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53

In the previous chapter we saw that there were severalchanges in economic and poli t ical l i fe between c. 600BCE and 600 CE . Some of th ese changes in flu enced societ iesas well . For instance, the extension of agriculture into

forested areas transformed the lives of forest dwellers;craft specialists often emerged as distinct social groups;the unequa l d is t r ibu t ion o f wea l th sharpened soc ia ldifferences.

H is to r ians o f ten use tex tua l

t rad i t i ons to unde rs tand theseprocesses. Some texts lay downnorms of social behaviour; othersdescribe and occasionally commenton a wide range of social sit uations

and practices. We can also catch aglimpse of some social actors from

inscriptions. As we will see, eachtext (and inscription) was writtenfrom the perspective of specific

social categories. So we need tokeep in mind w hocomposed whatand for whom. We also need toconsider the language used, andthe ways i n wh i ch the tex t

circulated. Used carefully, texts allow us to piece togetherattitudes and practices that shaped social histories.

In focusing on the Mahabharata, a colossal epic running

in it s present form in to over 100,000 verses with depicti onsof a wide range of social categories and situations, we draw

on one of the richest texts of the subcontinent. It wascomposed over a period of about 1,000 years (c. 500 BCEonwards), and some of the stories it contains may havebeen in circulation even earlier. The central story is abouttwo sets of warring cousins. The text also contains sections

laying down norms of behaviour for various social groups.Occasionally (though not always), the principal charactersseem to follow these norms. What does conformity withnorms and deviations from them signify?

THEME TWO K in s h ip, C ast e an d C l as sEarEarEarEarEar lllll y S o c iey S o c iey S o c iey S o c iey S o c ie t iest iest iest iest ies

(((((CCCCC. 6 0 0. 6 0 0. 6 0 0. 6 0 0. 6 0 0 B C EB C EB C EB C EB C E-6 0 06 0 06 0 06 0 06 0 0 C EC EC EC EC E )))))

THEME

THREE

Fig. 3.1

A terracotta sculpturedepicting a scene fromth e Mahabharata

(West Bengal),c. seventeenth century

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THEMESIN INDIAN H ISTORY54

1. Th e Cr it ic a l Ed it io n o f t h eMah abh ar a t a

One of the most ambitious projects of scholarshipbegan i n 1919, under the leadersh ip of a noted IndianSanskri t ist, V.S. Sukthankar. A team comprising

dozens of scholars initiated the task of preparing acritical edition of the Mahabharata. What exactly didthis involve? Initially, it meant collecting Sanskritmanuscr ip ts of the text , wr i t ten in a var ie ty o fscripts, from different parts of the country.

The team worked out a method of comparing

verses f rom each manuscr ip t . U l t imate ly , theyselected the verses that appeared common to mostversions and published these in several volumes,running into over 13,000 pages. The project took 47

years t o complete. Two th ings became apparent : t herewere several common elements in the Sanskri tversions of the story, evident in manuscripts foundall over the subcontinent, from Kashmir and Nepalin the north to Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the south.

Also evident were enormous regional variations inthe ways in which the text had been transmitted

over the cen tu r ies . These var ia t ions weredocumented in footnotes and appendices to the maintext. Taken togeth er, m ore th an half th e 13,000 pages

are devoted to these variations.In a sense, these variations are reflective of the

complex processes that shaped early (and later)soc ia l h is to r ies th rough d ia logues be tweendominant traditions and resi l ient local ideas and

practices. These dialogues are characterised bymoments of conflict as well as consensus.

Our understanding of these processes is derivedprimarily from texts written in Sanskrit by and forBrahmanas . When issues of social h istory wereexplored for the f i rs t t ime by h is tor ians in thenineteenth and twentieth centuries, they tended totake these texts at face value bel ieving thateverything that was laid down in these texts wasactually practised. Subsequently, scholars beganstudying other traditions, from works in Pali, Prakritand Tamil. These studies indicated that the ideascontained in normative Sanskrit texts were on thewhole recognised as authoritative: they were alsoquestioned and occasionally even rejected. It is

important to keep this in mind as we examine howhistorians reconstruct social histories.

