Mlechchha
Also called: Mleccha · Topic: Society in Early India: Kinship, Varna-Jati, Women · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 3 "Empires and Kingdoms: 6th to 10th Centuries"; Class 12, Ch 3 "Kinship, Caste and Class - Early Societies"; Class 12, Ch 2 "Bhakti-Sufi Traditions"
Meaning
Mlechchha was a word Brahmanical texts used for "barbarians" or outsiders. It meant people who did not speak Sanskrit or follow Brahmanical customs, including foreign groups such as the Shakas from Central Asia. It marked these people as being outside the varna order. Still, some of them took up Sanskrit culture and became powerful rulers.
Example
The Shaka ruler Rudradaman (c. 2nd century CE) was counted as a mlechchha. Even so, he rebuilt the Sudarshana lake in Gujarat and left the Junagadh inscription, one of the earliest long inscriptions in Sanskrit. The Satavahana family, who called themselves Brahmanas, married into his family.
Don't confuse with
- Rakshasa: in epics such as the Mahabharata (Hidimba's story), it was a label for people whose customs were different. Mlechchha mainly marked foreigners and people who did not speak Sanskrit.
- Nishada: a forest-dwelling hunter-gatherer group inside India, not a foreign group.