Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c9.206

c9.206

In the social ethics of the period under review certain bad qualities had come to be associated with the śūdra. We find Śunaḥśepa of the Āṅgiras clan condemning his father Ajīgarta as a śūdra, because he had sold him for three hundred cows as an object of sacrifice to Varuṇa.⁶ Though the son was released by the god and the father gave him a hundred cows to blot out his stain, Śunaḥśepa rebuked him in harsh words. As he said, "...thou art still not free from the brutality of a śūdra, for thou hast committed a crime for which no reconciliation exists".⁷ This would suggest that, like Ajīgarta, in time of hunger the śūdras were prepared to part with their children. It was thought that for the sake of material gains they could be brutal and callous towards their near and dear ones.