“In Poona, the capital of the Peshwa, the Untouchable was required to carry, strung from his waist, a broom to sweep away from behind himself the dust he trod on, lest a Hindu walking on the same dust should be polluted. In Poona, the Untouchable was required to carry an earthen pot hung around his neck wherever he went—for holding his spit, lest his spit falling on the earth should pollute a Hindu who might unknowingly happen to tread on it,” he wrote.

The Dharmashastras, among which the Manusmriti remains preeminent, clearly distinguishes between Shudras and the twice-born castes. They also prohibit Shudras from receiving knowledge, conducting Vedic sacrifices and wearing the Janeu or the sacred thread, the ritualistic symbols of the twice-born such as Brahmins and Kshatriyas. Dalits are denied entry into certain temples even now despite such acts of discrimination being held illegal under Indian law.

While anti-caste movements attribute the deeply entrenched and codified chaturvarna (four divisions) system that defines Hindu society, to the Manusmriti, other texts such as the Yajnavalkya Smriti and Kurma Purana too helped reinforce the caste system .

During the colonial period, which was marked by contestation between various castes, the elite Hindu castes sought to consolidate the hierarchical and discriminatory structure of Hindu society by equating Hinduism with Sanatan Dharma or a timeless way of life which harked back to Vedic and even pre-Vedic times. Sanatanis believe in an ‘eternal order’ rooted in concepts like the soul, karma and rebirth. This lends itself to the idea that Hindu beliefs and customs were sanctified by a sort of theological atavism, giving credence to the idea that since it was based in deep antiquity, it cannot be challenged and must be respected. This way of thinking continues today, where many believe that the caste system, in its current form, cannot be linked to Sanatan Dharma.

The origin of Caste and ‘Shudra’

The elite Hindu version goes like this: it began as a way of ordering society based on occupation and all the four varnas emanate from the same universal all pervasive cosmic being i.e Shudras from the feet, Vaishyas from thighs, Kshatriyas from the arms and Brahmins from the mouth. The hymn Purusha Sukta which describes this cosmic being is found to have been an interpolation added to explain and justify the increasingly unequal society that existed during the first millennium BCE. RS Sharma wrote in his seminal work, ‘Shudras in Ancient India’: “In point of time the Purusa Sukta version may be ascribed to the end of the period of the Atharva veda, in which it occurs in the latest portion which may be as late as 800 BC”.

Most scholars have rejected the theory that Vedic society was based on caste. Sharma wrote: “Vedic society was a “pre-class society, which provided little scope for the formation of a serving order in the form of the shudras. Princes and priests had women slaves for domestic service but their number may not have been large. It seems that towards the end of the Rig Vedic period the defeated and dispossessed sections of the Aryan and non-Aryan tribes were reduced to the position of Shudras”.

Sharma added: “It appears just as the common European word ‘slave’ and the Sanskrit ‘dasa’ were derived from the names of conquered peoples, so also the word shudra was derived from a conquered tribe of that name”. It remains unknown, which tribe or tribes were shudras in the ancient world, however, Alexander’s conquest of Sindh involved conflict with a tribe named Sodrai.

In the Mauryan period (322-185 BCE), Shudras – condemned as incapable of other vocations – were employed as agricultural labour at a mass scale, and while emperor Ashoka attempted to erase caste or varna divisions, he didn’t succeed in doing that.

After the end of the Mauryan empire, in the period of turbulence and flux, Shudras were denounced by Manu and writers of other Puranic texts for anti-Brahmanical activities.

The two centuries of the common era preceding the Gupta period (240–579 CE) marked a crucial stage in the history of evolution of Shudras; contestation over agricultural surplus, power, and rights to worship and access to scriptures marked this period. This social upheaval abated to some extent during the over three century-rule of the Gupta dynasty, Shudras were allowed marginal rights such as that while they should never study the Puranas, they could hear them. Similarly, the Natyashastra or the text on drama, believed to be written during the Gupta period, and regarded as the fifth Veda, and composed of bits from the other Vedas, could be enjoyed by Shudras too.

This should not be construed as inclusion with dignity. Sharma wrote, “…the Shudras functioned at a low cultural level…in the dramas women and low caste people always speak Prakrit, the tongue of the vulgar, in contrast to the refined tongue of the higher-class characters who speak Sanskrit”.

Role of the Ahimsa doctrine and Buddhism in Strengthening Caste

In the 6th century BCE, both Buddhism and Jainism emphasised non-violence and drew their strength from the Ahimsa doctrine. While Ambedkar himself converted to Buddhism along with his followers, evidence from Ashokan edicts and Buddhist texts indicates how caste came to be consolidated through the doctrine of non-violence as well as the use of Shudras, Chandalas as a pejorative.

Eminent historian Irfan Habib has argued that ahimsa in fact helped in the subjugation of tribals, and food-gathering and hunting communities. He wrote in his authoritative essay, Caste in Indian History, “The Asokan edicts contain injunctions against hunting and fishing, and the Buddhist texts look down on ‘animal-killing jatis’ as much as the Brahmanical texts do. Indeed, here Buddhism also contributed to the ultimate denigration of the peasantry in the varna structure…in this denigration the ahimsa doctrine too was made to play a part. Manu condemns the use of plough for the injury that its iron point causes to living creatures. This is echoed in later Buddhism; I-tsing says that the Buddha forbade monks from engaging in cultivation because this involved ‘destroying lives by ploughing and watering fields’.”

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HistoriCity is a column by author Valay Singh that narrates the story of a city that is in the news, by going back to its documented history, mythology and archaeological digs. The views expressed are personal.