306 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Know that there are two sorts of occupations; pure work and impure work; impure work is that done by the slaves. Pure work is that done by labourers.
Sweeping the gateway, the privy, the road and the place for rubbish; shampooing the secret parts of the body; gathering and putting away the leaving of food, ordure and urine.
And lastly, rubbing the master’s limbs when desired; this should be regarded as impure work. All other work besides this is pure.
Thus have the four classses of servants doing pure work been enumerated. All the others who do dirty work are slaves, of whom there are fifteen kinds: [1]
It is clear that impure work was done by the slaves and that the impure work included scavenging. The question that arises is: Who were these slaves? Were they Aryans or non-Aryans? That slavery existed among the Aryans admits of no doubt. An Aryan could be a slave of an Aryan. No matter to what Varna an Aryan belonged he could be a slave. A Kshatriya could be a slave. So could a Vaishya. Even a Brahmin was not immune from the law of slavery. It is when Chaturvarna came to be recognized as a law of the land that a change was made in the system of slavery. What this change was can be seen from the following extract from the Narada Smriti :
“39. In the inverse order of the (four) castes slavery is not ordained, except where a man violated the duties peculiar to his caste. Slavery (in that respect) is analogous to the condition of a wife”.
Yajnavalkya also says that :
“183(2) Slavery is in the descending order of the Varnas and not in the ascending order”
This is explained by Vijnaneswara in his Mitakshara, a Commentary on Yajnavalkya Smriti in the following terms: “Of the Varna such as the Brahmin and the rest, a state of slavery shall exist in the descending order (Anulomcyna). Thus, of a Brahmin, a Kshatriya, and the rest may become a slave; of a Kshatriya, the Vaishya and the Shudra; and of a Vaishya, a Shudra; this state of slavery shall operate in the descending order.”
1 The fifteen classes of slaves are defined by the Narada Smriti in the following verses ;
V. 26. One born at (his master’s) house; one purchased; one received (by gift); one obtained by inheritance; one maintained during a general famine; one pledged by his rightful owner.
V. 27. One released from heavy debt; one made captive in fight; one won through a wager; one who has come forward declaring ‘I am thine.’ An apostate from asceticism; one enslaved for a stipulated period.
V. 28. One who has become slave in order to get a maintenance; one enslaved on account of his connection with a female slave; and one self-sold. These are 15 classes of slaves as declared by law.