Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c15.34

c15.34

The establishment of a military unit called *gulma* for two to five villages in backward areas appears as a device in Manu.⁵ Its head can be identified as *gulmika* or *gumika* mentioned in a Pallava Prākṛt inscription of the middle of the fourth century A.D.⁶ But *gaulmika* clearly appears in inscriptions of Bihar and Bengal in the fifth century,⁷ and repeatedly in the list of royal officers mentioned in later Chamba, Pāla and Sena grants.⁸