Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c14.35

c14.35

But the brāhmaṇical ideologues were not always the slaves of their theories. Considerations of birth did not prevent them from inventing suitable kṣatriya genealogies for aboriginal and foreign chiefs.¹ Probably the few adventurous śūdras, who may have risen to influential status from time to time, were neatly fitted into the brāhmaṇical system as kṣatriyas, so that they could defend the dominance of the higher varṇas with the usual enthusiasm of new converts. The traditional account of the brāhmaṇa Kauṭilya’s support to the śūdra-born Candragupta shows that such developments were not impossible.