Śūdras in Dharmaśāstras

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Other Title
  • ヒンドゥー法典のシュードラ規定：義務と儀礼的地位について
  • ヒンドゥー ホウテン ノ シュードラ キテイ ギム ト ギレイテキ チイ ニ

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In a previous article, the author examined the descriptions concerning the śūdras found in Dharmasūtras, Pāli canons and Arthaśāstra. Two conclusions were drawn from it; (1) Although Dharmasūtras, the law book of the orthodox Brahmanism, prescribed severe laws of śūdra discrimination, they at the same time compromise with the social realities by laying down laws of expiations (prāyaścittas) and laws in time of distress (āpaddharmas); (2) In actual social life the distinction between vaiśyas and śūdras was not clear, and laws of śūdra discrimination in the Dharmasūtras might not be applied as they were.In this article the same problems are examined using the Manu-smṛti (200 B. C.-A. D. 100) and the later Dharmaśāstras as sources. We see in the Manu-smṛti as severe śūdra discrimination as in the Dharmasūtras. But we can also find in it more developed laws on prāyaścittas and āpaddharmas. This shows that the separation between the laws and the social realities had now become wider.The compromise with the social realities became clearer in the stage of the later Dharmaśāstras and their commentaries (A. D. 100-1200). Each law book prescribes in principle the same śūdra discrimination as before. But at the same time it loosen the previous laws and conceded in śūdras’s favor. In the other words, the concept of Aryan society, from which the śūdras were excluded, receded and the concept of Hindu Society including the śūdras came to the fore. In contrast with this upward change in the śūdras, untouchability gradually developed and the distinction between untouchables and caste Hindus became clearer.

Journal

  • The Toyo Gakuho

    The Toyo Gakuho 66 (1～4), 515-537, 1985-03

    東洋文庫

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