Kinship, Caste and Class

Early Society Societies

(C. 600 BCE-600 CE)
• Changes in economic and political life between c. 600 BCE and 600 CE
➢ The extension of agriculture into forested areas transformed the lives of forest
dwellers;
➢ Craft specialists often emerged as distinct social groups;
➢ The unequal distribution of wealth sharpened social differences.

Social situation

1. Kinship and Marriage Many Rules and Varied Practices

• Terms for family and kin Sanskrit texts use the term kula to designate families and jnati
for the larger network of kinfolk. The term vamsha is used for lineage.
• Family
➢ Meaning
✓ Families are usually parts of larger networks of people defined as
relatives, or to use a more technical term, kinfolk.
➢ Features
✓ People belonging to the same family share food and other resources,
and live, work and perform rituals together.
✓ While familial ties are often regarded as “natural” and based on blood,
they are defined in many different ways. For instance, some societies
regard cousins as being blood relations, whereas others do not.
➢ Types
1) Elite families/ ordinary people
✓ Historians can retrieve information about elite families fairly easily;
it is, however, far more difficult to reconstruct the familial
relationships of ordinary people.
✓ Historians also investigate and analyse attitudes towards family
and kinship. These are important, because they provide an insight
into people’s thinking; it is likely that some of these ideas would
have shaped their actions, just as actions may have led to changes
in attitudes.

2. The ideal of patriliny

• Patriliny means tracing descent from father to son, grandson and so on. Matriliny is the
term used when descent is traced through the mother.
• Case study - the Mahabharata
1) 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 (Chapter 2, Map 1). Ultimately,
the conflict ended in a battle, in which the Pandavas emerged victorious. After that,
patrilineal succession was proclaimed.
 2) The central story of the Mahabharata reinforced the idea of patriliny which was
valuable Under which, patriliny, sons could claim the resources (including the
throne in the case of kings) of their fathers when the latter died.
3) While sons were important for the continuity of the patrilineage, daughters were
viewed rather differently within this framework. They had no claims to the
resources of the household.

• Some exception
1) Most ruling dynasties (c. sixth century BCE onwards) claimed to follow this system,
although there were variations in practice: sometimes there were no sons, in some
situations brothers succeeded one another, sometimes other kinsmen claimed the
throne, and, in very exceptional circumstances, women such as Prabhavati Gupta
(Chapter 2) exercised power.
2) The concern with patriliny was not unique to ruling families. It is evident in
mantras in ritual texts such as the Rigveda. It is possible that these attitudes were
shared by wealthy men and those who claimed high status, including Brahmanas.

3. Dharmasutras, Dharmashastras and Manusmriti

• With the emergence of new towns (Chapter 2), social life became more complex.
People from near and far met to buy and sell their products and share ideas in the urban
milieu.
➢ This may have led to a questioning of earlier beliefs and practices (see also
Chapter 4). Faced with this challenge, the Brahmanas responded by laying
down codes of social behaviour in great detail.
➢ These were meant to be followed by Brahmanas in particular and the rest of
society in general.
➢ 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.

• Some exception
➢ While the Brahmana authors of these texts claimed that their point of view had
universal validity and that what they prescribed had to be obeyed by
everybody, it is likely that real social relations were more complicated.
➢ Besides, given the regional diversity within the subcontinent and the difficulties
of communication, the influence of Brahmanas was by no means all-pervasive.

• Case Study- Marriage

1) Types of marriages

➢ On the basis of kin relationship

✓ Endogamy refers to marriage within a unit – this could be a kin group, caste,
or a group living in the same locality.

✓ Exogamy refers to marriage outside the unit. Polygyny is the practice of a

man having several wives.
 ❖ This system, called exogamy (literally, marrying outside), meant
that the lives of young girls and women belonging to families that
claimed high status were often carefully regulated to ensure that
they were married at the “right” time and to the “right” person.
❖ This gave rise to the belief that kanyadana or the gift of a daughter
in marriage was an important religious duty of the father.

✓ Polyandry is the practice of a woman having several husbands.

➢ On the basis of method

❖ The Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras recognised as many as
eight forms of marriage. Of these, the first four were considered as
“good” while the remaining were condemned. It is possible that
these were practised by those who did not accept Brahmanical
norms.
❖ Eight forms of marriage Here are the first, fourth, fifth and sixth
forms of marriage from the Manusmriti:
✓ First: 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.
✓ Fourth: 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.
✓ Fifth: 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.
✓ Sixth: The voluntary union of a maiden and her lover …
which springs from desire …

4. The gotra
• Meaning
✓ One Brahmanical practice, evident from c. 1000 BCE onwards, was to classify
people (especially Brahmanas) 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.

