Anglo-Indian. Forms: 7 pl. Shudderies, -yes, 7, 9 Soudra, 8 Tschud(d)irer, Sudder, 8–9 Soodera, Sooder, 9 S(h)uder, Shudra, Soodra, Çudra, 8– Sudra. [a. Skr. śūdra (Hindi shūdr, Urdu sūdr), of doubtful etym. Cf. F. Soudra, Pg. Chudrer.] A member of the lowest of the four great Hindu castes.
1630. Lord, Banians, xii. The third Tribe or Cast, called the Shudderies.
1678. J. Phillips, trans. Tavernier’s Trav., II. III. iii. 162. The fourth Caste is that of the Charados or Soudras.
1717. J. T. Phillips, People of Malabar, 20. As for the Tschudirers, they have Licence only to read the six Systems.
1794. Sir W. Jones, Instit. Hindu Law, Wks. 1799, III. 357. For a Sûdra is ordained a wife of his own class.
1796. Eliza Hamilton, Lett. Hindoo Rajah (1811), I. 115. Any base born sooder.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., II. 544. The fourth tribe is that of Sudder.
1800. Asiat. Ann. Reg., 55/2. A Vaisya, unable to subsist by his own duties, may descend to the servile acts of a Sûdra.
1858. Beveridge, Hist. India, II. IV. i. 13. The modern Sudra is no longer a slave.
1910. Encycl. Brit., XIII. 503/1. Whilst the Arya was thus a dvi-ja, or twice-born, the Sudra remained unregenerate during his lifetime.
attrib. 1794. Sir W. Jones, Instit. Hindu Law, Wks. 1799, III. 333. A Brâhmen may seize without hesitation … the goods of his Sûdra slave.
1828. Asiatic Costumes, 60. Hindoos of the soodra caste.
1829. Encycl. Metrop. (1845), XX. 677/2. Nanda, the son of a Sûdra mother.
1876. Encycl. Brit., V. 190/2. After Buddha, Sudra dynasties ruled in many parts of India.
