slavery
Dr. M.F. Tritsch
tritsch at MZDMZA.ZDV.UNI-MAINZ.DE
Tue Dec 5 07:21:24 UTC 1995
JB Sharma wrote on 2. Dec., in reply to some comments of mine:
> There is no tradition of slavery among the Hindus and there were no
> slave markets in pre-Islamic India. There are no elaborate
> prescriptions for taking slaves, codes of behavior of master and
> slave, fraction of booty to be sent to the Caliph etc.
I don't want to be picky, but the Arthashastra of Kautilya devotes a
whole section to the rights and duties of slaves. This can be found
in Chapter 13 of Book 3. My translation (by R Shamasastri, 1951)
says: "The ransom necessary for a slave to regain his freedom is
equal to what he has been sold for. (...) An Aarya made captive in
war shall for his freedom pay a certain amount proportional to the
dangerous work done at the time of his capture, or half the amount."
Romila Thapar refers to this in her "History of India", and also says
of the Mauryan period: "Domestic slaves were a regular feature in
prosperous households, where the slaves were of low caste status but
not outcastes. Slave labour was also used in the mines and by the
guilds." Of the Chola period in the south she writes: "Slavery was
frequent, with men and women either selling themselves or being sold
by a third party. Many such persons were sold to the temple (...) The
use of slave labour for large-scale production was not known."
Anyway, what about the famous game of dice in the Mahabharata, where
Yudhishthira cries: "If you win, I shall be your slave!"
Interesting question. Anyone know other sources about slavery?
Regards,
Mark Tritsch
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DR. MARK F. TRITSCH (Tel/Fax: +49 611 691497)
Institut fuer Zoologie III
Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet
55099 Mainz
Germany
Schnappschuss internationale Forschungsnachrichten
Breslauer Strasse 14 b
65203 Wiesbaden
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