D:\AMBEDKAR\VOL-07\VOL7-04 Mk S.K.—26-09-2013 65
THE SHUDRAS : SHUDRAS VERSUS ARYANS 65
CHAPTER IV
SHUDRAS VERSUS ARYANS
I
FROM what has been said before, it is clear that the Brahmanic writers do not give us any clue as to who the Shudras were and how they came to be the fourth Varna . It is, therefore, necessary to turn to the Western writers and to see what they have to say about the subject. The Western writers have a definite theory about the origin of the Shudras. Though all of them are hot agreed upon every aspect of the theory, there are points on which there seems to be a certain amount of unity among them. They comprise the following :
(1) The people who created the Vedic literature belonged to the Aryan race.
(2) This Aryan race came from outside India and invaded India.
(3) The natives of India were known as Dasas and Dasyus who were racially different from the Aryans.
(4) The Aryans were a white race. The Dasas and Dasyus were a dark race.
(5) The Aryans conquered the Dasas and Dasyus.
(6) The Dasas and Dasyus after they were conquered and enslaved were called Shudras.
(7) The Aryans cherished colour prejudice and therefore formed the Chaturvarnya whereby they separated the white race from the black race such as the Dasas and the Dasyus.
These are the principal elements in the Western theory about the origin and position of the Shudras in the Indo-Aryan society. Whether it is valid or not is another matter. But this much must certainly be said about it that after reading the Brahmanic theories with their long and tedious explanations attempting to treat a social fact as a divine dispensation, one cannot but feel a certain amount of relief in having before oneself a theory, which proceeds to give