Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c13.541

c13.541

society, and is a probable recognition of ritualistic citizenship. Since the śūdra ranks came to contain a large number of peasants in Gupta times and came to acquire the same status as that of the vaiśyas, we notice a corresponding change in their religious status. More than anything else the process is reflected in the gradual increase of the saṃskāras to be performed by them. The Gṛhyasūtras or the texts on domestic rites, which mostly belong to pre-Maurya times, do not permit any sacrament to a śūdra; nor are these allowed to him in any pre-Gupta text. But the process starts in Gupta times, in which the number of sacraments in general shot up to at least sixteen or even more. The problem of accommodating the new śūdras in the brāhmaṇical system becomes so important that a new Gṛhyasūtra called the Vaijavāpa Gṛhyasūtra is prepared for this purpose. Literally it means the text dealing with the sowing of seeds, a function performed by both the vaiśyas and śūdras. Mentioned in the Tantravārttika of Kumārila Bhaṭṭa,¹ the text is earlier than the seventh century.² But it cannot be treated as one of the earliest Gṛhyasūtras; it seems to have been compiled in Gupta or post-Gupta times.