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42 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
CHAPTER III
THE BRAHMANIC THEORY OF THE STATUS OF THE SHUDRAS
SO much for the Brahmanic view of the origin of the Shudra. Turning to the Brahmanic view of the civil status of the Shudra, what strikes one is the long list of disabilities, accompanied by a most dire system of pains and penalties to which the Shudra is subjected by the Brahmanic law-givers.
The disabilities and penalties of the Shudra found in the Samhitas and the Brahmanas were few, as may be seen from the following extracts:
I. According to the Kathaka Samhita (xxxi.2) and the Maitrayani Samhita (iv.1.3; i.8.3)
“A shudra should not be allowed to milk the cow whose milk is used for Agnihotra.”
II. The Satapatha Brahmana (iii.1.1.10), the Maitrayani Samita (vii.1.1.6) and also the Panchavimsa Brahmana (vi.1.11) say:
“The Shudra must not be spoken to when performing a sacrifice and a Shudra must not be present when a sacrifice is being performed.”
III. The Satapatha Brahmana (xiv.1.31) and the Kathaka Samhita (xi.10) further provide that :
“The Shudra must not be admitted to Soma drink.”
IV. The Aitareya Brahmana (vii.29.4) and the Panchavimsa Brahmana (vi.1.11) reached the culminating point when they say:
“Shudra is a servant of another (and cannot be anything else).”
But what in the beginning was a cloud no bigger than a man’s hand, seems to have developed into a storm, which has literally overwhelmed the Shudras. For, as will be seen from the extracts given from later penal legislation by the Sutrakaras like Apastamba, Baudhayana, etc. and the Smritikaras like Manu and others, the growth of the disabilities of the Shudras has been at a maddening speed and to an extent which is quite unthinkable.