Fig. 3.2

A section of a page from the CriticalEdition

The section printed in large boldletters is part of the main text.The smaller print lists variations

in different manuscripts, whichwere carefully catalogued.

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55

2 . K insh ip and Mar r iageM an y Ru l es an d Va r ied Pr a c t ic e s

2.1 Finding out about fami l iesWe often take family life for granted. However, youmay have noticed that not all families are identical:they vary in terms of numbers of members, theirrelationship with one another as well as the kinds

of activities they share. Often people belonging tothe same family share food and other resources,and li ve, work and perform ri tu als togeth er. Fami liesare usual ly par ts o f larger networks of peopledefined as relati ves, or t o use a more techn ical t erm ,

kinfolk. While famil ial t ies are often regarded asnatural and based on blood, they are defined inmany different ways. For instance, some societiesregard cousins as being blood relations, whereasothers do not.

For ear l y soc ie t ies , h is to r ians can re t r ieveinformation about elite families fairly easily; it is,however, far more difficult to reconstr uct th e familialrelationships of ordinary people. Historians also

investigate and analyse attitudes towards family and

kinship. These are important, because they providean insight into peoples thinking; i t is l ikely thatsome of these ideas would have shaped their actions,just as act ions may have led to changes in at t itudes.

2.2 The ideal of patr i l inyCan we iden t i fy po in ts when k insh ip re la t ions

changed? At one level, the Mahabharata is a storyabout this. It describes a feud over land and powerbetween two groups of cousins, the Kauravas andth e Pandavas, who belonged t o a single ru lin g family,that of the Kurus, a lineage dominating one of the

j anapad as (Chapter 2 , Map 1) . U l t imate ly , theconflict ended in a battle, in which the Pandavasemerged victorious. After that, patrilineal successionwas proclaimed. While patriliny had existed prior tothe composition of the epic, the central story of the

Mahabharata reinforced the idea that it was valuable.Under patr i l iny, sons could claim the resources(including the throne in the case of kings) of theirfathers when the latter died.

Most ru ling dynasties (c. sixth centu ry BCE onwards)

claimed to follow this system, although there were

variati ons in practice: someti mes there were no sons,

Terms for family

and k in

Sanskrit texts use the term kulato designate families and jnati

for the larger n etwo rk of kinfolk.

The term vamsha is used for

lineage.

Patrilinymeans tr acing descentfrom father to son, grandson

and so on.Matrilinyis th e term used when

descent is traced through the

mother.

KINSHIP, CASTEAND CL ASS

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in some situations brothers succeeded one another,

sometimes other kinsmen claimed the throne, and,

in very exceptional circumstances, women such asPrabhavati Gupta (Chapter 2) exercised power.

The concern with patril iny was not unique to ru lingfamilies. It is evident in mantras in ritual texts such

as the Rigveda. It is possible that these attitudeswere shared by wealthy men and those who claimedhigh status, including Brahmanas.

Producing f ine sons

Here is an e xcerp t of a ma ntra from th e Rigveda, which wa s proba bly insertedin the te xt c. 1000 BCE, to be cha nted by the p riest while con ducting the ma rriageritual. It is used in ma ny Hind u we dd ings even toda y:

I free he r from h ere , but no t from th ere . I have bo und he r firmly there , so

that thro ugh th e grace of Ind ra she will ha ve fine sons and be fortun ate inhe r husban ds love.

Indra was one of the principal deities , a god of valour, warfare and rain.

Here and there refer to the fathe rs and hu sband s hou se respectively.

In t he context of the mantr a, discuss th e impl ications of marr iage

from the point of view of the bride and groom. Are th e implications

ident ical, or are there differences?