• Rules of Gotra
✓ Women were expected to give up their father’s gotra and adopt that of their
husband on marriage.
✓ Members of the same gotra could not marry.
✓ One way to find out whether this was commonly followed is to consider the
names of men and women, which were sometimes derived from gotra names.

• Case study- The Satavahanas

➢ These names are available for powerful ruling lineages such as the
Satavahanas who ruled over parts of western India and the Deccan (c.
second century BCE-second century CE). Several of their inscriptions have
been recovered, which allow historians to trace family ties, including
marriages.

➢ Some important or exception

✓ Some of the Satavahana rulers were polygynous (that is, had more
than one wife). 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.
✓ They evidently retained these names instead of adopting names
derived from their husband’s gotra name as they were required to
do according to the Brahmanical rules.
✓ What is also apparent is that some of these women belonged to
the same gotra. As is obvious, this ran counter to the ideal of
exogamy recommended in the Brahmanical texts.
❖ In fact, it exemplified an alternative practice, that of
endogamy or marriage within the kin group, which was
(and is) prevalent amongst several communities in south
India. Such marriages amongst kinfolk (such as cousins)
ensured a close-knit community.

➢ Were mothers important?

✓ We have seen that Satavahana rulers were identified through
metronymics (names derived from that of the mother).
✓ Although this may suggest that mothers were important, we need
to be cautious before we arrive at any conclusion. In the case of the
 Satavahanas we know that succession to the throne was generally
patrilineal.

✓ A mother’s advice- The Mahabharata describes how, when war

between the Kauravas and the Pandavas became almost inevitable,
Gandhari made one last appeal to her eldest son Duryodhana:

By making peace you honour your father and me, as well as your
well-wishers … it is the wise man in control of his senses who
guards his kingdom. Greed and anger drag a man away from his
profits; by defeating these two enemies a king conquers the
earth … You will happily enjoy the earth, my son, along with the
wise and heroic Pandavas … There is no good in a war, no law
(dharma) and profit (artha), let alone happiness; nor is there
(necessarily) victory in the end – don’t set your mind on war …
Duryodhana did not listen to this advice and fought and lost the
war.

Does this passage give you an idea about the way in which
mothers were viewed in early Indian societies?

Varna System

• Meaning
➢ According to Hinduism all the followers of Hinduism are divided in four
group called Varna.

• Features
1. A divine order
➢ 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.
➢ To justify their claims, Brahmanas often cited a verse from a hymn in the
Rigveda known as the Purusha sukta, describing the sacrifice of Purusha,
the primeval man.
✓ All the elements of the universe, including the four social
categories, were supposed to have emanated from his body:
✓ The Brahmana was his mouth, of his arms was made the Kshatriya.
His thighs became the Vaishya, of his feet the Shudra was born.

2. Positions within the order were supposedly determined by birth.

3. The “right” occupation/duties

➢ The Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras contained rules about the ideal
“occupations” of the four categories or varnas.
 1) Brahmanas were supposed to study and teach the Vedas, perform sacrifices
and get sacrifices performed, and give and receive gifts.
2) Kshatriyas were to engage in warfare, protect people and administer
justice, study the Vedas, get sacrifices performed, and make gifts.
3) The last three “occupations” were also assigned to the Vaishyas, who were
in addition expected to engage in agriculture, pastoralism and trade.
4) Shudras were assigned only one occupation – that of serving the three
“higher” varnas.

4. Status of occupation
1) Certain activities, especially those connected with the performance of
rituals, were sacred and by extension “pure”.
2) Those who considered themselves pure avoided taking food from those
they designated as “untouchable”.
3) In sharp contrast to the purity aspect, some activities were regarded as
particularly “polluting”. These included handling corpses and dead animals.

