Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c13.559

c13.559

From the third century onwards several texts emphasise that the śūdras can perform a number of rituals including the *saṃskāras*;¹ the only condition is that these have to be done without mantras,² which obviously belong to the Vedic texts. For it is recognised in the *Padma Purāṇa* that the rituals of the dvijas follow the *śruti* (*śrautam*), and those of the śūdras follow the *smṛti* (*smārtam*).³ The fact that the śūdras are not allowed to utter the Vedic mantras does continue a religious hiatus between them and the twice-born, but this is more formal than real. For in early medieval times some Smārta mantras find their way into the Vedic mantras.⁴