Source 1

Sketch map not to scale

KURU

Indraprastha

SHURASENA

MathuraVirata

MATSYA

Ujjayini

AVANTI

Hastinapura

VATSA

Kaushambi

KOSHALA

Shravasti

Ayodhya

SarnathVaranasi

Bodh Gaya

Kushinagara

MALLA

SAKYA

Lumbini

Kapilavastu

Pava

Vaishali

Ganga

Yamuna

Map 1The Kuru Panchala region and neighbouring areas

Pataliputra

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57

W h y k i n f o l k q u a r r e l l ed

This is an e xcer pt from the Adi Parvan (literally, the firstsection) of the Sanskrit Mahabharata, describing why

con flicts arose am ongst the Kaura vas and Panda vas:

The Kaura vas were the sons of Dhritarashtra, an dthe Panda vas were the ir cousins. Since Dhritarashtra

was blind, h is youn ger brother Pand u a scend ed the

thron e o f Hastinap ura (see Map 1) However, afterthe prem ature d eath o f Pandu, Dhritarashtra beca me

king, a s the ro yal princ es we re still very youn g. As theprinces grew u p to gethe r, the c itizen s of Hastina pura

began to express their preference for the Pandavas,

for they were more capable and virtuous than theKauravas. This made Duryodhana, the eldest of the

Kaura vas, jealous. He ap proac hed his father and said,You yourself did n ot receive the throne , although it

fell to you, because of your defect. If the Pandava

rece ives the p atrimon y from Pand u, his son will surelyinherit it in turn, and so will his son, and his. We

ourselves with ou r sons shall be excluded from the ro yalsuccession a nd be com e o f slight regard in the e yes of

the wo rld, lord of the e arth!

Passages such as these m ay not have b ee n literally true ,but they give us an idea ab out what those who wrote the

text thought. Sometimes, as in this case, they contain

con flicting idea s.

2.3 Rules of marriageWhile sons were important for the continuity of thepat r i l i neage, daughters were v iewed ra therdifferently wit hin th is framework. They had no claims

to the resources of the household. At the same time,marrying them into fami l ies outside the kin wasconsidered desirable. This system, called exogamy(literally, marrying outside), meant that the lives ofyoung girls and women belonging to families that

claimed high status were often carefully regulatedto ensure that they were married at the right timeand to the right person. This gave rise to the beliefthat kanyadanaor the gift of a daughter in marriagewas an important religious duty of the father.

With the emergence of new towns (Chapter 2),

social life became more complex. People from near

Types o f m arr iages

Endogamyrefers to m arriagewithin a un it this could be akin group, caste, or a group

living in the sa me loca lity.

Exogamy refers to marriage

ou tside the un it.

Polygyny is the pract ice of

a m an having several wives.

Polyandry is the practice ofa w o m a n h a v i n g s e v e r a l

husbands.

Source 2


Read the passage and li stth e different crit eri a suggestedfor becomi ng k ing. Of these,

how import ant was birth in a

particu lar family? Which ofth ese crit eri a seem justified?

Are there any th at str ike youas un just?

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Eight forms of marr iage

Here are the first, fourth, fifth

and sixth forms of marriage

from the Manusmriti:

First: The gift of a d au ghte r,after dressing her in costly

clothes and honouring her

with presents of jewels, to

a m a n l e a r n e d i n t h e

Ve d a w h o m t h e f a t h e rhimself invites.

Four th : The g i f t o f a

dau ghter by the fathe r after

he ha s addressed the couple

with the text, May both ofyou per form your dut ies

together, and has shown

hono ur to the bridegroom.

Fifth: When the bridegroom

receives a maiden, after having

given as much wealth as he

can a fford to the kinsmen and

to the bride he rself, accord ing

to h is own will.

