Kinship, Caste and Class: Early Societies (600 BCE - 600 CE)

Under whose leadership was the critical edition of the Mahabharata written?

V.S. Sukhtankar

Who did Vyasa dictate the text to?

Ganesha

What is Mahabharata important for understanding kinship?

Reflects complex family relationship and conflicts withing ruling dynasties

What is Jati?

Families

What is Jana?

People

Who were the group of men considered the wealthiest in ancient Indian society

Brahmanas and Kshatryias

What was the Buddhist understanding of social inequalities?

Are a product of gradual deterioration of an idyllic state of peace

Which women might have had access to resources, land and cattle?

Upper class women

Why didn’t upper caste iinteract with lower casr?

They would get polluted

Stories from Adi Parvan (first part of Mahabharata)

Intro to Mahabharata (Why kauravas hated pandavas)

Eckalvya

Bhima and Rakshasha

Dharmasutras?

Written in prose (Sutras)

What did Wifes of Satavahana do?

Keep their gotra such as Gotama and Vasistha

Retained names instead of adopting names derived from husband’s gotra name

Why did Drona ask Ekalvya to cut off his finger?

He promised Arjuna that he would be unrivalled amongst his pupils

How did Pandavas discover Ekalavya’s archery skills?

Their dog came across him and he shot seven arrows

Wore in black deer skin and body caked with dirt

Dharmashastras?

Poetry (Shlokas)

What are shruti?

Reveled scriptures extraordinary

Vedas are shruti

Not translated so can only be studied by Brahmin

How to find out if gotra was followed?

Names of men and women

What is Smriti?

Remembered scripture by ordinary

Puranas, Laws of Mani, Ramayana and Mahabharata are smriti

Cal be translated and made into cartoon strips

Why was Duroyodha jealous of Pandavas?

They were more capable and virtuous than the Kauravas

People liked theme more

They feared that they would be excluded from royal succession and become a slight regard in the eyes of the world

What happened when there were no sons?

Brother of kinsmen (important male) accepted throne before women

How many verses was Mahabhrata?

100,000 or 1,00,000

Period in which Mahabharata was composed

1,000

When were other Dharmashastras written?

300-600 CE

When were Puranas compiled?

200 CE

When was AStadhyani of Panini, a work on Sankrit grammar written?

500 BCE

When were Major Dharmsustras compiled?

500-200 BCE

When were Ramayana and Mahabhara written?

500 BCE - 400 CE

When was Charaka and Sushruta Samhitas (work on medicine) written?

100 CE

When was Nayashstra of Bharata work on dramatury writter?

300 CE

When were Early Buddhist texts like the Tripitaka written?

500-100 BCE

When was the critical edition of the Mahabharata prepared?

1919-66 (47 years)

When did J.A.B can Buitenen start his English translation?

1973 uncompleted 1978 death

When were Sanskrit plays including the works of Kalidasa; works on astronomy and mathematics by Aryabhata and Varahamihira (in Sanskrit); compilation of Jaina works (in Prakrit)?

400-500 CE

How did the Nishadas die in the Mahabhrata?

Duryodhana wants to kill the Pandavas invites them to a house made of lac(wax)

Pandavas knew so they dug a tunnel under the house to escape

Kunti hosts feats with Brahamanas and

A nishada women who came with five sons

Nishada family got drunk and the pandavas escaped and set fire to the house

Nishada women and her sons were found in ashes and Pandavas were mistaked to be killed

What did Mahasweta Devi write? Kunti O Nishadi

Bengali writer

Different ending

Twilight year of Kunti’s life

The Nishada women is the daughter in law

A Nishaad women reminds her of the 6 deaths of people and she feels remorseful

Forest goes up in flames but Kunti remained as the nishadi escaped

How is Hastinapura described in Adi Parvan?

The city, bursting like the ocean, packed with hundreds of mansions, displayed with its gateways, arches and turrets like massing clouds the splendour of Great Indra’s city

How was Draupadi married?

Archery competition

Arjuna was victorious

Who was Draupada?

King of Panchala organized a competition

When were 90,000 verses added?

200 400 cE

What does itihasa mean? Why was Mahabhrata called that?

Thus it was

Translated into history

What do historians agree about the Mahabhrata?

It was a dramatic and didactic portions were added later

What is Didactic?

Meant to teach especially moral values

What is Purananaru?

Poems in Tamil Sangam talk about poor generous chief

What did the Sutta Pitaka say about the differenceS?

Human being were not full evolved

All beings lived in idyliic state of nature

There was deterioration as humans became greedu

What were notions of kingship according to buddhists?

Based on Human choice and taxes were a form of payment for services of the king

They were responsible for creation of the system

What did Yudhisthira stake?

staked his gold, elephants, chariots, slaves, army, treasury, kingdom, the property of his subjects, his brothers and finally himself and lost all. Then he staked their common wife Draupadi

What did the Tamil Sangam say?

