[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958) › c13.623 # Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c13.623 Śūdras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c13.623 - **Language:** English ### [c13.623](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.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. - [Previous: c13.622](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c13.622) - [Next: c13.624](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c13.624) - [Up: c13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c13) ## Cites (3) - [Matsyapurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.matsya.17.71) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.markandeya.28.3) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c13.623](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c13.623) · Pramāṇa