Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c9.263

c9.263

Of the two categories of people enjoying the right to sacrifice, it is clear that the *rathakāra* or the *takṣaka* was a member of the Āryan community, but the Niṣādas seem to have been a non-Āryan people living in their own villages.⁶ There are several references to the black colour of the Niṣāda people in the *Mahābhārata* and the *Viṣṇu Purāṇa*.⁷ Probably as a step in their brāhmaṇisation, the Niṣādas as a tribe were allowed to carry on their own sacrifice in the Vedic way, which privilege later came to be confined only to their chief. Thus it is evident that right up to the end of the Vedic period the right of sacrifice was enjoyed by the *rathakāra* and the Niṣādas, who fell under the category of śūdras. What is more important, Yāska’s interpretation of the term *pañcajanāḥ* would show that in his opinion the whole śūdra varṇa enjoyed this right.