424 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
(vow to drink milk only) Mastu (whey) is prescribed for the Shudra. In another place the same Satapatha Brahmana [1] says:
“There are four classes, the Brahmin, Rajanya, Vaishya and Sudra. There is no one of these who dislikes Soma. If any one of them however should do so, let there be an atonment.”
This means that the drinking of Soma was not only permissible but it was compulsory on all including the Shudra. But in the story of the Ashvins there is definite evidence that the Shudra had a right to the divine drink of Soma. The Ashvins as the story [2] goes once happened to behold Sukanya when she had just bathed and when her person was bare. She was young girl married to a Rishi by name Chyavana who at the time of marriage was so old as to be dying almost any day. The Ashvins were captivated by the beauty of Sukanya and said “accept one of us for your husband, it behoveth thee not to spend thy youth fruitlessly.”
She refused saying “I am devoted to my husband.” They again spoke to her and this time proposed a bargain—“We two are the celestial physicians of note. We will make thy husband young and graceful. Do thou then select one of us as thy husband.” She went to her husband and communicated to him the terms of the bargain. Chyavana said to Sukanya “Do thou so” and the bargain was carried out and Chyavana was made a young man by the Ashwins. Subsequently a question arose whether the Ashwins were entitled to Soma which was the drink of the Gods. Indra objected saying that the Ashwins were Shudras and therefore not entitled to Soma. Chyavana who had received perpetual youth from the Ashwins set aside the contention and compelled Indra to give them Soma.
All these provisions can have no meaning unless the Shudra was in fact performing the Vedic ceremonies to which they relate—there is evidence to show that a Shudra woman took part in the Vedic sacrifice known as the Ashwamedha. [3]
With regard to the Upanayana ceremony and the right to wear the sacred thread there is nowhere an express prohibition against the Shudra. On the other hand in the Sansakara Ganapati there is an express provision declaring the Shudra to be eligible for Upanayan. [4]
The Shudra though belonging to a lower class was nonetheless a free citizen in days before Manu cannot be gainsaid. Consider the following provisions in Kautilya’s Artha Shastra:
1 Quoted by Muir Sanskrit Texts I p. 367.
2 V. Fausboil Indian Mythology pp. 128-134.
3 Jaiswal Indian Polity Part II. p. 17.
4 Referred to by Max-Muller in Ancient Sanskrit Literature-(1860)—p. 207.