[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958) › c17.s8 # Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c17.s8: Chapter VII: Peasanthood and Religious Rights Śūdras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c17.s8 - **Language:** English ## Contents - [c17.s8.t1 Original Sources](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1) — 35 parts - [c17.s8.t2 Secondary Works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2) — 31 parts ### Chapter VII: Peasanthood and Religious Rights ### [c17.s8.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.2) (c. A.D. 300—c. 600) ### Original Sources ### [c17.s8.t1.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.1) Texts ### [c17.s8.t1.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.2) \*Amarakośa\* or \*Nāmaliṅgānuśāsana\* of Amara with the comm. of Bhaṭṭakṣīrasvāmin, Ed. A. D. Sharma and N. G. Sardesai, Poona, 1941. ### [c17.s8.t1.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.3) \*Bṛhaspati Smṛti\* (this text has been followed), Ed. K. V. Rangaswami Aiyangar, \*GOS\*, lxxxv, Baroda, 1941. Tr. J. Jolly, \*SBE\*, xxxiii, Oxford, 1889. ### [c17.s8.t1.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.4) \*Bṛhat Kalpasūtra\* and Original \*Niryukti\* of Sthavira Ārya Bhadrabāhu Svāmin and a Bhāṣya by Saṃghadāsa Gaṇi Kṣamaśramaṇa with a commentary begun by Malayagiri and completed by Kṣemakīrti, 6 vols., Bhavnagar, 1933-42. ### [c17.s8.t1.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.5) \*Bṛhat Saṃhitā\* of Varāhamihira with Hindi Tr., Durga Prasad, Lucknow, 1884. ### [c17.s8.t1.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.6) \*Bṛhat Saṃhitā\* of Varāhamihira with the comm. of Bhaṭṭotpala, 2 parts, Ed. Sudhākara Dvivedī, Banaras, 1895-7. ### [c17.s8.t1.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.7) \*Jambudvipaprajñaptiḥ\* with the comm. of Śānticandra, Bombay, 1920. ### [c17.s8.t1.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.8) \*Jayākhya Saṃhitā\*, Ed. Embar Krishnacharya, \*GOS\*, liv, Baroda, 1931. ### [c17.s8.t1.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.9) \*Kāmandakiya Nitisāra\*, Ed. R. L. Mitra, \*BI\*, Calcutta, 1884. Tr. M. N. Dutt, Calcutta, 1896. ### [c17.s8.t1.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.10) \*Kāmasūtra\* of Vātsyāyana with the comm. \*Jayamangalā\* of Yaśodhara, Ed. Gosvami Damodar Shastri, Banaras, 1929. ### [c17.s8.t1.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.11) \*Kātyāyana Smṛti\* on Vyavahāra, Law and Procedure, Ed. with reconstituted text, tr., notes and introduction by P. V. Kane, Bombay, 1933. ### [c17.s8.t1.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.12) \*Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra\*, Ed. Bunyiu Nanjio, Kyoto, 1923. Tr. D. T. Suzuki, London, 1932. ### [c17.s8.t1.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.13) \*Mālavikāgnimitra\* of Kālidāsa, Ed. P. S. Sane, G. H. Godbole and H. S. Ursekar, Bombay, 1950. ### [c17.s8.t1.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.14) \*Mṛcchakaṭika\* of Śūdraka, Ed. and Tr. R. D. Karmarkar, Poona, 1937. Tr. R. P. Oliver, Illinois, 1938. ### [c17.s8.t1.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.15) \*Nārada Smṛti\* with extracts from the comm. of Asahāya, Ed. J. Jolly, Calcutta, 1885. Tr. J. Jolly, \*SBE\*, xxxiii, Oxford, 1889. ### [c17.s8.t1.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.16) \*Narasimha Purāṇa\*, 2nd Edn., Bombay, 1911. ### [c17.s8.t1.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.17) \*Nāṭyaśāstra\* of Bharata Muni with the comm. of Abhinavagupta, Ed. Manavalli Ramakrishna Kavi, 3 vols., \*GOS\*, Baroda, 1926-54. Tr. Manomohan Ghosh, Calcutta, 1950. ### [c17.s8.t1.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.18) \*Pañcatantra\* in its oldest recension, the Kashmiriān, entitled \*Tantrākhyāyikā\*, Ed. J. Hertel, \*HOS\*, xiv, Harvard, 1915. The text in its oldest form, Ed. F. Edgerton, Poona, 1930 (References are made to this text). ### [c17.s8.t1.