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Theme 3 Kinship, Caste and Class Early Societies (C. 600 BCE-600 CE) -…
Theme 3
Kinship, Caste and Class
Early Societies
(C. 600 BCE-600 CE)
3. Social Differences: Within and Beyond the Framework of Caste
3.5 Beyond the four varnas - Subordination and conflict
Xuan Zang
- 700 CE - Observed that chandalas were made to live outside the village
Manusmriti
laid down the duties of chandalas
pure vs untouchables (polluting people)
Chandalas
decribed as polluting
Fa Xian
- 500 CE - wrote about clapper sounds of chandalas on streets
3.4 Beyond the four varnas: Integration
Forest nomads
Nishada - Ekalayva belonged to this community
3.1 The “right” occupation
“Proper” social roles
Example : Drona-Arjuna-Elakavya
A divine order?
"Purusha sukta"
of Rigveda- parts of body where all born.
Brahmanas
- Vedas(study/teach), sacrifices.
Kshatriyas
- War, justice, Vedas(study), sacrifices, gifts.
Vysyas
- Vedas(study), sacrifices, gifts.
Shudras
- Serve other three.
"Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras"
- rules - ideal
“occupations”
of
4 varnas
.
3.2 Non-Kshatriya kings
"Mauryas"
- origin is debated.
"Shakas"
-
mlechchhas
, described as barbarians or outsiders by brahmanas.
(Eg) Rudradaman - Best known Shaka ruler
"Gotami-puta Siri-Satakani"
- Satavaha dynasty - described as brahmin awa "destroyer of kshathriyas"
3.3 Jatis and social mobility
No restriction on the no. of JATIs. - Unlike Varnas
Inscription (c. fifth century CE), found in Mandasor (MP) - silk workers migration
2. Kinship and Marriage - Many Rules and Varied Practices
2.5 Where mothers important?
Satavaha rulers followed
metronymics
(names derived from that of
the mother).
But throne succession is patrilineal
2.4 The gotra of women
Two Rules:-
1) Give up father's gothra and adopt husband's
2) Should not marry within own gothra
Satavanahas followed polygyny.
Same gothra women were also married.
2.1 Finding out about families
Sanskrit texts use
"kula" - designate families
"jnati" - larger nw of kinfolk
"vamsha" - lineage :star: :star:
"kinfolk" technical term for families or relatived :star:
2.2 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. :star:
Mentioned in Mahabharatha and Rigveda.
(Eg) Producing “fine sons” with grace of Indra -
Rigveda
Might have been shared by wealthy men and Brahamanas
2.3 Rules of marriage
Types of Marriages:
Endogamy
2.Exogamy
3.Polygyny
4.Polyandry :star:
Exogamy mostly desirable.
Concept of "
Kanyadhana
" emerged :star:
"
Dharmasutras and Dharmasashthras
" compiled by Brahmanas (From 500 BCE).
"
Manusmriti
" is most important of it (200 BCE - 200 CE)
8 forms of marriage:
first 4 are good. Others condemn-able.
1. The Critical Edition of the Mahabharata
Sanskritist, V.S. Sukthankar and his team converted manuscripts to text in 1919
several volumes and 13,000 pages
47 years to complete
4. Beyond Birth - Resources and Status
4.3 An alternative social scenario: Sharing wealth
Ancient Tamilakam - Sangam literature - encouraged sharing of wealth by rich
4.2 Varna and access to property
Mostly Kshatriyas and Brahmanas were rich.
As per Brahmnical texts,
Varna
is also a criteria for property access
4.1 Gendered access to property
Manusmriti encouraged patriarchy with only
"Stridhana
" to women
Duryodhana, Yudhisthira - Draupati story
5. Explaining Social Differences: A Social Contract
"Sutta Pitaka" - Myth that human beings did not have fully evolved bodily forms.
6. Handling Texts : Historians and the Mahabharata
6.3 The search for convergence
Historians suggesstions about
polyandry
:-
Darupati's marriage
- exaggerated - author explained in many ways the same thing
Archaeologist B.B.Lal excavated a village named
Hasthinapura
in UP.
Found that it might have been Kurus' capital
6.1 Language and content
Classified into
1) Narrative
2) Didactic
Mahabharatha is considered as "Ithihasa" which is "Thus it was"
6.2 Author(s) and dates
7. A Dynamic Text
Being sanskrit the created language, translated in to many local languages.
Different interpretations with story telling and bypassing