Suta in ancient Hinduism is the term used to refer to a child born of Kshatriya man and a Brahmin woman. The word Suta (from the Sanskrit root su = prasravane ‘to produce’) literally means born, begotten, engendered, produced, impelled, emitted, etc. As a distinct social unit, suta is a person born out of anuloma marriage, the marriage of a lower caste man with a higher caste woman.
The usual occupation of a suta in ancient times was that of the charioteer. However the world also means a bard and a carpenter.
It stands for the Sun, too, and it is also the name of a pupil of Sage Vyasa. Being an expert in lecturing on Puranas to the sages, this pupil became famous as Suta Pauranika. The Mahabharata refers to another sage of this name who had come to see Bhishma when he was lying on the bed of arrows (Shanti Parva 47/12). He is the son of Vishwamitra who expounded Vedas (Anushasana Parva 4/57).
Quicksilver is also called suta (raja).
Karna, the first son of Kunti from Surya (the Sun),is also called suta putra (son of a suta), as he was adopted and bought up by Adhiratha and his wife Radha. Adiratha was a friend and charioteer of King Dhritarashtra.
History shows some important personages performing the function of a suta.
Suta Sumantra took Rama, Lakshmana and Sita to the forest. Krishna acted as the charioteer of Arjuna. King Nala acted in disguise as a charioteer of King Rituparna. A Suta was supposed to have a good knowledge of horses and bear qualities, sun as patience, which were expected to be possessed by a driver, etc. He was expected to carry out the instructions of his master scrupulously and meticulously, and sometimes had to also act as his messenger.