Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c9.294

c9.294

Of the gods associated with the śūdras, Pūṣan seems to have been a shepherd god⁹ and, as such probably represents the cattle-rearing and nourishing activities of the Āryan viś. The Aśvins, who are described in the later portion of the Ṛg Veda as sowing the grain with the plough and milking food for man,¹⁰ may be associated with the agricultural activities of the viś. The Viśvedevas are assigned to the viś because of their being large in number. The fact that precisely the same three gods who were associated with the Āryan viś later came to be directly or indirectly ascribed to the śūdra would suggest that even when sections of the viś were reduced to the position of śūdras they continued to retain their old Vedic gods.