Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c13.623

c13.623

An important religious development of this period is the emphasis on the śūdra’s right of making gifts.¹ Charity is declared to be the best course for a śūdra, by performing which he gains all his ends.² A śūdra who practises truth and sincerity, honours mantra and brāhmaṇas, and makes gifts attains heaven and even brāhmaṇahood in the next birth.³ In a special vow known as the anaṅgadāna-vrata, prescribed for prostitutes, it is provided that a brāhmaṇa should recite the Vedic mantras while accepting the cow of a prostitute, who was normally thought of as a śūdra.⁴ We are further told that a Śaivite prostitute named Līlāvatī and a śūdra goldsmith made gifts, as a result of which the former attained the region of Śiva (śivamandiram) after death and the latter became a paramount sovereign named Dharmamūrti.⁵ A Buddhist commentary of the 5th century A. D. provides instances of at least a dozen persons of the lower orders who enjoyed the pleasures of heaven and the joys and comforts of the Buddhist vimānas as a result of their gifts to the Buddha, the Bhikṣus or the Saṃgha.⁶ Thus the doctrine of gift was common to both the Buddhist and brāhmaṇical systems.