Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c13.400

c13.400

The rules for the boycott of the śūdra’s food have a very limited application. They mostly apply either to the brāhmaṇas or to the snātakas, who may have been chiefly brāhmaṇas. Even the brāhmaṇa is permitted to take milk and curd at the house of a śūdra.⁸ Further, if the brāhmaṇa is unable to procure food from the twice-born for his livelihood, he may accept it from a śūdra.⁹ Yājñavalkya repeats Manu’s rule that among the śūdras, a snātaka can take food from his herdsman, a friend of the family, his slave, his barber, his sharecropper and one who surrenders himself to him for the sake of maintenance.¹ Bṛhaspati also provides that food can be accepted from slaves and domestic servants.²