• Strategies for enforcing these norms

1) One was to assert that the varna order was of divine origin.
2) Second, they advised kings to ensure that these norms were followed within
their kingdoms.
3) third, they attempted to persuade people that their status was determined by
birth. However, this was not always easy. So prescriptions were often reinforced
by stories told in the Mahabharata and other texts.
4) Case study- “Proper” social roles Here is a story from the Adi Parvan of the
Mahabharata:

Once Drona, a Brahmana who taught archery to the Kuru princes, was approached by
Ekalavya, a forestdwelling nishada (a hunting community). When Drona, who knew the
dharma, refused to have him as his pupil, Ekalavya returned to the forest, prepared an image
of Drona out of clay, and treating it as his teacher, began to practise on his own. In due course,
he acquired great skill in archery. One day, the Kuru princes went hunting and their dog,
wandering in the woods, came upon Ekalavya. When the dog smelt the dark nishada wrapped
in black deer skin, his body caked with dirt, it began to bark. Annoyed, Ekalavya shot seven
arrows into its mouth. When the dog returned to the Pandavas, they were amazed at this
superb display of archery. They tracked down Ekalavya, who introduced himself as a pupil of
Drona.
Drona had once told his favourite student Arjuna, that he would be unrivalled amongst his
pupils. Arjuna now reminded Drona about this. Drona approached Ekalavya, who immediately
acknowledged and honoured him as his teacher. When Drona demanded his right thumb as his
fee, Ekalavya unhesitatingly cut it off and offered it. But thereafter, when he shot with his
remaining fingers, he was no longer as fast as he had been before. Thus, Drona kept his word:
no one was better than Arjuna.
• Some Exceptional Cases of Varna System

1. Non-Kshatriya kings
➢ According to the Shastras, only Kshatriyas could be kings. However, several
important ruling lineages probably had different origins.
1) The social background of the Mauryas, who ruled over a large empire, has
been hotly debated. While later Buddhist texts suggested they were
Kshatriyas, Brahmanical texts described them as being of “low” origin.
2) The Shungas and Kanvas, the immediate successors of the Mauryas, were
Brahmanas.
3) Other rulers, such as the Shakas who came from Central Asia, were
regarded as mlechchhas, barbarians or outsiders by the Brahmanas.
✓ However, one of the earliest inscriptions in Sanskrit describes how
Rudradaman, the best-known Shaka ruler (c. second century CE),
rebuilt Sudarshana lake (Chapter 2).
✓ This suggests that powerful mlechchhas were familiar with
Sanskritic traditions.
4) It is also interesting that the best-known ruler of the Satavahana dynasty,
Gotami-puta Siri-Satakani, claimed to be both a unique Brahmana (eka
bamhana) and a destroyer of the pride of Kshatriyas.
✓ He also claimed to have ensured that there was no intermarriage
amongst members of the four varnas. At the same time, he
entered into a marriage alliance with the kin of Rudradaman.

5) In fact, political power was effectively open to anyone who could muster
support and resources, and rarely depended on birth as a Kshatriya.

6) Shudraka (c. fourth century CE), Here, the hero Charudatta was described
as both a Brahmana and a sarthavaha or merchant And a fifth-century
inscription describes two brothers who made a donation for the
construction of a temple as kshatriya-vaniks.

2. Jatis and social mobility

• Meaning
➢ The term caste, which refers to a set of hierarchically ordered social categories.
The ideal order was laid down in the Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras.
➢ Jatis which shared a common occupation or profession were sometimes
organised into shrenis or guilds.
• Varna and Jati
➢ In Brahmanical theory, jati, like varna, was based on birth. However, while the
number of varnas was fixed at four, there was no restriction on the number of
jatis.
• Importance of jati system for Brahmanical authorities
➢ Whenever Brahmanical authorities encountered new groups – for instance,
people living in forests such as the nishadas – or wanted to assign a name to
 occupational categories such as the goldsmith or suvarnakara, which did not
easily fit into the fourfold varna system, they classified them as a jati.

• Jatis and Guild system

➢ Jatis which shared a common occupation or profession were sometimes
organised into shrenis or guilds.
➢ Case Study- stone inscription (c. fifth century CE), found in Mandasor (Madhya
Pradesh)
➢ One interesting stone inscription (c. fifth century CE), found in Mandasor
(Madhya Pradesh), records the history of a guild of silk weavers who originally
lived in Lata (Gujarat), from where they migrated to Mandasor, then known as
Dashapura.
✓ It states that they undertook the difficult journey along with their
children and kinfolk, as they had heard about the greatness of the
local king, and wanted to settle in his kingdom.

➢ Importance of stone inscription (c. fifth century CE), found in Mandasor

1) The inscription provides a fascinating glimpse of complex social
processes and provides insights into the nature of guilds or
shrenis.
2) Although membership was based on a shared craft
specialisation, some members adopted other occupations.
3) It also indicates that the members shared more than a
common profession – they collectively decided to invest their
wealth, earned through their craft, to construct a splendid
temple in honour of the sun god.