Sixth: The voluntary union

of a maiden and her lover

which spr ings f romde sire

and far met to buy and sell their products and shareideas in the urban milieu. This may have led to aquestioning of earlier beliefs and practices (see also

Chap te r 4 ) . Faced w i th th i s cha l l enge , theBrahmanasresponded by laying down codes of socialbehaviour in great detail. These were meant to befollowed by Brahmanas in particular and the rest ofsociety in general. From c. 500 BCE , t hese norm s were

c o m p i l e d i n S a n s k r i t t e x t s k n o w n a s t h eDharmasu t ras and Dharmashast ras . The mostimpor tan t o f such wo rks , the Manusmri t i , wascompiled between c. 200 BCE and 200 CE.

Wh i le the Brahmana au thors o f these tex tsclaimed that th eir point of view had u niversal validit yand that what they prescribed had to be obeyed byeverybody, it is likely that real social relations weremore compl icated. Besides, g iven the reg ionaldiversity within the subcontinent and the difficulties

of communication, the influence of Brahmanas wasby no means all-pervasive.

What is interesting is that the Dharmasutrasan dDharmashastrasrecognised as many as eight formsof marriage. Of these, the first four were considered

as good while the remaining were condemned. It ispossible that these were practised by those who didnot accept Brahmanical norms.

2.4 The gotra of womenOne Brahmanical practice, evident from c. 1000 BCEonwards, was to c lass i fy people (especia l ly

Brahm anas) in terms of gotras. Each gotrawas namedafter a Vedic seer, and all those who belonged to thesame gotra were regarded as his descendants. Tworu les about gotra were pa r t i cu l a r l y impo r tan t :women were expected to give up their fathers gotra

and adopt that of their husband on marriage andmembers of the same gotracould not marry.

One way to find out whether this was commonlyfollowed i s to consider the names of men and women,which were sometimes derived from gotra names.

These names are avai lab le for powerfu l ru l inglineages such as the Satavahanas who ruled overparts of western India and the Deccan (c. secondcentury BCE -second century CE). Several of theirinscr ip t ions have been recovered, which a l low

historians to trace family ties, including marriages.

Source 3

For each of th e form s,

discuss whether th edecision about th e

marr iage was taken by(a) th e br ide,

(b) th e bridegroom,(c) th e fath er of th e bride,

(d) the father of the

bridegroom,(e) any ot her person.

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59

N ames o f S a t av ah an a k i n g s

f r o m i n s c r i p t i o n s

The se a r e the na m e s o f s e ve r a l ge ne r a t ions o f Satavahana rulers, recovered from inscriptions. Note

the uniform title raja. Also note the following word,which end s with the term puta, a Prakrit word mea ning

son. The term Gotami-puta means son of Gotami.

Nam es like Gotam i and Vasithi are feminine forms ofGotama an d Vasistha, Ved ic seers after who m gotras

were named .

r a j a G o t a m i -p u t a S i r i- Sa t a k a n i

r a j a Vas i th i - p u t a ( sam i -) S i r i- Pu lu m ay i

r a j a G o t am i -p u ta s am i -S i r i-Yan a- Sa t ak an i

r a j a M a d h a r i - p u t a s v a m i -S a k a s e n a

r a ja Va s a t h i -p u t a C h a t a r a p a n a - Sa t a k a n i

r a j a H ar i t i -p u t a V i n h u k a d aC h u t u k u l a n a m d a - S a t a k a m n i

r a j a G o ta m i -p u ta S i r i-Vi jay a - Sa t a k an i

Fig. 3.3A Satavahana ruler and his w ifeThis is one of the rare sculptural

depictions of a ruler from the wallof a cave donated to Buddhist

monks. This sculpture dates toc. second century BCE.

Metronym ics in th e

Upanishads

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad,

one of the earliest Upanishads

(see also Chap ter 4), contains alist of successive generations of

teache rs and stude nts, many ofw h o m w e r e d e s i g n a t e d b y

metronymics.

Source 4

How many Gotami -pu tas and

how many Vasith i (alternat ive

spelli ng Vasath i)-putas are th ere?


