Kinship , Caste And Class
Early Societies
(c. 600 BCE - 600 CE )
The Critical Edition of the Mahabharata
- One of the most ambitious projects of scholarship began in 1919, under the leadership of a noted India Sanskritist , V.S. Sukthankar .
- A team comprising dozens of scholars initiated the task of preparing a critical edition of the Mahabharata .
- The team worked out a method of comparing verses from each manuscript .
- They published these in several volumes , running into over 13,000 pages .the project took 47 years to complete .
- There were several common elements in the Sanskrit versions of the story , evident in the manuscripts found all over the subcontinent , from Kashmir and Nepal in the north to Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the South .
- These variations were documented in footnotes and appendices to the main text . Taken together, more than half the 13000 pages are devoted to these variations .
- These dialogues are characterized b moments of conflict as well as consensus .
- Scholars began studying other traditions, from works in Pali , Prakrit and Tamil .
Kinship and Marriage Many Rules and Varied Practices
Finding out about families
- People belonging to the same family share food and other resources , and live , work and live , work and performs share rituals together .
- Families are usually parts of larger networks of people defined as relatives , or to use a more technical term , Kinfolk .
- Historians also investigate and analyse attitudes towards family and kinship .These are important , because they provide as insight into people 's thinking
The ideal of patriliny
- It describes a feud over land and power between two groups of cousins , the kauravas and the pandavas , who belonged to a single ruling family , that of the kurus , a lineage dominating one of the Janapadas
- The conflict ended in a battle , in which the pandavas emerged victorious .
- The Central story of the Mahabharata reinforced the idea that it was valuable .
Rules of marriage
- While sons were important for the continuity of the patrilineage, daughters were viewed rather differently within this framework .
- At the same time , marrying them into families outside the kin was considered desirable . This system , called exogamy .
- From c. 500 BCE , these norms were compiled in Sanskrit texts known as the Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras .
- The most important of such works , the Manusmriti, was compiled between c. 200 BCE and 200 CE.
The gotra of women
- One Brahmanical practice , evident from c. 1000 BCE onwards , was to classify people in terms of gotras .
- Each gotra was named after a vedic seer , and all those who belonged to the same gotra were regarded as his descendants .
- Two rules about gotra were particularly important : women were expected to give up their father's gotra and adopt that of their husband on marriage and members of the same gotra could not marry .
- Some of the Satavahana rulers were polygynous .
- An examination of the names of women who married satavahana rulers indicates that many of them had names derived from gotras such as Gotama and Vasistha , their father's gotras .
Social Differences :
Within and beyond the framework of caste
- Caste refers to a set of hierarchically ordered social categories .
- Brahmanas claimed that this order , in which they were ranked first , was divinely ordained , while placing groups classified as Shudras and "untouchables " at the very bottom of the social order .
The " right "occupation
- The Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras also contained rules about the ideal "occupations " of the four categories or varans .
- Brahmanas were supposed to study and teach the Vedas , perform sacrifices and get sacrifices performed , and give and receive gifts .
- Kshatriyas wee to engage in warfare , protect people and administer justice , study the Vedas , get sacrifices performed , and make gifts.
- The last three "occupations " were also assigned to the Vaishyas , who were in addition expected to engage in agriculture , pastoralism and trade .
- Surdas were assigned only one occupation that of serving the three "higher" varnas .
- The Brahmanas evolved two or three strategies for enforcing these norms.
- One , was to assert that the varna order was of divine origin .
- Second , they advised kings to ensure that these norms were followed within their kingdoms .
- Third , they attempted to persuade people that their status was determined by birth .
Non - Kshatriya kings
- According to the Shastras , only Kshatriyas could be kings
- The social background of the Mauryas , who ruled over a large empire , has been hotly debated.
- The best known ruler of the Satavahana dynasty , Gotami - puta Siri - satakani , claimed to be both a unique Brahmans and a destroyer of the pride of kshatriyas .