There were differences between rich and poor, those who controlled resources were expected to share them

What could women keep according to the Manu?

Sridhana

What was Sanskrit?

Language exclusively used by priests and elites

Could Yudhishthira stake Draupade?

Yes because even if he had lost control, his wife was in control

Two, he was an unfree man and could not stake her

Draupadi went to her freedom

Who were looked at with suspicion ?

Nomadic Pastoralists and Mlechchhas

What were Shrenis?

Guilds where membership was based on a shared craft specialization

Some member had other occupation

Collectively invested their wealth, to construct a splendid temple in honor of sun god

Who were the silk weavers?

Lived in Lata Gujarat migrated to Mandasor (Dahapura)

Undertook great difficulty to travel when they heard of greatness of a local king

What is kshatrya vanik?

Two brothers who made a donation for the Contruction of a temple as

What contained information on ideal occupation of the carnas?

Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras

Who are feminine forms of Gotama and Vasistha?

Gotami and Vasithi

Satavahana rulers had femine forms

What reinforced idea of patriliny?

Mahabharata

Existed before Mahabharata

Story of Mahabharata

Story about pariliny

Kauravas were sons of Dhritarashtra who was blind,

Pandavas were their cousins.

Dhritarashtra younger brother Pandu ascended the throne of Hastinpura since Dhritarashtra was blind.

Dhritarashtra became king but people of Hastinapura preferred Pandavas becaause they were more capable and virtous

Duryodhana, the eldest of Kauravas was jealous

Scared that if Dhritarashtra died Pandavas would get throne and they will be excluded from royal succession

Battle in which Pandavas emerged victorious with help of Krishna

What did the critical edition of the Mahabharata work on?

Initially meant that they had collect Sanskrit manuscripts

Comparing verses from each manuscript

Selected verses that were most common

Was aimed to compare regional variations and identify common elements in Sanskrit versions to make a critical edition

What is a significant feature of the Mahabhrata?

Includes section that prescribe norms of behavior for different social groups

It was also an epic

How many pages was the critical edition?

13,000 pages

Half is footnotes about variation

How long did the project of the critical edition take?

47 years

What was made apparent?

There were many variations in the Mahabharata

Sanskrit one was similar

How do we know about the processes?

Texts written in Sanskrit by and for Brahmanas

What is Kula?

Families

What is Jnati?

Larger network of kinfolk/ relatives

What is vamsha?

lineage

What is patriliny?

Tracing descent from father to son

Sons could claim the resources

Matriliny is when it is traced through the mother

What is the Mahabharata?

Feud over land and power between two groups of cousins.

Who are the two groups of cousins?

Kauravas and Pandavas who belong to Kurus (Janpadas)

Who won the battle in the Mahabharata?

Pandavas

Who was Indra?

God of valour, warfare and rain

What was the first section of the Sanskrit Mahabhrata?

Adi Parvan

Who were Kauravas sons of?

Dhritarashtra (Blind)

Who was Duryodhana?

Eldest of the Kauravas

Who were Pandavas?

Sons of Pandu

What kind is mentioned in the Mahabhrata?

Hastinapura

What is Endogamy?

Mariage within the unit

What is Exogamy?

Marriage outside the unit

What is Polygyny?

Practice of a man having several wives

What is Polyandry?

Practice of a woman having several husbands

What method of marriage was desirable?

Exogamy

What is kanyadana?

Gift of a daughter, was an important religious duty of father

How many forms of marriage are there in the Manusmriti?

8

First 4 are good

What is the first form of marriage?

The gift of a daughter, after dressing her in costly clothes and honouring her with presents of jewels, to a man learned in the Veda whom the father himself invites

What is the fourth form of marriage?

The gift of a daughter by the father after he has addressed the couple with the text, “May both of you perform your duties together”, and has shown honour to the bridegroom.

What is the fifth form of marriage?

When the bridegroom receives a maiden, after having given as much wealth as he can afford to the kinsmen and to the bride herself, according to his own will.

What is the sixth form of marriage?

The voluntary union of a maiden and her lover … which springs from desire

Who wrote the Dharmasustras and Dharmashastra?

Brahmana authors For brahmans seeing changes in ideas

Not all pervasive

Mainly for Brahmanas is particular and rest of society in gernral

Which marriages were considered good?

First four

What were Gotras?

Named after a Vedic seer.

Those who belonged to same gotra were descendants

What were the two rules about gotra?

Women were expected to give up gotra and take up husbands gotra

Could not marry within the same gotra

What does Puta mean?

Son

What is one of the earliest Upanishads?

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

List of successive generation of teachers and students

Designated by metronymics.

Why was endogamy useful?

Close-knit society

What is metronymics?

names derived from that of the mother

How were Satavahana rulers identified?

Metronymics but still patrilineal

Did not mean that they were important

What were Brahmans supposed to do?

to study and teach the Vedas, perform sacrifices and get sacrifices performed, and give and receive gifts.