[122] Ibid. p. 375 sq. Bosworth Smith, Mohammed and Mohammedanism, pp. 206, 211 sq.
According to the Laws of Manu, the mythical legislator of ancient India, there are slaves of seven kinds, namely, “he who is made a captive under a standard, he who serves for his daily food, he who is born in the house, he who is bought and he who is given, he who is inherited from ancestors, and he who is enslaved by way of punishment.”[123] The last mentioned class consists of persons who have lost their freedom because they have been unable to pay a debt or a fine, or because they have left a religious order.[124] The slave is not necessarily a Sûdra, or member of the lowest of the four Indian castes, but Kshatriyas may become the slaves of Brâhmanas and Vaisyas of Brâhmanas and Kshatriyas.[125] On the other hand, the Sûdras as such were not slaves, though it was their duty to serve the other castes; they chose the persons to whom they would offer service, and claimed adequate compensation.[126] The power which a house-holder in India possessed over his slaves is not exactly defined; but he is admonished not to have quarrels with them, and if offended by any of them, to bear it without resentment.[127] In Âpastamba’s Aphorisms it is said that a person may at his pleasure stint himself, his wife, or his children, “but by no means a slave who does his work.”[128] Elphinstone wrote in 1839 in his ‘History of India’:—“Domestic slaves are treated exactly like servants, except that they are more regarded as belonging to the family. I doubt if they are ever sold; and they attract little observation, as there is nothing apparent to distinguish them from freemen.”[129] The priesthood of modern Buddhism teach that there are five ways in which a master ought to assist his slave:—“He must not appoint the work of children to men, or of men to children, but to each according to his strength; he must give each one his food and wages, according as they are required; when sick, he must free him from work, and provide him with proper medicine; when the master has any agreeable and savoury food, he must not consume the whole himself, but must impart a portion to others, even to his slaves; and if they work properly for a long period, or for a given period, they must be set free.”[130]
[123] Laws of Manu, viii. 415.
[124] Bühler, in his translation of the Laws of Manu, in Sacred Books of the East, xxv. 326, n. 415.
[125] Ibid. p. 326, n. 415.
[126] Ingram, History of Slavery and Serfdom, p. 272.
[127] Laws of Manu, iv. 180, 185.
[128] Âpastamba, ii. 4. 9. 11.
[129] Elphinstone, History of India, p. 203.
[130] Hardy, Manual of Budhism, p. 500.