Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c15.4

c15.4

Although the Yavanas mentioned by Manu and identical with the Indo-Greeks lose their importance in the early centuries of the Christian era this is not true of the Śakas, Pahlavas, and Ābhīras who continue to hold ground in north-western India during that period. Of course inscriptions do not mention the Parthians beyond the first century A.D., but they attest the existence of the Śakas till the end of the fourth century and that of the Ābhīras from the second to the fourth centuries. Curiously enough Manu speaks of a mixed caste called maitra;³ they may be identified with the Maitrakas of Valabhī, who appear in inscriptions in the fifth century although as a tribe they may have existed earlier.