Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c9.297

c9.297

There is also evidence to show that considerable sectors of the lower orders, Āryan and non-Āryan, worshipped Rudra-Paśupati, who seems to have been a pre-Āryan deity. In the śatarudriya litany, accompanying the offerings appropriate to various forms of Rudra, reverence is shown to all sections of society headed by the brāhmaṇa and followed by the rājanya, the sūta and the vaiśya together with the different kinds of artisans and aboriginal peoples. But the first three varṇas are mentioned in only one collection of the Yajus.¹ While the śūdra as such is not mentioned in any of them, all the Yajus lists speak of reverence being shown to the rathakāras (cartwrights), the kulālas (potters), karmāras (smiths), the Niṣādas, the Puñjiṣṭhas (aboriginal people working as fishermen or catchers of birds), the śvanis (dog-feeders or dog-keepers) and the mṛgayas (hunters),² who may well be put in the fourth varṇa. Besides, the Taittirīya Saṃhitā mentions makers of bows and arrows (dhanukāra and iṣukāra),³ who may also fall under this category.