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.19) \*Piṇḍaniryuktiḥ\* of Bhadrabāhu Svāmī, Bombay, 1918. ### [c17.s8.t1.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.20) \*Raghuvamśa\* of Kālidāsa, Ed. Raghunatha Nandargikar, Bombay, 1891. ### [c17.s8.t1.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.21) \*Theragāthā Aṭṭhakathā\* (\*Paramattha Dipani\*), the comm. of Dhammapāla, Ed. F. L. Woodward, 2 vols., \*PTS\*, London, 1940-52. ### [c17.s8.t1.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.22) \*Yājñavalkya Smṛti\* with Viramitrodaya and Mitākṣarā, Chaukhamba Sansk. Series, Banaras, Saṃvat, 1986. ### [c17.s8.t1.23](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.23) \*Vajrasūci\* of Aśvaghoṣa, Ed. and Tr. Sujitkumar Mukhopadhyaya, Santiniketan, 1950. ### [c17.s8.t1.24](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.24) \*Vimāna-Vatthu Aṭṭhakathā\*, (pt. IV of the \*Paramattha Dipani\* of Dhammapāla), Ed. E. Hardy, \*PTS\*, London, 1901. ### [c17.s8.t1.25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.25) \*Viṣṇudharmottara Mahāpurāṇa\*, Bombay, Vikrama Saṃvat, 1969. ### [c17.s8.t1.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.26) \*Viṣṇu Smṛti\* or \*Vaiṣṇava Dharmaśāstra\* (with extracts from the comm. of Nanda Paṇḍita), Ed. J. Jolly, \*BI\*, Calcutta, 1881. Tr. J. Jolly, \*SBE\*, vii, Oxford, 1880. ### [c17.s8.t1.27](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.27) Chinese Sources ### [c17.s8.t1.28](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.28) Samuel Beal, \*Travels of Fah-hian and Sung-Yun\* (Tr.), London, 1869. ### [c17.s8.t1.29](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.29) H. A. Giles, \*The Travels of Fa-hsien or Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms\* (Tr.), Cambridge, 1923. ### [c17.s8.t1.30](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.30) James Legge, \*A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms\* (being an account of the Chinese monk Fa-hien’s Travels) Tr., Oxford, 1886. ### [c17.s8.t1.31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.31) T. Watters, \*On Yuan Chwang’s Travels in India\*, Ed. T. W. Rhys Davids and S. W. Bushell, 2 vols., London, 1904-5. ### [c17.s8.t1.32](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.32) Muslim Sources ### [c17.s8.t1.33](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.33) Edward C. Sachau, \*Alberuni’s India\* (Tr. & Ed.), London, 1888. ### [c17.s8.t1.34](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.34) Inscriptions ### [c17.s8.t1.35](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t1.35) J. F. Fleet, \*Inscriptions of the Early Gupta Kings\*, CII, iii, London, 1888. ### Secondary Works ### [c17.s8.t2.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.1) J. N. Banerjea, \*The Development of Hindu Iconography\*, Calcutta, 1941. ### [c17.s8.t2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.2) R. G. Basak, “Indian Society as pictured in the Mṛcchakaṭika”, \*IHQ\*, v. ### [c17.s8.t2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.3) R. G. Bhandarkar, \*Vaiṣṇavism, Śaivism and Minor Religious Sects\*, Strassburg, 1913. ### [c17.s8.t2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.4) H. C. Chakladar, \*Social Life in Ancient India\*, Calcutta, 1929. ### [c17.s8.t2.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.5) V. R. R. Dikshitar, \*The Gupta Polity\*, Madras, 1952. ### [c17.s8.t2.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.6) E. W. Hopkins, \*The Religions of India\*, London, 1895. ### [c17.s8.t2.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.7) ” ” \*The Great Epic of India\*, New Haven, 1901. ### [c17.s8.t2.