Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c9.250

c9.250

The śūdra was not admitted to the *upanayana*, on the ground that it was a Vedic ritual. But the religious life of Vedic times shows that certain sections of the śūdras were not always excluded from Vedic rituals. Many texts provide for the establishment of fire for sacrifice by the *rathakāra*,² who could perform it in the rainy season.³ He occupies the fourth place in the list after the brāhmaṇa, the kṣatriya and the vaiśya. In the *Āśvalāyana Śrautasūtra* the place of the *rathakāra* is taken by the *upakruṣṭa*. This term literally means a person scolded at or chid, but, according to the commentator, it stands for a carpenter (*takṣaka*).⁴ This would suggest that although the carpenters were reviled, they continued to perform the sacrifice. Another person, who enjoyed the right to the Vedic sacrifice, was the chief of the Niṣādas (*niṣāda-sthapati*).⁵ But his sacrifice was meant for the pacification of animals through the worship of Rudra-Paśupati.⁶ In a similar reference at another place only the Niṣāda is mentioned.⁷ But the commentator says that it refers to the Niṣāda chief (*sthapati*), and adds that in the *Āpastamba Śrautasūtra* he is a *traivarṇika* (of the first three varṇas).⁸ In the *Mahābhārata* also the head of the Niṣādas (*niṣādādhipati*) is said to have performed sacrifices.¹ A passage of the *Ṛg Veda* refers to the participation of ‘five peoples’ (*pañcajanaḥ*) in the sacrifice.² The *Nirukta* explains the term *pañcajanaḥ* as meaning the four varṇas and the Niṣādas.³ This cannot be taken as applying to the period of the *Ṛg Veda*, as is sometimes done.⁴ Neither does the word *niṣāda* occur in the *Ṛg Veda* nor is the existence of the four varṇas a well-established fact there. Obviously the term *pañcajanaḥ* refers to the *Ṛg Veda* tribes, whose members offered sacrifices without any disinction. Yāska’s interpretation, however, shows that in his time the śūdras as well as the Niṣādas, who came to be specified in the Dharmasūtras as a mixed caste born of a brāhmaṇa and a śūdra woman, could take part in the sacrifice. Thus the references prove that occasionally the Niṣāda people and generally the Niṣāda chief enjoyed the right to the Vedic sacrifice. It was laid down that in the *viśvajit* sacrifice the sacrificer would have to stay for three nights with the Niṣāda as well as with a vaiśya and rajanya.⁵ This shows that the Niṣāda people were indirectly associated with this sacrifice.