Verses other than 11 and 12 may be regarded as of academic interest. Verses 11 and 12 fall in one category and the rest of the verses fall in another category. That is because all verses of the Purusha Sukta are not of the same importance and do not have the same significance.

But it certainly cannot be true of the whole of it. Jotirao wields his pen like a rapier, and attacks Bhats (Aryan Brahmins) in strong words, which are fully justified. Desperate diseases call for desperate remedies. This may be true of some parts of the Purusha Sukta. In Who Were the Shudras (1947), Ambedkar recalls the Purusha Shukta, the famous hymn of the Rig Veda in which the primordial man is dismembered to create human society: his mouth becomes the Brahmins (priests), his arms the Kshatriyas (warrior kings), his thighs the Vaishyas (artisans), and his feet the Shudras (servants). Mahatma Phule’s heart goes all out to the sad lot of the hapless Shudras and Ati-shudras, it bleeds for them, and hence the somewhat harsh and brash tone and tenor of his writing. For, it is worth knowing how the Shudras came to occupy the fourth place, whether it was the result of evolution on or it was brought about by revolution.Īny attempt to discover who the Shudras were and how they came to be the fourth Varna must begin with the origin of the Chaturvarnya in the Indo-Aryan society.Ī study of the Chaturvarnya must in its turn start with a study of the ninetieth Hymn of the Tenth Mandala of the Rig Veda-a Hymn, which is known by the famous name of Purusha Sukta.Ĭosmogonics have never been more than matters of academic interest and have served no other purpose than to satisfy the curiosity of the student and to help to amuse children. That such an inquiry is of first-rate importance is beyond question. But very few have cared to inquire who were these Shudras and how they came to be the fourth Varna.

EVERYBODY knows that the Shudras formed the fourth Varna of the Indo-Aryan society.

Who are shudras by ambedkar pdf