Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c13.471

c13.471

There is not much new information about the occupations of the mixed castes and untouchables. Manu’s rule that these castes are to be recognised by their occupations recurs in the Anuśāsana Parvan.³ The caṇḍālas continued to be employed in the work of cleaning streets, working in the cremation grounds, executing criminals and tracking down thieves at night.⁴ Hunting constituted an important occupation of the lower sections of the śūdras. Curiously enough, the Amara-kośa catalogues not only fowlers and hunters in the śūdra-varga,⁵ but also ordinary dogs, dogs trained for chase, village hogs, and deer wounded on the right side;⁶ so also are mentioned snare, net, rope and cage for trapping birds in the same section.⁷ Fa-hsien informs us that the caṇḍālas are fishermen and hunters, and sell flesh and meat.⁸ But the caṇḍālas are mentioned by Kālidāsa as separate from the fowlers and fishermen although they all belong to the same class.⁹ Thus in this period the caṇḍālas do not seem to have been primarily hunters though hunting may have been one of their subsidiary occupations A Jain source states that the medas used to hunt animals day and night with bow and arrow.¹⁰