Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c15.6

c15.6

Two mixed castes meda and andhra bracketted together in the tenth chapter of Manu⁴ appear in the same form in Pāla inscriptions.⁵ The ambasṭhas, who appear mentioned as a mixed caste in earlier texts, are described by Manu as physicians, a function associated with them in early medieval times.¹ The most striking thing about the tenth chapter of Manu is the sudden jump in the number of mixed castes to over sixty from about twenty in the earlier law-books. Since this is not found in any other smṛti, it makes the tenth chapter of Manu suspect. On the other hand the number of the mixed castes increases in such later texts as the Skanda Purāṇa and the Brahmavaivarta Purāṇa. Manu’s number exceeds 100 if we add to it the list of mixed castes given in the Brahmavaivarta Purāṇa.² All this might suggest that the tenth chapter of Manu is very late because none of these Purāṇas seem to have existed before *c.* A.D. 700.³