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Some of the Satavahana rulers were polygynous(that is, had more than one wife). An examination ofthe names of women who married Satavahana rulers

indicates that many of them had names derived fromgotras such as Gotama and Vasistha, their fathersgotras. They evidently retained these names insteadof adopting names derived from their husbands gotraname as they were required to do according to the

Brahmanical rules. What is also apparent is thatsome of these women belonged to the same gotra. Asis obvious, this ran counter to the ideal of exogamyrecommended in the Brahmanical texts. In fact, it

exemplified an alternative practice, that of endogamyor marriage within the kin group, which was (andis) prevalent amongst several communities in southIndia. Such marr iages amongst kinfolk (such ascousins) ensured a close-knit community.

It is lik ely th at th ere were variations in other part s

of the subcontinent as well, but as yet it has notbeen possible to reconstruct specific details.

2.5 Were mothers important?We have seen that Satavahana rulers were identifiedthrough metronymics (names derived from that ofth e mother). Alth ough th is may suggest t hat mothers

were important, we need to be cautious before wea r r i ve a t any conc lus ion . In the case o f theSatavahanas we know that succession to the thronewas generally patrilineal.

Discuss...How are children namedtoday? Are these ways ofnaming similar to or different

from those described in this

section?

Does th is passage give

you an idea abou t t he

way in wh ich motherswere viewed in earl y

Indian societies?

Fig. 3.4

A battle sceneThis is amongst the earliest sculptural depictions of ascene from the Mahabharata, a terracotta sculpture from

the walls of a temple in Ahichchhatra (Uttar Pradesh),c. f i fth centu ry CE.

A mother s adv ice

The Mahabharatade scribes how,when wa r between the Kauravas

a n d t h e P a n d a v a s b e c a m e

a lmost inevi tab le , Gandhar imade one last appeal to her

eldest son Duryodhana :

By making peace you hono uryour father and me, as well

as your well-wishers it isthe wise m an in co ntrol of his

se nse s who gua r ds h i s

kingdom. Greed and angerdrag a man away from his

profits; by defeating thesetwo ene mies a king conq uers

the ea rth You will hap pily

enjoy the ea r th , my son ,a long wi th the w i se a nd

he roic Pand avas The re isno good in a war , no law

(dharma) and profit (artha),let alone happiness; nor isthe re (ne ce ssarily) victory in

the e nd dont set you r mindon war

Duryodha na d id no t listen to

this ad vice a nd fough t and lostthe war.

Source 5

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61

Why do you t hin k th e

Brahm anas quoted th is

verse frequentl y?

3 . So c ia l Dif f er en c es :W it h in a n d B eyo n d t h e Fr a mew o r ko f Cast e

You are probably famili ar wit h th e term caste, whichrefers to a set o f h ierarch ica l ly ordered socia l

categories. The ideal order was laid down in theDharmasutras and Dharmashastras . Brahmanasclaimed that this order, in which they were rankedfirst, was divinely ordained, while placing groupsclassified as Shudrasand u ntouchables at t he very

bottom of the social order. Positions within the order

were supposedly determined by birth.

3.1 The r ight occupat ionTh e D h a r m a s u t r a s a n d D h a r m a s h a s t r a s alsocontained rules about the ideal occupations of thefour categories or varnas. Brahmanaswere supposedto study and teach the Vedas, perform sacrifices and

get sacrifices performed, and give and receive gifts.Kshatriyas were to engage in warfare, protect peopleand admin i s te r j us t i ce , s tudy the Vedas , ge tsacrifices performed, and make gifts. The last three

occupations were also assigned to the Vaishyas ,who were in add i t ion expected to engage inagriculture, pastoral ism and trade. Shudras wereassigned only one occupation that of serving thethree higher varnas.

The Brahmanas evolved two or three strategiesfor enforcing these norms. One, as we have just seen,was to assert that the varna order was of divineorigin. Second, they advised kings to ensure thatthese norms were followed within their kingdoms.

And third, they attempted to persuade people thattheir status was determined by birth. However, this

was not always easy. So prescriptions were oftenreinforced by stories told in the Mahabharata andother texts.

A d iv ine o rder?