- The Satavahanas claimed to be Brahmanas , whereas according to the Brahmanas , kings ought to have been Kshatriya .
Jatis and social mobility
- These complexities are reflected in another term used in texts to refer to social categories - jati .
- In Brahmanical theory , jati , like varna , was based on birth .
- Jatis which shared a common occupation or profession were sometimes organised into shrenis or guilds.
- the inscription provides a fascinating glimpse of complex social processes and provides insights into the nature of guilds or shernis .
Beyond the four varnas
Subordination and conflict
- The Brahmans considered some people as being outside the system , they also developed a sharper social divided by classifying certain social categories as "untouchable"
- in sharp contrast to the purity aspect , some activities were regarded as particularly "Polluting ".
- The Manusmriti laid down the "duties " of the Chandalas .
- They had to live outside the village , use discarded utensils , and wear clothes of the dead and ornaments of iron .Thy could not walk about in village and cities at night .
Beyond Birth resources and status
Gendered access to property
- During the course of the long - drawn rivalry between the kauravas and the pandavas .
- Duryodhana invited yudhisthira to a game of dice .
- According to the Manusmriti , the paternal estate was to be divided equally amongst sons after the death of the parents , with a special share for the eldest .
Varna and access to property
- According to the Brahmanical texts , another criterion for regulating access to wealth was varna.
- The wealthiest men would have been the Brahmanas and the Kshatriya .
- Kings are almost invariably depicted as wealthy : priests are also generally shown to be rich , though there are occasional depictions of the poor Brahmans .
- The Buddhists recognized that there were differences in society , but did not regard these as natural or inflexible .
An alternative social scenario :
sharing wealth
- Once area where these values values were cherished was ancient Taklamakan , where , as we saw earlier , there were several chiefdom around 2000 years ago .
- The chiefs wee patrons of bards and poets who sang their praise.
- poem included in the Tamil Sangam anthologies often illuminate social and economic relationship , suggesting that while there were differences between rich and poor .
Explaining social differences:
Asocial contract
- The Buddhist also developed an alternative understanding of social inequalities , and of the institutions required to regulate social conflict .
- In a myth found in a text known as the Sutta pitaka they suggested that originally human being did not have fully evolved bodily forms , nor was the world of plants fully developed .
Handling texts Historians and the Mahabharata
- They examine whether texts were written in Prakrit , pali or Tamil , languages that were probably used by ordinary people ,or in Sanskrit , a language meant almost exclusively for priests and elites .
- They also consider the kinds of text.
- This is a particularly difficult task for a text as complex as the Mahabharata .
language and content
- The contents of the present text under two broad heads - sections that contain stories , designated as the narrative , and sections that contain prescriptions about social norms , designated as didactic .
- The text is described as an itihasa within early Sanskrit tradition .
- The literal meaning of the term is "thus it was " which is why it is generally translated as "history".
Author(s) and dates
- The original story was probably composed by charioteer - bards known as sutas who generally accompanied Kshatriya warriors to the battlefield and composed poems celebrating their victories circulated orally .
- From the 5th century BCE , Brahmanas took over the story and began to commit it to writing .
- The another phase in the composition of the text between c. 200 BCE and 200 CE.
The search for Convergence
- The Mahabharata , likely any major epic , contains vivid descriptions of battles , forests , palaces and settlements .
- In 1951- 52 , the archaeologist B.B. lal excavated at a village named Hastinapur in meerut .
- Lal found evidence of five occupational levels, of which the second and third are of interest to us.
- Houses of this period were built of mud brick as well as burnt bricks .
- One of the most challenging episodes in the Mahabharata is Draupadi's marriage with the pandavas .
A Dynamic text
- The growth of the Mahabharata did not stop with the Sanskrit version .
- Over the centuries , versions of the epic were written in a variety of languages through as ongoing process of dialogue between peoples , communities ,and those who wrote the texts .
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Class 12 History