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.8) G. F. Ilyin, “Osobennosti Rabstva v drevnei Indii”, \*Vestnik drevnei istorii\* (Moscow-Leningrad), 1 51, No. I, pp. 33-52. ### [c17.s8.t2.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.9) D. N. Jha, \*Early Indian Feudalism: A Historiographical Critique\*, Presidential Address, Section I: Ancient India, Indian History Congress, 40th Session, Waltair, 1979. ### [c17.s8.t2.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.10) A. B. Keith, \*The Sāṃkhya System\*, Oxford, 1919. ### [c17.s8.t2.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.11) D. D. Kosambi, “The Working Class in the Amara-kośa”, \*JOR\*, xxiv, pp. 57-69. ### [c17.s8.t2.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.12) B. C. Law, \*Heaven and Hell in Buddhist Perspective\*, Calcutta and Simla, 1925. ### [c17.s8.t2.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.13) S. K. Maity, \*The Economic Life of Northern India in the Gupta Period\*, Calcutta, 1957. ### [c17.s8.t2.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.14) R. C. Majumdar and A. S. Altekar, \*The Gupta-Vākāṭaka Age\*, Lahore, 1946. ### [c17.s8.t2.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.15) R. C. Majumdar and A. D. Pusalkar, \*The Classical Age\*, Bombay, 1954. ### [c17.s8.t2.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.16) E. P. O. Murray, "The Ancient Workers of Western Dhalbhum", \*JRASB\*, III Series, vi, 79-104. ### [c17.s8.t2.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.17) M. A. Murray, \*The Splendour that was Egypt\*, London, 1949. ### [c17.s8.t2.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.18) R. N. Nandi, "Aspects of Untouchability in Early South India," \*Indian History Congress, Proceedings of the Thirty-fourth Session\*, i, Chandigarh, 1973, 120-25. ### [c17.s8.t2.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.19) D. R. Patil, \*Cultural History from the Vāyu Purāṇa\*, Poona 1946. ### [c17.s8.t2.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.20) K. S. Ramaswami Sastri, \*Studies in Rāmāyaṇa\*, Baroda, 1944. ### [c17.s8.t2.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.21) H. C. Raychaudhuri, \*Early History of the Vaiṣṇava Sect\*, Calcutta, 1920. ### [c17.s8.t2.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.22) R. N. Saletore, \*Life in the Gupta Age\*, Bombay, 1943. ### [c17.s8.t2.23](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.23) A. M. Sastri, \*India as seen in the Bṛhat-Saṃhitā of Varāhamihira\*, Delhi, 1969. ### [c17.s8.t2.24](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.24) R. S. Sharma, "Decay of Gangetic Towns in Gupta Times.", \*Journal of Indian history\*, Golden Jubilee Volume, 1973, 135-50. ### [c17.s8.t2.25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.25) ",, \*Indian Feudalism : c. 300-1200\*, Calcutta, 1965. ### [c17.s8.t2.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.26) ",, "Indian Feudalism Retouched," \*The Indian Historical Review\*, i, No 2, 1974, 320-30. ### [c17.s8.t2.27](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.27) ",, The First Devraj Chanana Memorial Lecture, 1969: \*Social Changes in Early Medieval India (c. A.D. 500-1200)\*, Delhi, 1969. ### [c17.s8.t2.28](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.28) D. C. Sircar, \*Studies in the Society and Administration of Ancient and Medieval India\*, i, Calcutta, 1967. ### [c17.s8.t2.29](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.29) B. S. Upadhyaya, \*India in Kālidāsa\*, Allahabad, 1947. ### [c17.s8.t2.30](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.30) K. J. Virji, \*Ancient History of Saurashtra\*, Bombay, 1952. ### [c17.s8.t2.31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8.t2.31) B. N. S. Yadav, \*Society and Culture in Northern India in the Twelfth Century\*, Allahabad, 1973. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c17.s8) · Pramāṇa