Everyone except men had to take permission from his/her master before joining sangha. The servants had to take permission from the kings, the wives from their husbands and the slaves from their masters.

It wouldn’t have been easy for the slaves to join the sangha because:

1. Slaves had no rights.

2. Slavery was very common and masters were not very kind.

3. Slaves did all kind of tasks for their masters and if slaves joined sangha then who would have worked for their masters.

NOTE: Slave is a person who is the property of another person. A slave has to obey all the commands of master. He has no right as a human.