Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c9.93

c9.93

Jayaswal views the ceremony of the offerings of jewels (*ratnahavimṣi*) as a great constitutional change inasmuch as the śūdra, “the conquered helot, is now worshipped by the man who is going to become king”.¹ This implies that the conquered pre-Āryan masses were deliberately given a high status in the Āryan polity. But it is clear that at least the two artisan *ratnins*, the *rathakāra* and the *takṣan*, owed their positions not to any deliberate policy of exalting the conquered in the Āryan political organization but to their original membership of the Āryan tribes which had now disintegrated into varṇas; for in the *Atharva Veda* the *rathakāra* and *karmāra* (whose place is now taken by the *takṣan*) are clearly described as part of the *viś* (folk) round the king.² Their indispensability as skilled workers in metals and chariot-making may have also contributed to their importance in early society. Nevertheless, it is not unlikely that in the sequel the existence of these śūdra *ratnins* gave some reflected importance to the other sections of the śūdra varṇa.