To just ify their c la ims,

Brahmanas often cited a versefrom a hymn in the Rigveda

known as the Purusha sukta,

de sc r ib ing the s a c r i f i c e o f

Purusha, the p rimeval man . All

the elements of the universe,inc lud ing the f ou r soc ia l

categories, were supposed to

have e mana ted from his bod y:T h e B r a h m a n a w a s h i s

mouth, of his arms was mad e

the Ksha triya.

His th ighs be c a m e the

Vaishya , of h is fee t the

Shudra was born.

Source 6


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What m essage do you thi nk

th is story was meant to convey

to the nishadas?What message wou ld it conveyto Kshatr iyas?

Do you thi nk th at Drona, as aBrahm ana, was actin g

accordin g to th e Dharm asut ras

when h e was teachin g archery?

Source 7

Proper soc ia l ro l es

Here is a story from the Adi Parva nof the Mahabharata:

Once Dron a, a Brahma na who taught archery to the

Kuru princes, was app roac he d b y Ekalavya, a forest-

dwelling nishada(a hun ting comm unity). When Drona ,who knew the dharma, refused to ha ve him as his pupil,

Ekalavya return ed to the forest, prepare d an image o fDrona ou t of clay, and treating it as his tea che r, bega n

to practise on his own. In due course, he acquired

grea t skill in arch ery. One d ay, the Kuru p rince s wen thun ting and the ir dog, wande ring in the woo ds, came

upon Ekalavya. When the d og smelt the d arknishadawrap ped in b lack de er skin, his body caked w ith d irt,

it be gan to bark. Annoyed, Ekalavya shot seven arrows

into its mou th. When the dog returne d to the Panda vas,they were ama zed at this supe rb d isplay of archery.

They tracked dow n Ekalavya, wh o introdu ced himselfas a pu pil of Drona .

Drona had once told his favourite student Arjuna,

that h e wo uld be un rivalled amo ngst his pupils. Arjuna

now reminded Drona ab out this. Drona appro ache dEka lavya , who immedia te ly acknowledged and

honou red him as his teacher. When Drona deman dedhis right thum b a s his fee , Ekalavya un he sitatingly cu t

it off an d o ffere d it. But th ere after, whe n he sho t withhis remaining fingers, he w as no longer a s fast as he

had bee n be fore. Thus, Drona kept his word: no o ne

was better than Arjuna.

3.2 Non-Kshatr iya k ingsAccording to the Shastras, only Kshatriyas could be

kings. However, several important ruling lineagesprobably had different origins. The social backgroun dof the Mauryas, who ruled over a large empire, has

been hot ly debated. Whi le la ter Buddhist textssuggested they were Kshatriyas, Brahmanical textsdescribed th em as being of l ow origin. The Shu ngasand Kanvas, the immedia te successors o f theMauryas, were Brahmanas. In fact, political power

was effectively open to anyone who could mustersupport and resources, and rarely depended on birthas a Kshatriya.

Other ru lers, such as the Shakas who camefrom Central Asia, were regarded as mlechchhas,

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63

barbarians or outsiders by the Brahmanas. However,one of the earliest inscriptions in Sanskrit describeshow Rudradaman, the best-known Shaka ru ler

(c. second century CE) , rebui l t Sudarshana lake(Chapter 2). This suggests that powerful mlechchhaswere familiar with Sanskritic traditions.

It is also interesting that the best-known ruler ofth e Satavahana dynasty, Gotami -pu ta Siri -Satakani ,

c l a imed to be bo th a un ique Brahmana (ek abamhana) and a destroyer of the pride of Kshatriyas.He also claimed to have ensured that there was nointermarriage amongst members of the four varnas.

At the same time, he entered into a marriage alliancewith the kin of Rudradaman.

