with a woman of one of the lowest castes.⁵ But this is in conflict with another provision of his, according to which a brāhmaṇa guilty of intercourse with a caṇḍāla woman for a night can remove his guilt by subsisting upon alms and constantly repeating the gāyatrī for three years.⁶ It is to be noted, however, that the severe punishment prescribed by Manu against a śūdra committing adultery with a twice-born woman is not mentioned in any law-book of this period.