[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) › c8.272 # Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c8.272 Śūdras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c8.272 - **Language:** English ### [c8.272](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8.272) That the Śūdras appear as a tribe in the earliest part of the \*Atharva Veda\* can also be inferred from the third reference, in which the fever \*takman\* is asked to attack a wanton \*śūdra\* woman along with the Mujavants, Balhikas and Mahāvṛṣas.³ All these peoples seem to have been inhabitants of north-western India,⁴ where, in the \*Mahābhārata\*, the Śūdra tribe is described as living along with the Ābhīras.⁵ Another verse also repeats the desire that the fever should go to the foreign people.⁶ All this would suggest that the context in which the Śūdra woman is mentioned relates to the attitude of hostility of the Āryans of the period of the \*Atharva Veda\* towards the foreign tribes inhabiting northwestern India. And hence the word \*śūdrā\* here probably means a woman of the Śūdra tribe. In the parallel passage from the \*Paippalāda\* recension \*śūdrā\* is replaced by \*dāsī\*,⁷ which shows that in the author’s view the terms were interchangeable. Therefore, the occurence of the term \*śūdra\* in what is regarded as the earliest and the most characteristic part of the \*Atharva Veda\* should be understood not in the sense of varṇa, but in that of a tribe which suits the context better. - [Previous: c8.271](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8.271) - [Next: c8.273](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8.273) - [Up: c8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8) ## Cites (2) - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.6.10.66) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Atharvavedasaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.samhita.atharva.13.1.9) — Atharvan & Aṅgiras, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8.272](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c8.272) · Pramāṇa