Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c13.391

c13.391

The texts of the period repeatedly state that a brāhmaṇa should not accept the food of a śūdra, for it reduces his spiritual strength.¹ The *Śānti Parvan* does not allow the brāhmaṇa to take the food of carpenters, leather workers, washermen and dyers.² According to Yājñavalkya the food of the śūdras and outcastes (*patitas*) is not permitted to a snātaka.³ He further specifies that a snātaka should not take the food of a stage-player, a bamboo worker, a goldsmith, a weapon seller, an artisan, a tailor, a dyer, one whose living is by dogs, a butcher, a washerman or an oilmaker.⁴ There also begins the tendency to ban the food of some śūdras for the kṣatriyas. It is said that a kṣatriya must eschew food given by those śūdras who are addicted to evil ways and who partake of all manner of food without any scruple.⁵ The *Anuśāsana Parvan* declares that the man who takes food from a śūdra swallows the very abomination of the earth, drinks the excretions of the human body, and partakes of the filth of all the world.⁶ Perhaps this is meant to deter the brāhmaṇas from adopting such a course. Penances are provided for the purification of the brāhmaṇa who accepts the food of śūdras or eats in the company of vaiśyas and kṣatriyas.⁷