Kinship, Caste and class

What to historians use to understand socio-cultural processes

• They use textual traditions, such as, Vedas or Puranas

• This also helps them understand

  • Norms of behaviour

  • Comment on social situations and practices

  • Social actors (Influences)

• Can be used to piece together attitudes and practices that shaped social histories

Things to remember when examining a text

• Texts were written from the perspective of specific social categories

• Who wrote it

• What was written

• For whom it was written

• What language was used

• The ways in which the text circulated

Points about Mahabharata

• A colossal epic

• Over 100,000 verses

• Composed over a period of 1000 years(c.500 BCE onwards)

• Contains sections that explained norms of behaviour

• The principal characters occasionally follow these norms

Importance of patriliny among elite families

• Defi: Patriliny means tracing descent from father to son, grandson and so on

• The central story of Mahabharat reinforced the idea that patriliny was valuable

  • In which the Pandavas emerged victories in their family feud and proclaimed patrilineal succession

• Elite and ruling families used this to avoid conflicts over land, power and resources including the throne

• Most of the ruling dynasties claimed to follow this system, although there were variations in practice as sometimes

  • There were no sons

  • Brothers were the succeed the throne

  • Kinsmen claimed the throne

  • Exceptionally women exercised power, such as, Prabhavati Gupta

• This attitude were shared by wealthy men, and those who claimed high status, including Brahmanas

• This attitude also spilled onto the expectation of wanting sons from a marriage more so than any other child.

Dhrama and norms mentioned in the stories of Drona, Hidimba, Mantanga

• Drona

  • To teach Kshatriyas only

    • Refused to teach Ekalavya

  • To keep his words, or promises

    • That Arjuna would be unrivalled amongst his pupils

  • To take a fee or gurudakshina from pupils

    • When he demanded Ekalavya’s right thumb

• Hidimba

  • Marriage of Bheem with Hidimba was against the principals of marriage laid by Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras

  • Varna system wasn’t applicable equally or not at all to the nishad tribe

• Matanga

  • Chandala’s were at the very bottom of the hierarchy of the varnas

  • The treatment they received was humiliatingly discriminating

• In all 3 stories norms mentioned in the Dharmashastra and Dharamsutra have been violated

Buddhist theory of social contract, differences in Brahmanical view of society derived from the Purusha Sukta

• Brahmanical view

  • Described 4 categories of humans, which were supposed ot have emanated from His body

    • The Brahmana his mouth

    • Kshatriya his arms

    • Vaishya his thighs

    • Shudra his feet

  • Brahmanas often citied this verse from the Rigveda to justify their claims for the ideal occupations of the 4 varnas

    • A way to persuade people that their status was determined by birth(Fatalist)

• Buddhist theory

  • The Sutta Pitaka(Buddha’s teachings) suggested that originally human beings and all other beings lived in an unidyllic(not beautiful) state of peace, taking from nature only what they needed for each meal

  • With passage of time, humans became greedy, vindictive and deceitful.

    • Lead to the deterioration of their condition

  • The need for authority to control them was felt

    • The institution of kinship was established

    • People could change this in the future in accordance to their needs

Maurice Winternitz, famous historian of Indian literature, on Mahabharata

“just because the Mahabharata

represents more of an entire literature … and

contains so much and so many kinds of things, …

(it) gives(s) us an insight into the most profound

depths of the soul of the Indian folk.”

• This statement is correct, Mahabharta does provide us with diverse insights into the workings and demographic of society and tells us the root of many traditions and notions of today’s society, hence (last two lines)

• Mahabharata is one of the richest texts which contains verses with depictions of a wide range of social categories and situations

• Composed over a period of 1000 years(500 bce onwards) but some stories may have been in circulation even earlier

• The text contains sections laying down norms of behaviour for various social groups

• Central stories of epic were often retold in different ways

  • Its stories have been depicted in sculptures and paintings

• Provided themes of a wide range of performing arts, dance, plays and narration

• It’s central story describes the feud between two sets of warring cousins from the same family

  • It reinforces the idea of patriliny, and mentions rules of marriage too

Mahabharata was a work of multiple authors

• As the text initially had 10,000 verses, which grew over time to 100,000

• This enormous composition is traditionally attributes to a sage names Vyasa, and that this text was dictated to him by the deity Ganesha

• The original story was composed by chariot bards, known as Sutas, who generally accompanied Kshatriya warriors to battlefield.

  • They used to compose poems celebrating their victories and other achievements

  • These compositions circulated orally

• c. 400s BCE, Brahamanas began to write this, a time period in which Kurus and Panchalas became kingdoms.

