Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c9.47

c9.47

Slaves working on land are first heard of in the Śrautaśūtras, which were composed towards the end of the Vedic period and later. One of them informs us that two slaves are to be given away along with grain, plough and cattle,³ suggesting thereby that slaves were employed in ploughing and could be freely disposed of by their masters. But in several passages the practice of making gifts of land and of the people working on it is looked upon with disfavour. Thus it is stated that at the *aśvamedha* sacrifice the sacrificial fee could not include land and men working on it (*bhūmipuruṣavarjam*).⁴ Again, in connection with the gifts in the one-day (*ekahā*) sacrifice, it is laid down that land and śūdras could not be given away (*bhūmiśūdravarjam*).⁵ There is, however, the alternative that sometimes the śūdras could be also given away,⁶ but the commentary adds that this can be done only in the case of those who are born slaves.⁷ There are two similar references from the *Śāṅkhāyana Śrautasūtra*. One of them says that in the *puruṣamedha* sacrifice land with men is given away as sacrificial fee.⁸ One other is not clear, and perhaps suggests that in the sacrifice of all (*sarvamedha*) land is given ‘along with’ the people.⁹ These references indicate a new social development possibly after the close of the Vedic period. Śūdras were employed as slaves working on lands owned by individuals (mostly ruling chiefs), and they could be given away as gifts along with the land itself, although this did not go without challenge from the authors of the Āśvalāyana and Kātyāyana Śrautasūtras.