Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c16.17

c16.17

Of the remaining nine vrātya castes mentioned by Manu bhūrjakaṇṭaka, puṣpadha,¹ śaikha and acārya seem to be degraded priests or followers of different religious sects which tended to crystallize into castes. Naṭas and karaṇas are occupational groups; sudhanvā may have been a group of archers, while vijanma literally means an illegitimate child. Thus the vrātya theory was used by Manu on a large scale to cover all categories — ethnic, occupational and territorial — which had been assimilated in brāhmaṇical society as castes. It is likely that the tenth chapter of Manu, which theorises about the legitimisation of these peoples as castes, is a work of about the fifth century by when all these tribes had been assimilated into brāhmaṇical society.