Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c13.91

c13.91

In the earlier texts members of the three upper varṇas or their sons born of śūdra wives cannot be reduced to slavery. But there is no indication of such a special privilege for the twice-born in the Smṛtis of the Gupta period. Yājñavalkya, Nārada and Kātyāyana state that slavery should take place in the natural (anuloma) order of the varṇas and not in the reverse (pratiloma) order, that is to say, a slave should be of lower varṇa than his master.⁴ Kātyāyana, however, makes the claim that slavery is provided for the three lower varṇas and not for the brāhmaṇas.⁵ Nevertheless, these provisions imply that the śūdras were no longer singled out for enslavement.