Who were the Shudras

Who Were the Shudras? Is a history book published by Great Indian social reformer and scholar Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in 1946. The book discusses the origin of the Shudra Varna. In the book, Dr. Ambedkar citing Rigveda, Mahabharata and other ancient vedic scriptures, estimates that the Shudras were originally Aryans. Dr. Ambedkar states that the Shudras of Hindu society are entirely different from Shudras of ancient Indo-Aryan Society. The common misconception that the two are related in terms of ancestry stems from the fact that people believe that the Hindu and Indo-Aryan meaning of the word "Shudras" is the same, when they are actually different. In the Indo-Aryan society, the word referred to a particular race of people, whereas in the Hindu society, the word loosely applies to individuals of a low social status, who are considered "uncultured". Dr. Ambedkar asserts that the application of the word in the Hindu sense is incorrect as it wrongly associates them with the people and culture of the Indo-Aryan society, who committed wrongdoings, such as offending the Brahmins. Dr. Ambedkar also discusses Aryan race theory and rejects Indo-Aryan invasion theory in the book.