Beyond the four varnas Integration

1. Description of in Brahmanical literature

➢ Populations whose social practices were not influenced by Brahmanical ideas.
are figure in Sanskrit texts.
➢ They are often described as odd, uncivilised, or even animal-like. In some
instances, these included forest-dwellers – for whom hunting and gathering
remained an important means of subsistence.
✓ Categories such as the nishada, to which Ekalavya is supposed to
have belonged, are examples of this.
➢ Sometimes those who spoke non-Sanskritic languages were labelled as
mlechchhas and looked down upon. There was nonetheless also a sharing of
ideas and beliefs between non-Brahmanical and Brahmanical society.

➢ Case study - A tiger-like husband This is a summary of a story from the Adi
Parvan of the Mahabharata:
The Pandavas had fled into the forest. They were tired and fell asleep; only
Bhima, the second Pandava, renowned for his prowess, was keeping watch.
A man-eating rakshasa caught the scent of the Pandavas and sent his sister
Hidimba to capture them. She fell in love with Bhima, transformed herself
 into a lovely maiden and proposed to him. He refused. Meanwhile, the
rakshasa arrived and challenged Bhima to a wrestling match. Bhima
accepted the challenge and killed him. The others woke up hearing the
noise. Hidimba introduced herself, and declared her love for Bhima. She told
Kunti: “I have forsaken my friends, my dharma and my kin; and good lady,
chosen your tiger-like son for my man … whether you think me a fool, or
your devoted servant, let me join you, great lady, with your son as my
husband.”
Ultimately, Yudhisthira agreed to the marriage on condition that they would
spend the day together but that Bhima would return every night. The couple
roamed all over the world during the day. In due course Hidimba gave birth
to a rakshasa boy named Ghatotkacha. Then the mother and son left the
Pandavas. Ghatotkacha promised to return to the Pandavas whenever they
needed him.
Some historians suggest that the term rakshasa is used to describe people
whose practices differed from those laid down in Brahmanical texts.

Beyond the four varnas - Subordination and conflict

• Brahman believed that certain activities, especially those connected with the
performance of rituals, were sacred and by extension “pure”.
➢ Those who considered themselves pure avoided taking food from those they
designated as “untouchable”.
➢ In sharp contrast to the purity aspect, some activities were regarded as
particularly “polluting”. These included handling corpses and dead animals.

➢ Case study :- chandalas

✓ Those handling corpses and dead animals designated as chandalas,

were placed at the very bottom of the hierarchy.
✓ Their touch and, in some cases, even seeing them was regarded as
“polluting” by those who claimed to be at the top of the social
order.

• View related to Chandalas

1. Brahmanical view
➢ 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. They could not walk about in villages and cities at night.
They had to dispose of the bodies of those who had no relatives and serve as
executioners.
2. Chinese Buddhist view
➢ Much later, the Chinese Buddhist monk Fa Xian (c. fifth century CE) wrote that
“untouchables” had to sound a clapper in the streets so that people could avoid
seeing them.
➢ Another Chinese pilgrim, Xuan Zang (c. seventh century), observed that
executioners and scavengers were forced to live outside the city.
 ➢ By examining non-Brahmanical texts which depict the lives of chandalas,
historians have tried to find out whether chandalas accepted the life of
degradation prescribed in the Shastras. (The Bodhisatta as a chandala)
➢ Did chandalas resist the attempts to push them to the bottom of the social
order? Read this story, which is part of the Matanga Jataka, a Pali text, where
the Bodhisatta (the Buddha in a previous birth) is identified as a chandala.

