Manava-Shrauta-Sutra explicitly prescribes a Shrauta (Vedic) sacrifice for a Nishada chief. The Satyashadha-Shrauta-Sutra mentions a Nishada (a Nishada chief according to a commentary) in connection with the agnihotra and darsha-purna-masa rituals. The Purva-Mimamsa-Sutra of Jaimini discusses if the Nishada sthapati involved in the above-mentioned rituals should be a tribal chief or a person from one of the three higher varnas ("traivarnika"). It concludes that the sthapati should be a tribal chief. The Shatapatha Brahmana mentions them among the groups whom the Vedic priests taught Itihasa, the Atharvaveda, the art of snake-charming (sarpa-vidya), and demonology (deva-jana-vidya). The other groups included the Asuras, the Gandharvas, the selagas (possibly robbers or thieves), the snake-charmers, the bird-catchers etc. These references suggest that the Indo-Aryans made efforts to assimilate the Nishadas into their own social order, but the Vedic ritual status granted to the Nishadas was limited in nature. Historian Ramaprasad Chanda speculates that the Nishadas were too numerous and too powerful to be eliminated, enslaved, or expelled by the Indo-Aryans: this may explain the limited attempts to assimilate them. It is possible that only the high-class among the Nishadas were inducted into the Indo-Aryan society, while the majority of them remained unassimilated. Panini's Ganapatha mentions a gotra called Nishada, which according to scholar D. D. Kosambi, suggests that some tribal priests were assimilated as Brahmanas in the Indo-Aryan society. Social status The Rudra Adhyaya of the ancient Yajurveda Samhita shows reverence to the Nishadas, among others. Nevertheless, the Nishadas held a low status in the Indo-Aryan society: Yaska's Nirukta excludes the Nishadas from the four varnas of the Indo-Aryan society, quoting Aupamanyava. The text explains the meaning of the word "Nishada" as a being in whom "sin or evil sits down". Baudhayana Dharmasutra and Arthashastra state that a Brahmana's son from a Shudra woman should inherit one-tenth of his father's property. Both these texts describe Nishadas as progeny of Brahmana men and Shudra women, but do not apply the inheritance rule to the Nishadas. The Baudhayana Dharmasutra states that a Nishada son should not receive any inheritance, while the Arthashastra allows only a maintenance for a Nishada son. The Shanti Parva of the Mahabharata states that the Nishada originated from the pierced thigh of the tyrant king Vena. In what appears to be an attempt to define the status of the Nishadas in the varna system, several ancient texts present them as progeny of