The Sudra has a precarious position in Hindu community. According to Manu
Smrithi, a Brahman is forbidden to give advice or even food to a Sudra, for the
ghi (clarified butter) having been offered to the gods, must not be eaten by
him. Further, the Brahman must not give 'spiritual counsel to him,' nor inform
him of the legal expiation of his sin. He who declares the law to a servile
man, and he who instructs him in the mode of expiating sin, sinks with that
very man into hell.
A Brahman should never be the guru of a Sudra. 'While the first part of a
Brahman's name should indicate holiness that of a Kshatriya's power and that of
a Vashya's wealth, that of a Sudra 's should indicate contempt. The Veda is
never to be read in the presence of a Sudra, and for him no sacrifice is to be
performed. He has no business with solemn rites [ 1 ].
A Sudra has no right even to listen to the Veda. Recitation of or listening to
this sacred book is exclusively a privilege of the Aryan Hindus. There is
provision of severe punishment for a Sudra, in case he dares to enjoy this
privilege. If he "overheard a recitation of the Vedas, molten lac or tin was to
be poured into his mouth; if he repeated recitation of the Vedas, his tongue
should be cut; and if he remembered Vedic hymns, his body was to be torn into
pieces."[ 2 ]
A Sudra is debarred from marrying a woman of the higher castes; if he does,
their offspring will sink into a class even lower than his own. He must not
participate in carrying the corpse of a Brahman. He is allowed to carry his
dead only through the southern gate of the city where he may live. The murder
of a Sudra by a Brahman is equal only to killing a cat or a frog or a cow [ 3
].
In fact, the Sudras who have only deprivations and sufferings in their lots,
are not Hindus. As Wilkins suggests, "the Sudras were not originally part of
the Hindu system, but were engrafted into it..."[ 4 ] Still worse than the
Sudras are the Dalits (also called Untouchables) who fall outside the caste
system and are therefore the worst in the social hierarchy.
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References
[1] Wilkins, Modern Hinduism, London, 1975, pp. 247-48.
[2] Swami Dharma Theertha, History of Hindu Imperialism, Madras, 1992, p. 42.
[3] Wilkins, 1975, p.248.
[4] Ibid., p. 255.
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