12 chap 3

Kinship Caste and Class

We looked at economic, political history, different perspectives, now we study the people, what they composed for whom.

V S Sukhtankar 1919-66 47 critical edition of Mahabharata

• Sanskrit versions had common elements
• regional variations in others (shows thousand years of dominant traditions vs local practices)
• Pali prakrit and Tamil works indicated ideas contained in normative Sanskrit texts were on the whole recognized as authoritative, they were questioned and occasionally even rejected

Mahabharata was meant to be a narrative, didactic portions were probably added later, no evidence but it's called an itihasa

• probably made originally by charioteer bards
• perhaps new kings wanted itihasa to be recorded more systematically by brahmans
• Vishnu worship rises, then addition of didactic sections resembling manusmriti
• BB Lal excavated hastinapur 1951-52

Family

do they see cousins and blood relations or not

• Patriliny from Mahabharata - kauravas and pandavas of the Kurus, patrilineal succession was proclaimed (was the quarrel justified or unjust?)
• shows up in rgveda

• not always followed, sometimes brothers or even daughters like Prabhavati Gupta

• exogamy, origin of kanyadana

• dharma, manusmriti: 8 forms of marriages

• members of same gotra could not marry

• satavahanas at times didn't follow brahmanical rule of females taking up husbands gotra name, they kept Gotama and Vasistha Gotra name. Also endogamy among kinfolk for close-knit groups

• Satavahana rulers identified metronomic, but succession patrilineal

Draupadis question to yudhishthir, were women men's property?

3 different explanations for draupadis wedding to them 5, why?

• poly andry fell into disfavour amongst the Brahmanas who reworked and developed the text throughout the centuries
• Historians: prevalent in Himalyan region, shortage of women during times of warfare, attributed to situation of crisis

Varna

Brahmanas strategies for enforcing Varna norms:

• divine origin claim
• advised kings to ensure that these norms were followed in their kingdoms
• persuade people that their status was determined by birth (reinforced by stories, purusha shukta from rgveda)

What message was eklavyas story?

Adi parvan Hidimba story - What could she be referring to as my kins? (endogamy basically)

Brahmanical sources call Mauryas of low origin, shungas and kanvas were Brahmanas, but political power was open to all
Shakas were mlechhas (Rudradaman rebuilt Sudarshana lake,
Satavahana: Gotami putra brahmana, destroyed kshtriya pride, prevented intermarriage
So no they weren't following exogamous system and there were brahman rulers not just kshatriyas

any new group was a new jati (organised into srenis or guilds), based on their occupation if it didn't fit varnas

but probs in this classification, in mrichchchakatika by shudraka, hero charudatta was both brahman and sarthavaha (merchant)

Mandasor stone inscription (MP)
silk weavers from Lata Gujarat ...

• membership based on shared craft specialisation
• some members adopted other occupations
• they collectively decided to invest their wealth earned through their craft, to construct a temple for sun god

any outsider is uncivilized, if can't fit within framework, mlechchas, the notion of untouchability formed here.

• Manusmriti laid down duties of chandalas, discarded utensils, not walk in villages, in cities only in daylight
• Fa Xian, sound a clapper in streets
• Xuan Xang: forced to live outside the city

Property

Gendered access to acquiring wealth, stridhana, manusmrati inheritance, yudhistras stake

varnasradharma was to make Kshatriyas and Brahmanas wealthy, Buddhism and Jainism opposed ideas of claims to status on the basis of birth