Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c9.340

c9.340

The position of the śūdra, which emerges from an analysis of the Vedic rituals, does not seem to be consistent. Economically on the one hand, there is mention of his owning cattle and probably functioning as an independent peasant; on the other hand the śūdras appear in some texts as domestic servants, agricultural labourers and in some cases slaves. Politically, we hear of śūdra *ratnins*, but there is also mention of the śūdras and the vaiśyas being enclosed by the brāhmaṇa and the kṣatriya. Socially, it is inaccurate to think that the śūdras were saddled with restrictions regarding food and marriage;¹ there is, however, some evidence of contempt for birth in a caṇḍāla family and for the ascription of certain bad qualities to the śūdra, but much of this appears to be post-Vedic. Religiously, the śūdra was permitted to take part in certain rites, and yet excluded from several specific rituals as well as from the Vedic sacrifice in general. In other words, Keith is right when he says that in the Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas the position of the śūdra is ambiguous.²