[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) › c8.144 # Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c8.144 Śūdras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c8.144 - **Language:** English ### [c8.144](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8.144) Many passages show a general hostility towards the people known as Paṇis.⁷ Muir understands them as niggards.⁸ According to the authors of the \*Vedic Index\* Paṇi in the \*Ṛg Veda\* denotes a person who is rich, but who does not give offerings to the gods, or bestows \*dakṣiṇās\* on the priests, and who is therefore an object of intense dislike to the composers of the Saṃhitā.⁹ In one passage they were described as \*bekanāṭas\* or ‘usurers’ (?) subdued by Indra.¹⁰ The fact that the Paṇis were capable of making sacrifices and entitled to wergeld shows that they were members of the Āryan fold.¹¹ Hillebrandt identifies them with the Paṇis¹² who formed part of “the Dahae, a great group of Scythian tribes of horsemen and warriors”.¹ The authors of the \*Vedic Index\* think that the term is wide enough to cover either the aborigines or hostile Āryan tribes.² - [Previous: c8.143](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8.143) - [Next: c8.145](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8.145) - [Up: c8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8.144](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8.144) · Pramāṇa