Once, the Bodhisatta was born outside the city of Banaras as a chandala’s son
and named Matanga. One day, when he had gone to the city on some work,
he encountered Dittha Mangalika, the daughter of a merchant. When she saw
him, she exclaimed “I have seen something inauspicious” and washed her
eyes. The angry hangers-on then beat him up. In protest, he went and lay
down at the door of her father’s house. On the seventh day they brought out
the girl and gave her to him. She carried the starving Matanga back to the
chandala settlement.
Once he returned home, he decided to renounce the world. After attaining
spiritual powers, he returned to Banaras and married her. A son named
Mandavya Kumara was born to them. He learnt the three Vedas as he grew up
and began to provide food to 16,000 Brahmanas every day.
One day, Matanga, dressed in rags, with a clay alms bowl in his hand, arrived
at his son’s doorstep and begged for food. Mandavya replied that he looked
like an outcaste and was unworthy of alms; the food was meant for the
Brahmanas. Matanga said: “Those who are proud of their birth and are
ignorant do not deserve gifts. On the contrary, those who are free from vices
are worthy of offerings.” Mandavya lost his temper and asked his servants to
throw the man out. Matanga rose in the air and disappeared. When Dittha
Mangalika learnt about the incident, she followed Matanga and begged his
forgiveness. He asked her to take a bit of the leftover from his bowl and give it
to Mandavya and the Brahmanas …

Beyond Birth Resources and Status

• We will examine the social implications of access to resources in certain specific
situations.

A. Gendered access to property

1) Norms related to women

a) Cumulative evidence – both epigraphic and textual – suggests that while upper-
class women may have had access to resources, land, cattle and money were
generally controlled by men.
✓ In other words, social differences between men and women were
sharpened because of the differences in access to resources.

b) 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. Women
could not claim a share of these resources.
 c) However, women were allowed to retain the gifts they received on the occasion of
their marriage as stridhana (literally, a woman’s wealth). This could be inherited by
their children, without the husband having any claim on it.
d) At the same time, the Manusmriti warned women against hoarding family property,
or even their own valuables, without the husband’s permission (the Vakataka queen
Prabhavati Gupta (Chapter 2)).

• Case study : Draupadi’s question

➢ Consider first a critical episode in the Mahabharata. During the course of the long-
drawn rivalry between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, Duryodhana invited Yudhisthira
to a game of dice.
✓ The latter, who was deceived by his rival, 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 and lost her too. Issues of
ownership, foregrounded in stories such as this one (Source 11), also figure
in the Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras.

2) How could men and women acquire wealth?

❖ For men, the Manusmriti declares, there are seven means
of acquiring wealth: inheritance, finding, purchase,
conquest, investment, work, and acceptance of gifts from
good people.
❖ For women, there are six means of acquiring wealth: what
was given in front of the fire (marriage) or the bridal
procession, or as a token of affection, and what she got
from her brother, mother or father. She could also acquire
wealth through any subsequent gift and whatever her
“affectionate” husband might give her.

B. Varna and access to property

➢ According to Brahmanical point of view

1) According to the Brahmanical texts, another criterion (apart from gender) for regulating
access to wealth was varna.
✓ The only “occupation” prescribed for Shudras was servitude, while a variety of
occupations were listed for men of the first three varnas.
✓ If these provisions were actually implemented, the wealthiest men would have
been the Brahmanas and the Kshatriyas.
❖ That this corresponded to some extent with social realities is evident
from descriptions of priests and kings in other textual traditions.
❖ Kings are almost invariably depicted as wealthy; priests are also
generally shown to be rich, though there are occasional depictions of
the poor Brahmana.
➢ According to Buddhist point of view
1) Buddhist traditions developed critiques of the varna order. Some of the best-known of
these were developed within early Buddhism (c. sixth century BCE onwards; see also
Chapter 4).
2) The Buddhists recognised that there were differences in society, but did not regard
these as natural or inflexible. They also rejected the idea of claims to status on the basis
of birth.

C. An alternative social scenario: Sharing wealth

• Tamilakam, where there were several chiefdoms around 2,000 years ago. Amongst
other things, the chiefs were patrons of bards and poets who sang their praise. Poems
included in the Tamil Sangam anthologies often illuminate social and economic
relationships, suggesting that while there were differences between rich and poor,
those who controlled resources were also expected to share them.
The Mahabharata

1. Language
➢ The version of the Mahabharata we have been considering is in Sanskrit (although there
are versions in other languages as well).
➢ However, the Sanskrit used in the Mahabharata is far simpler than that of the Vedas, or
of the prashastis discussed in Chapter 2. As such, it was probably widely understood.

2. Content
➢ Historians usually classify 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 (Fig. 3.8 Krishna advises
Arjuna on the battlefield).
➢ This division is by no means watertight – the didactic sections include stories, and the
narrative often contains a social message.
➢ However, generally historians agree that the Mahabharata was meant to be a dramatic,
moving story, and that the didactic portions were probably added later.

