Shudra is the traditional labor and service varna of the classical Hindu caste hierarchy, historically encompassing artisans, cultivators and service occupations, ranked below the Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaishya categories in the normative fourfold scheme though comprising, by most scholarly accounts, the numerically largest share of the traditional caste population. Many communities historically classified as Shudra are today grouped under India's constitutional Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, which carries its own separate reservation provisions distinct from the Scheduled Castes (Dalit) category. As with the other varna categories, the classical fourfold scheme is treated by historians as a normative ideal distinct from, and only partially descriptive of, the much larger and more regionally varied set of actual jatis.
Facts
Group TypeSourced to the subject's own account Typical RegionSourced to the subject's own accountSouth Asia (India and Nepal) 1 Primary LanguageSourced to the subject's own accountRegional Indian languages 1 Subsistence ModeSourced to the subject's own accountTraditionally artisanal, agricultural and service labor within the varna system. 1 Open Questions
Population Estimateno reliable modern population figure exists 1 Sourced to the subject's own accountNo caste-wise Indian census has been published since 1931, and Shudra-classified communities are numerous, regionally distinct and were never aggregated into a single reliable count; many are today classified administratively as Other Backward Classes. Sources
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