Shudra
Topic: Society in Early India: Kinship, Varna-Jati, Women · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 3 "Kinship, Caste and Class - Early Societies"
Meaning
The Shudras were the fourth and lowest of the four varnas. The Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras gave them only one duty: to serve the three "higher" varnas. The Purusha sukta says Shudras came from the feet of the first cosmic man. Buddhist thinkers questioned this ranking. They argued that wealth, not birth, decided who obeyed whom.
Example
In the Buddhist Majjhima Nikaya, the sage Kachchana tells King Avantiputta that a rich Shudra could keep a Kshatriya, a Brahmana or a Vaishya as an obedient servant. In that sense, he said, the four varnas are "exactly the same".
Don't confuse with
- Chandala: groups such as chandalas were treated as "untouchable" and placed below all four varnas. Shudras were inside the varna order.