Shudra (śūdra)

A shudra is a member of the class assigned to service, excluded in the orthodox scheme from Vedic study and sacrifice. The Mahabharata records this exclusion and repeatedly stages its injustice, most painfully in the treatment of Eklavya, and it advertises itself as a text open to those the Vedas shut out. Vidura, the wisest counsellor in the epic, is the son of a serving woman and is reminded of it whenever his advice becomes inconvenient.