Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c13.671

c13.671

It is difficult to dilate upon the origin of the numerous rituals, vows, *utsavas*, *saṃskāras*, etc., that appear in the Smṛtis, epics and the Purāṇas. They were derived from diverse sources such as ancient texts, various tribes and regions, and different artisanal and agricultural practices. Several of these rituals were derived from the reforming sects. In Gupta and post-Gupta times they were better recognised, brāhmanised, systematised and consolidated into the Smārta texts for the use and acculturation of a large number of expanding peasantry which was being brought into the ‘Hindu’ fold as śūdras and also for their observation by the womenfolk. Some rituals were as old as pre-Maurya times set forth in the Gṛhyasūtras and meant only for the twice-born. We may recall that in later Vedic times the śūdras possessed certain religious rights, which they enjoyed as original members of the āryan tribes. As the tribal element was weakened and slaves, domestic servants, agricultural labourers, etc., came to be called śūdras, they lost these rights. Now in Gupta and post-Gupta times a good many of the śūdras became peasants or vice-versa, and so a few rights enjoyed by the upper varṇas including the vaiśyas were not only extended to them, but the religious practices of aboriginal peasants brought to the śūdra fold through the mechanism of land grants were also incorporated in the omnibus brāhmaṇical system and made respectable. Anyway we notice a sharp contrast between the saddling of the śūdras with religious disabilities in post-Vedic times on the one hand and conferring religious rights on them in the early Christian centuries and enlarging their scope and content in early medieval times on the other. This contrast, in our opinion, can be explained in terms of changes in the nature of the socio-economic formation in Gupta and post-Gupta times.