D:\AMBEDKAR\VOL-07\VOL7-09 Mk S.K.—26-09-2013 10-11-2013 140
140 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
CHAPTER IX
BRAHMINS VERSUS SHUDRAS
THE thesis that the Shudras were Kshatriyas and that if they became the fourth Varna it was because they were degraded to that position does not wholly solve the problem. It only raises another problem. This problem is why were the Shudras degraded?
The problem is new. It has never been raised before. The existing literature on the subject cannot, therefore, be expected to contain an answer. The question is raised by me for the first time. As it is a question on which my theory of the Shudras rests, the burden of giving a satisfactory answer must rest on me. I believe, I can give a satisfactory answer to this question. My answer is that the degradation of the Shudras is the result of a violent conflict between the Shudras and the Brahmins. Fortunately for me, there is abundant evidence of it.
I
There is direct evidence of a violent conflict between the Shudra king, Sudas and Vasishtha, the Brahmin rishi. The facts relating to this conflict however are stated in a very confused manner. In the narration which follows, I have made an attempt to state them in a neat and an orderly fashion.
To understand the nature of the conflict, it is necessary first to understand the relations between Vasishtha and Vishvamitra.
Vasishtha and Vishvamitra were enemies and were enemies first and enemies last. There was no incident to which one of them was a party in which the other did not know himself as an opponent. As evidence of their enmity, I will refer to some of the episodes. The first one is that of Satyavrata otherwise called Trishanku. The story