[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) › c8.269 # Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c8.269 Śūdras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c8.269 - **Language:** English ### [c8.269](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8.269) social relations has been the tendency to look ahead to later developments. An example is the meaning of the words \*ārya\* and \*dāsa\* in the \*Ṛg Veda\*. Sāyaṇa takes \*ārya\* as a member of the first three varṇas, and \*dāsa\* as a \*śūdra\*;¹ this is obviously based on the later division of society into four varṇas, which Sāyaṇa’s interpretation is meant to justify. Likewise in the Atharva Vedic reference under discussion Sāyaṇa explains \*ārya\* as a member of the three varṇas,² which naturally makes \*śūdra\* the representative of the fourth. But it becomes very hard to interpret earlier texts, if they are approached with the later conception of \*ārya\* and \*śūdra\* as developed in the Dharmaśāstras. - [Previous: c8.268](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8.268) - [Next: c8.270](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8.270) - [Up: c8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8.269](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8.269) · Pramāṇa