[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958) › c13.376 # Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c13.376 Śūdras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c13.376 - **Language:** English ### [c13.376](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c13.376) The rule that only the śūdra should bear the title of dāsa⁷ does not seem to have been followed. Thus the name of an ancestor of Ravikirti, a brāhmaṇa, was Varāhadāsa;⁸ and the name of a ruling chief of the Sanakānīkas, who was a feudatory of Candra Gupta II, was Mahārāja Viṣṇudāsa.⁹ The \*Nāṭyaśāstra\* ordains that in a drama the names of the brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas should indicate their gotra and functions, those of traders their generosity, and those of servants different kinds of flowers.¹⁰ It is not clear why the śūdras were to be named after flowers. - [Previous: c13.375](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c13.375) - [Next: c13.377](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c13.377) - [Up: c13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c13) ## Cites (2) - [Nāmaliṅgānuśāsana (Amarakośa)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.art.kosa.paryaya.amarakosa*bo) — Classical Tibetan - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c13.376](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c13.376) · Pramāṇa