Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c9.301

c9.301

These artisans and tribal peoples worshipped Rudra as their patron god.⁴ According to Weber the "Rudra book dates from the time of these secret feuds on the part of the conquered aborigines as well as of the Vrātyas or unbrāhmaṇised Āryans, after their open resistance had been more or less crushed."⁵ He further points out that various mixed castes were not established without vigorous opposition from those thrust down into the lower castes.⁶ This would imply, then, that in the process of struggle against the growing privileges of the higher varṇas there went on considerable intermingling between the discomfited sections of the Āryan tribes and the masses of the conquered aborigines, with the inevitable result that some Āryans, such as the rathakāra and the karmāra, rallied under the banner of a non-Āryan god Rudra. It is worth notice that in the ratnahaviṃṣi ceremony Rudra is described as the god of the govikartana,⁷ who is specified by Sāyaṇa as ‘of whatever low caste’. It has been shown earlier that Rudra-Paśupati was the god of the Niṣāda chief. Thus it is beyond all doubt that the śūdras also had their gods, some Āryan others non-Āryan. Therefore the brāhmaṇical statement in the stories of creation that the śūdra did not have any gods¹ does not represent the correct position. One creation legend at least implies that Day and Night were the gods of the śūdras.² Clearly the brāhmaṇical legends show a deliberate attempt to deprive the śūdra of the right to worship and sacrifice, which he formerly shared with his Āryan fellowmen, or enjoyed independently as a member of the aboriginal tribes.