● Historians often use textual traditions to understand
the changes in economic and political life processes.
● Mahabharata is a colossal epic consisting of over
100,000 verses that depicts wide range of social
categories and situations.
● It was composed over a period of about 1000
years (c. 500 BCE onwards) and some of the
stories it contains may have been in circulation
even earlier.
The Critical Edition of the Mahabharata
● VS Sukthankar, an Indian Sanskrit Scholar, initiated the task of preparing a critical edition of the Mahabharata. The project took 47 years to complete.
● Two things became apparent from this. Firstly, there were several common elements in the Sanskrit versions of the story. It was evident in manuscripts found all over the sub-continent, from Kashmir and Nepal in the North to Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the South. Secondly, there was enormous regional variation in the text.
Kinship and Marriage : Many Rules and
Varied Practices
Finding Out About Families
● Families are usually parts of larger networks of people. The term kinfolk is used for these networks of relatives.
● Familial ties are often regarded as ‘natural’ and based on blood. For instance, some societies regard cousins as being blood relations, whereas others do not.
The Ideal of Patriliny
● The Mahabharata is a story about changing kinship relations. It describes a feud over land and power between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas. They belonged to a single ruling family, i.e. the Kurus, a lineage dominating one of the
janapadas.
The Limitations of Inscriptional Evidence
● Sometimes, there are technical limitations of inscriptional evidence such as sometimes letters are very faintly engraved, and thus reconstructions are uncertain.
● Besides, it is not always easy to be sure about the exact meaning of the words used in inscriptions.
● Although, several thousand inscriptions have been discovered but not all have been deciphered, published and translated.
● The central story of the Mahabharata reinforced that the idea of patriliny was valuable. Under patriliny, sons could claim the resources (including the throne in the case of Kings) of their fathers when the latter died.
● Patriliny is evident in mantras in ritual texts such as the Rigveda.
Rules of Marriage
Sons were important for the continuity of the patrilineage. Daughters had no claims to the resources of the household. Marrying them into families outside the kin was considered desirable. This system is called exogamy (literally, marrying outside). Girls and women
who belonged to high status were ensured that they would get married at right time and to right person. 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
● From c. 1000 BCE onwards, people (especially
Brahmanas) were classified in terms of gotras.
● Each gotra was named after a Vedic seer (sage), and all those who belonged to the same gotra were regarded as his descendants.
● Two rules about gotra were particularly important.
First, women were expected to give up their father’s gotra and adopt that of their husbands on marriage and second, members of the same gotra could not marry.
Importance of Mother
● Satavahana rulers were identified throughm etronymics (names derived from that of them Mother). This practice reflected the presence of matriliny. However, the succession to the throne was generally patrilineal.
Social Differences Within and Beyond the
Framework of Caste
● The term caste refers to a set of order of social categories in rank. This order was laid down in the Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras.
● Brahmana claimed to be on the top while the shudras were kept at the bottom.
The ‘Right’ Occupation
● The Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras contained rules about the ideal ‘occupations’ of the four categories or varnas.
● Brahmanas were supposed to study and teach the Vedas.
● Kshatriyas were to engage in warfare, protect people and administer justice.
● Vaishayas, were to engage in agriculture,
pastoralism and trade.
● Shudras were assigned only one occupation that was serving the three ‘higher’ varnas.
Non-Kshatriya Kings
● According to the Shastras, only Kshatriyas could be kings. However, several important ruling lineages probably had different origins.
● Buddhist texts suggested that Mauryas were
Kshatriyas but Brahmanical texts described them as being of low origin.
● The Shungas and Kanvas, the immediate
successors of the Mauryas, were Brahmanas.
● Other rulers, such as the Shakas who came from Central Asia, were regarded as mlechchhas, barbarians or outsiders by the Brahmanas.
Jatis and Social Mobility
● In Brahmanical theory, jati like varna, was based on birth. While the number of varnas was fixed at four, there was no restriction on the number of jatis.
● People living in forests such as the nishadas
goldsmith (suvarnakara), were classified as jati by Brahmanical authorities as they did not easily fit into the fourfold varna system.
Beyond the Four Varnas : Integration
● There were some communities whose social
practices were not influenced by Brahmanical ideas.
For example, categories such as the nishada, to
which Ekalavya belonged.
● Sometimes those who spoke non-Sanskritic
languages were labelled as mlechchhas. Beyond the Four Varnas Subordination and Conflict
● The Brahmanas considered some people as being outside the system and classified them as untouchable.
● The Manusmriti laid down the ‘duties’ of the
chandalas. They had to live outside the village, use discarded things, and wear clothes of the dead and ornaments of iron.
Control Over Resources and Status
Gendered Access to Property
● 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.
● Women were allowed to retain the gifts they received on the occasion of their marriage as stridhana (literally, a woman’s wealth).
Varna and Access to Property
● According to the Brahminical texts, another criterion (apart from gender) for regulating access to wealth was varna.
● The only ‘occupation’ prescribed for Shudraswas servitude, while a variety of occupations were listed for men of the first three varnas.
An Alternative Social Scenario :
Sharing Wealth
● In an alternative scenario to the varna system, people either claimed or were assigned status on the basis of their wealth.
● There were other situations where men who were generous were respected, while those who were miserly or simply accumulated wealth for themselves were disliked.
Explaining Social Differences:
A Social Contract
● The Buddhists also developed an alternative
understanding of social inequalities and institutions required to regulate social conflict.
● According to a myth in Sutta Pitaka, they suggested that human beings initially had not fully evolved bodily forms and the world of plants was also not fully developed. Human beings lived in a state of peace.
● There was a gradual deterioration of this state as human beings became increasingly greedy, vindictive and deceitful.
● Subsequently they developed a notion of kingship based on human choice with taxes as a form of payment for services rendered by the king.
Handling Texts : Historians and the
Mahabharata.
● Historians examine whether texts were written in Prakrit, Pali or Tamil, (the languages that were probably used by ordinary people) or in Sanskrit.
Language and Content
● The version of the Mahabharata is in Sanskrit (although there are versions in other languages as well).
● Historians usually classify the contents of the present text under two broad heads. These are sections that contain stories, designated as the narrative and sections that contain prescriptions about social norms, designated as didactic.
Author(s) and Dates
● The original story of Mahabharata was probably composed by charioteer bard known as sutas who generally accompanied Kshatriya warriors.
● Then with the emergence of chiefdoms such as Kurus and Panchalas, Brahmanas took over the story and began to commit it to writing.
● In the next phase between C 200 BCE to 200 CE, the growing importance of worship of Lord Vishnu led to the identification of Lord Krishna (one of the important figure in the epic) with him.
● Subsequently, between C 200 and 400 CE, large didactic sections resembling the Manusmriti was added.
The Search for Convergence
● The Mahabharata, like any major epic, contains vivid descriptions of battles, forests, palaces and settlements.
● In 1951-52, the archaeologist BB Lal excavated a site at a village, named Hastinapura in Meerut district.
● Lal found evidence of fine occupational levels but he described only the second and third level.These levels were about the architecture of the houses.
A Dynamic Text (Mahabharata)
● The Mahabharata can be considered as a dynamic text. It is being written over a span of time and the growth of the Mahabharata did not stop with the Sanskrit version.
● Over the centuries, many 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.
