THE SHUDRAS : WHO WERE THE SHUDRAS ? 131
“The Vedic hymns arc all too indefinite concerning the details of external and social life. We at least sec from them that the Aryan population was divided into a number of tribes or small peoples (janas), subdivided into clans united by the ties of kinship (visas), which in their turn were split up into families. The terminology of the Rig Veda, is in this respect somewhat indecisive, but the general fact is clear. Sajata, that is to say, ‘kinsman’ or ‘fellow in Jati,’ of race, seems in the Atharva-Veda to denote fellow in clan (vis), Jana, which assumes a wider significance, recalls the Avestic equivalent of the clan, the zantu, and the jati or caste. A series of terms, vra, vrijana, vraja, vrata, appear to be synonyms or subdivisions either of the clan or of the tribes. The Aryan population then lived, at the epoch to which the hymns refer, under the rule of an organization dominated by the traditions of the tribe and the lower or similar groupings. The very variety of names indicates that this organization was somewhat unsettled.”
We have, however, no information to determine which of these corresponds to the clan, which to the phratry and which to the tribe. [1] That being so, it is difficult to say whether Shudra was the name of a clan, a phratry or a tribe. It is, however, interesting to refer to the view of Prof. Weber when he comments on the passage from the Satapatha Brahmana (i. 1.4.12) where it says that different modes of address should be adopted inviting the sacrificer to proceed with the sacrifice, addressing him as ‘come’ if he is a Brahmin, ‘hasten hither’ if he is a Kshatriya, ‘hasten hither’ if he is a Vaishya and ‘run hither’ if he is a Shudra. Prof. Weber says : [2]
“The entire passage is of great importance, as it shows (in opposition to what Roth says in the first Volume of this Journal, p.83) that the Shudras were then admitted to the holy sacrifices of the Aryans, and understood their speech, even if they did not speak it. The latter point cannot certainly be assumed as a necessary consequence, but it is highly probable and I consequently incline to the view of those who regard the Shudras as an Aryan tribe which immigrated into India before the others.”
His conclusion that the Shudras were Aryans hits the nail squarely on the head. The only point of doubt is whether the Shudras were a tribe. That they were Aryans and Kshatriyas is beyond doubt.
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1 What we called Aryan tribes appear to be a phratry in view of their changing alliances.
2 Muir. Vol. I, p. 366.