Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c14.15

c14.15

In the Gupta Period (cir. A.D. 300 - cir. 600) the śūdras gained some religious and civic rights, and in many respects were placed on a par with the vaiśyas. The bracketting of the vaiśyas and śūdras is not unknown in the earlier texts, but it becomes more frequent in the texts of the post-Mauryan and Gupta periods, and considered in the light of other developments it carries a new significance during the Gupta period. Apparently the status of the vaiśya was degraded towards servitude, that of the śūdra raised towards freedom. Numerous land grants made to the brāhmaṇas in the developed areas tended to depress the position of the old peasants by creating a class of intermediaries between them and the king.¹ Possibly this was the result of a prolonged social crisis which made it difficult to collect taxes from the vaiśyas and labour from the śūdras. Priests and administrators therefore had to be paid through grants of land. Land grants to brāhmaṇas in the undeveloped areas added to the number of śūdras, for aboriginal peasants were recruited into the brāhmaṇical social organisation as śūdras. In the earlier periods the service of the śūdras consisted in supplying labour to the higher varṇas, but from the Gupta period onwards their service and subordination consisted in supplying part of their produce as artisans, traders, and especially as peasants. The theoretical position about their servitude still continued, but its practical content underwent a change. Of course the śūdras did not cease to be slaves, domestic servants, craftsmen and agricultural labourers, but now their ranks mainly consisted of peasants, though of a servile nature.