  • Perhaps the new kings wanted their itihasa to be recorded and preserved more systematically

  • The upheavals caused by the establishment of any new kingdom causes replacement of old social norms, which are reflected in Mahabharata

• c. 200 BCE - 200CE, worship of Vishnu grew in importance and Krishna was identified with Vishnu

• c. 200 CE - 400 CE, large didactic sections resembling the Manusmriti were added

Importance of gender roles in early societies

• Gender differences effected the social mobility of people

• Acquiring wealth

  • No share for women in paternal estate

    • Manusmriti, the paternal estate was to be divided equally amongst sons after the death of parents, with special share for the eldest

  • Women were only allowed to claim wealth if given by someone else or as gifts

    • Manusmriti, women were warned against holding property or even her own valuables without her husband’s permission

  • The notion of patriliny, only sons could claim the resources of their parents, including the throne

• Gotra of Women

  • Women were expected to give up their father’s gotra and adopt that of their husband

• Wives were to be treated as property of their husband

  • Yudhishthir, as after he lost everything, including himself, he staked the brothers’ common wife, Draupadi in the game of dice and lost her too

Brahmanical prescriptions about kinship and marriage weren’t universally followed

• Patriliny

  • Tracing of descent from father to son, grandson, etc.

  • In practice, there were variations

    • Sometimes there were no sons

    • Sometimes brothers took over

    • Sometimes kinsmen took over

    • And exceptionally, sometimes women exercised power, such as, Prabhavati Gupta

• Marriages

  • The Dharmashastra and Dharmasutra recognised 8 forms of marriage, 1-4 were good, and the rest were condemned

  • Instances of marriages that violated these are shown, such as of Bheem and Hidimba

  • Perhaps marriages condemned were of those who didn’t practice Brahmanical norms

• Gotra

  • Marriage within unit or gotra weren’t allowed(exogamy).

    • Satvahana rulers practiced endogamy, which violated that rule

  • Women were to give up their father’s gotra and adopt her husband’s

    • Satvahana women didn’t, they kept the gotra of their father and used it feminine form, such as, Gautami and Visithi

• Non-Kshatriya kings

  • Only Kshatriyas could be kings

    • Several important ruling lineages had different origins

Rules of marriage

• Daughters had no claim over the resources of the house

• Exogamy was desirable, that they should be married outside kin or gotra

• Women belonging to elite/high status families had to carefully regulate that they were married at the “right time” to the “right person”.

  • Made Kanyadana or the gift of a daughter in marriage was an important religious duty of the father

• Brahmanical practices, from c.1000 BCE onward, classified people in terms of gotra.

  • Each gotra was named after a vedic seer

  • all those who belonged to the same gotra were regarded as descendents

  • Women expected to give up their gotra and adopt their husband’s

Idea occupations of the 4 categories prescribed in Brahmansutra and Brahmanshastra

• Brahmanas

  • Supported to study and teach the Vedas

  • Perform sacrifices

  • Get sacrifices performed

  • Give and receive gifts

• Kshatriyas

  • Engage in warfare

  • Protect people

  • Administer justice

  • Study the Vedas

  • Get sacrifices performed

  • Make gifts

• Vaishyas

  • Engage in pastoral-ism, agriculture and trade

  • Study the Vedas

  • Get sacrifices performed

  • Make gifts

• Shudras

  • Serving the 3 ‘higher’ varnas

Enforcement of the Varna system

• To assert that the Varna system was of divine origin

• Advised kings to ensure that the system was followed within their kingdoms

• To persuade people that their state was determined by birth

• Reinforced by stories told in Mahabharata

Jati

• Based on birth but there was no restriction on the number of jatis

• Assigned a name to the occupational categories, such as, Swarnakara or goldsmith

Chandalas and their duties

• People who handled corpses and dead animals

• Placed at the very bottom of the hierachy

• Their touch and presence was regarded as “polluting” by those who claimed to be at the top of the social order

• Duties

  • They had to live outside the villages

  • Use discard untensils

  • Wear clothes of the dead

  • Wear ornaments of iron

  • They couldn’t walk in villages and cities at night

  • They had to dispose of bodies who had no relatives

  • Serve as excutioners

• Non-Brahminical texts

  • Had to sound a “clapper” to make villagers aware of their presence, so it could be avoided

Non-Kshatriya rulers in early states

• According to shastras, only Kshatriyas were to be kings. However several ruling lineages had different origins

• Mauryas, who ruled over a large empire were considered as being of “low” origin

• Shungas and Kanvas, immediate successors of Mauryas, were Brahmans

• Shakas, came from Central Asia, were mlechchhas, outsiders or those who didn’t speak Sanskritic languages

• Satvahana dynasty was ruled under King Rudradaman

Methods by which women could acquire wealth

• There were 6 methods

  • What was given in front of the fire(marriage)

  • Bridal procession

  • Token of affection

  • What she got from her family

  • Any subsequent gifts

  • Whatever her “affectionate” husband might give her

Bodhisatta

• Matanga Jataka, Pali text

• Buddha in a previous birth, who was a chandala there

Scholar who prepared a critical edition of Mahabharat

• V.S Suthankar

• 1919

• took 4.7 years