[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) › c9.246 # Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c9.246 Śūdras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c9.246 - **Language:** English ### [c9.246](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c9.246) Although the loss of the \*upanayana\* led to the denial of education to the śūdra, perhaps it did not matter much in the period which we consider. We are still in doubt as to the precise nature of education during the later Vedic period, and there is no direct proof that writing prevailed at that stage.⁶ It is likely that even the kṣatriya and the vaiśya "performed their duties towards the Veda in a very perfunctory way, if at all".⁷ A later text shows that ordinarily the student made only a token performance of his Vedic studies,¹ and education may have been primarily the concern of the brāhmaṇa. But the \*upanayana\* indicated something more than a right to education. It came to signify the higher social status of those who were entitled to this ritual. - [Previous: c9.245](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c9.245) - [Next: c9.247](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c9.247) - [Up: c9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c9) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c9.246](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sharma-1958.c9.246) · Pramāṇa