3. Author(s)
➢ Who wrote the text? This is a question to which there are several answers.
1) 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 and other achievements. These compositions circulated
orally.
2) Then, from the fifth century BCE, Brahmanas took over the story and began to
commit it to writing. This was the time when chiefdoms such as those of the Kurus
and Panchalas, around whom the story of the epic revolves, were gradually
becoming kingdoms.
4. Date
➢ We notice another phase in the composition of the text between c. 200 BCE and 200
CE. This was the period when the worship of Vishnu was growing in importance, and
Krishna, one of the important figures of the epic, was coming to be identified with
Vishnu.
➢ Subsequently, between c. 200 and 400 CE , large didactic sections resembling the
Manusmriti were added. With these additions, a text which initially perhaps had less
than 10,000 verses grew to comprise about 100,000 verses.

➢ This enormous composition is traditionally attributed to a sage named Vyasa. Lord

Ganesha the scribe According to tradition, Vyasa dictated the text to the deity.

5. Reality and Mahabharata

A. Archaeological point of view v/s textual point of view

➢ Hastinapura is the city, which is described in the Adi Parvan of the Mahabharata: 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.

➢ In 1951-52, the archaeologist B.B. Lal excavated at a village named Hastinapura in

Meerut (Uttar Pradesh). While the similarity in names could be coincidental, the
location of the site in the Upper Ganga doab, where the Kuru kingdom was situated,
suggests that it may have been the capital of the Kurus mentioned in the text.

➢ Lal found evidence of five occupational levels, of which the second and third are of
interest to us.

✓ This is what Lal noted about the houses in the second phase ( c. twelfth-seventh
centuries BCE): “Within the limited area excavated, no definite plans of houses
were obtained, but walls of mud and mud-bricks were duly encountered. The
discovery of mud-plaster with prominent reed-marks suggested that some of
the houses had reed walls plastered over with mud.”
✓ For the third phase (c. sixth-third centuries BCE), he noted: “Houses of this
period were built of mud-brick as well as burnt bricks. Soakage jars and brick
drains were used for draining out refuse water, while terracotta ring-wells may
have been used both as wells and drainage pits.”

➢ Conclusion
1) Was the description of the city in the epic added after the main narrative had
been composed, when (after the sixth century BCE) urban centres flourished in
the region?
2) Or was it a flight of poetic fancy, which cannot always be verified by
comparisons with other kinds of evidence?

B. On the basis of Social Norms

➢ Draupadi’s marriage with the Pandavas
Drupada, the king of Panchala, organised a competition where the challenge was to string a
bow and hit a target; the winner would be chosen to marry his daughter Draupadi. Arjuna
was victorious and was garlanded by Draupadi. The Pandavas returned with her to their
mother Kunti, who, even before she saw them, asked them to share whatever they had got.
She realised her mistake when she saw Draupadi, but her command could not be violated.
After much deliberation, Yudhisthira decided that Draupadi would be their common wife.

When Drupada was told about this, he protested. However, the seer Vyasa arrived and told
him that the Pandavas were in reality incarnations of Indra, whose wife had been reborn as
Draupadi, and they were thus destined for each other.

Vyasa added that in another instance a young woman had prayed to Shiva for a husband,
and in her enthusiasm, had prayed five times instead of once. This woman was now reborn
as Draupadi, and Shiva had fulfilled her prayers. Convinced by these stories, Drupada
consented to the marriage.

• If we examine the section of the epic that describes this event, it is evident that the
author(s) attempted to explain it in a variety of ways. Why do you think the author(s)
offered three explanations for a single episode?
1) Present-day historians suggest that the fact that the author(s) describe a polyandrous
union indicates that polyandry may have been prevalent amongst ruling elites at some
point of time.
✓ At the same time, the fact that so many different explanations are offered for
the episode (Source 16) suggests that polyandry gradually fell into disfavour
amongst the Brahmanas, who reworked and developed the text through the
centuries.

2) Some historians note that while the practice of polyandry may have seemed unusual or
even undesirable from the Brahmanical point of view, it was (and is) prevalent in the
Himalayan region.

3) Others suggest that there may have been a shortage of women during times of warfare,
and this led to polyandry. In other words, it was attributed to a situation of crisis.

4) Some early sources suggest that polyandry was not the only or even the most prevalent
form of marriage. We need to remember that creative literature often has its own
narrative requirements and does not always literally reflect social realities.

