Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c14.9

c14.9

The śūdras' servitude assumed different forms. They served as domestic servants and slaves, agricultural slaves, hired labourers and artisans. A writer condemns them as incapable of constructive efforts,¹ but, undoubtedly the śūdra skill and labour, together with the agricultural surplus produced by the vaiśya peasants, provided the material basis for the development of ancient Indian society, which in this sense was a vaiśya-śūdra formation.