[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) › c8.187 # Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c8.187 Śūdras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c8.187 - **Language:** English ### [c8.187](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8.187) The use of the word \*dāsa\* in the sense of slave is to be found mostly in the later portions of the \*Ṛg Veda\*. Two cases occur in the first book,⁷ one in the tenth book,⁸ and one in the supplementary hymns (called \*vālakhilya\*) inserted in the eighth book.¹ The only early reference of this type is found in the eighth book.² In the Ṛg Veda there seems to be no other word which could mean slave, and it is thus clear that men slaves hardly existed in the early Ṛg Vedic period. - [Previous: c8.186](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8.186) - [Next: c8.188](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8.188) - [Up: c8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8.187](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8.187) · Pramāṇa