Mahabharata as a Dynamic Text

1) In focusing on the Mahabharata, a colossal epic running in its present form into over
100,000 verses with depictions of a wide range of social categories and situations, we
draw on one of the richest texts of the subcontinent.
✓ It was composed over a period of about 1,000 years (c. 500 BCE onwards), and
some of the stories it contains may have been in circulation even earlier.
 2) 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 an ongoing
process of dialogue between peoples, communities, and those who wrote the texts.

3) Several stories that originated in specific regions or circulated amongst certain people
found their way into the epic.

4) At the same time, the central story of the epic was often retold in different ways. And
episodes were depicted in sculpture and painting.

5) They also provided themes for a wide range of performing arts – plays, dance and other
kinds of narrations.

The Critical Edition of the Mahabharata

a) The task of preparing a critical edition of the Mahabharata.

➢ One of the most ambitious projects of scholarship began in 1919, under the
leadership of a noted Indian Sanskritist, V.S. Sukthankar.
➢ A team comprising dozens of scholars initiated the task of preparing a critical
edition of the Mahabharata.

b) Method
➢ Initially, it meant collecting Sanskrit manuscripts of the text, written in a variety of
scripts, from different parts of the country and comparing verses from each
manuscript.
➢ Ultimately, they selected the verses that appeared common to most versions and
published these in several volumes, running into over 13,000 pages. The project
took 47 years to complete.

c) What was the Result

1. There were several common elements in the Sanskrit versions of the story, evident
in manuscripts found all over the subcontinent, from Kashmir and Nepal in the
north to Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the south.
2. Also evident were enormous regional variations in the ways in which the text had
been transmitted over the centuries.
✓ These variations were documented in footnotes and appendices to the main
text. Taken together, more than half the 13,000 pages are devoted to these
variations.

d) How the variation are useful for us?

1) These variations are reflective of the complex processes that shaped early (and
later) social histories – through dialogues between dominant traditions and
resilient local ideas and practices.
2) These dialogues are characterised by moments of conflict as well as consensus.
 e) But as a historian, don’t forget
1) Our understanding of these processes is derived primarily from texts written in
Sanskrit by and for Brahmanas.
➢ When issues of social history were explored for the first time by
historians in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, they tended to
take these texts at face value – believing that everything that was laid
down in these texts was actually practised.

2) Subsequently, scholars began studying other traditions, from works in Pali,

Prakrit and Tamil.
3) These studies indicated that the ideas contained in normative Sanskrit texts
were on the whole recognised as authoritative: they were also questioned and
occasionally even rejected. It is important to keep this in mind as we examine
how historians reconstruct social histories.

f) Historians and the Mahabharata

1) Historians 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.
2) They also consider the kinds of text. Were these mantras, learnt and chanted by
ritual specialists, or stories that people could have read, or heard, and then retold
if they found them interesting?
3) Besides, they try to find out about the author(s) whose perspectives and ideas
shaped the text, as well as the intended audience, as, very often, authors keep the
interests of their audience in mind while composing their work.
4) And they try and ascertain the possible date of the composition or compilation of
the texts as well as the place where they may have been composed. It is only after
making these assessments that they draw on the content of texts to arrive at an
understanding of their historical significance.

Short story titled “Kunti O Nishadi”, by Mahashweta Devi

In her short story titled “Kunti O Nishadi”, Mahashweta Devi takes up the narrative from where
the Mahabharata ends it. She sets the story in a forest, where Kunti retires after the war.

Kunti now has time to reflect on her past, and often confesses to
what she regards as her failings, talking with the earth, the symbol
of nature. Every day she sees the nishadas who come to collect
wood, honey, tubers and roots. One nishadi (a nishada woman)
often listens to Kunti when she talks with the earth.

One day, there was something in the air; the animals were fleeing
the forest. Kunti noticed that the nishadi was watching her, and was
 startled when she spoke to her and asked if she remembered the
house of lac. Yes, Kunti said, she did. Did she remember a certain
elderly nishadi and her five young sons? And that she had served
them wine till they were senseless, while she escaped with her own
sons? That nishadi … “Not you!” Kunti exclaimed. The nishadi replied
that the woman who was killed had been her mother-in-law. She
added that while Kunti had been reflecting on her past, not once did
she remember the six innocent lives that were lost because she had
wanted to save herself and her sons. As they spoke, the flames drew
nearer. The nishadi escaped to safety, but Kunti remained where she
was.

• In this particular instance, she works out alternative possibilities from the main story of
the Mahabharata and draws attention to questions on which the Sanskrit text is silent.