As you can see from this example, integrationw i th i n the f ramework o f cas te was o f ten acomplicated process. The Satavahanas claimed tobe Brahmanas , whereas acco rd ing to the

Brahmanas, kings ought to have been Kshatriyas.They claimed to uphold the fourfold varnaorder, butent ered in to m arr iage alli ances wit h people who weresupposed to be excluded from the system. And, aswe have seen, they practised endogamy instead of

the exogamous sys tem recommended in theBrahmanical texts.

3.3 Ja t i s and social mobi l i t yThese complexities are reflected in another term usedin texts to re fer to socia l categor ies j a t i . I nBrahmanical theory, jati, l ike varna, was based on

bir th . However, whil e th e nu mber of varnaswas fixedat four, there was no restriction on the number ofjat is. In fact, whenever Brahmanical authori t iesencountered new groups for instance, people livingin forests such as the nishadas or wanted to assign

a name to occupational categories such as thegoldsmith or suvarnakara, which did not easily fitinto the fourfold varna system, they classified themas a ja ti. Jatis which shared a common occupationor profession were sometimes organised into shrenis

or guilds.We seldom come across documents that record

the h i s to r i es o f these g roups . Bu t the re a reexcept ions. One in teresti ng stone inscript ion (c. fifthcentury CE), found in Mandasor (Madhya Pradesh),

records the history of a guild of silk weavers who

originally l ived in Lata (Gujarat), from where they

Fig. 3.5

Silver coin depicting a Shaka ruler,c. fourth centuryCE


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migrated to Mandasor, then known as Dashapura.It states that they undertook the diff icult journeyalong with their children and kinfolk, as they had

heard about the greatness of the local king, andwanted to settle in his kingdom.

The inscription provides a fascinating glimpse ofcomplex social processes and provides insights intoth e natu re of gu ilds or shrenis. Alth ough membership

was based on a shared craft specialisation, somemembers adopted other occupati ons. It also indicatesthat the members shared more than a commonprofession they collectively decided to invest their

wealth, earned through their craft, to construct asplendid temple in honour of the sun god.

W h at t h e s i l k w eav e r s d i d

Here is an excerpt f rom the inscr ipt ion, which isin San skrit:

Some are inten sely attach ed to mu sic (so) pleasing to

the ear; others, being proud of (the authorship of) a

hundred excellent biographies, are conversant withwo nd erful tales; (othe rs), filled w ith hu mility, a reabsorbe d in excellen t religious discourses; some e xcel

in the ir own religious rites; likewise by others, who were

self-possessed, the science of (Vedic) astronomy wasmastered; and others, valorous in battle, even today

forcibly cau se harm to the en em ies.

3.4 Beyond the four varnas: Integration

Given the diversity of the subcontinent, there were,and always have been, populations whose social

practices were not influenced by Brahmanical ideas.When they figure in Sanskrit texts, they are oftendescribed as odd, uncivilised, or even animal-like.

In some instances, these included forest-dwellers fo r whom hunt ing and ga ther ing remained animportant means of subsistence. Categories suchas the nishada, to which Ekalavya is supposed tohave belonged, are examples of this.

Others who were viewed with suspicion includedpopulations such as nomadic pastoralists, who couldnot be easily accommodated within the frameworkof settled agriculturists. Sometimes those who spokenon-Sanskr i t i c languages were labe l led as

Th e case of th e

m e r c h a n t s

Sanskrit texts and inscriptionsused the term vanik to de signate

merchants . While trade wasdefined as an occupation for

Vaishyas in the Shastras , a

m or e c om ple x s i tua t ion i sevident in plays such as the

Mrichchhakat ika wri t ten by

Shudraka (c. fourth c entury CE),Here, the hero Charudatta was

described as both a Brahmanaand a sarthavahaor merchant

And a fifth-century inscriptiondescr ibes two brothers who

m a d e a d o n a t i o n f o r t h e

cons t ruc t ion of a temple askshatriya-vaniks.

Source 8

Do you th ink the silk

weavers were followin g the

occupation laid down for t hem

in th e Shastr as?

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65

mlechchhas and looked down upon. There wasnonetheless also a sharing of ideas and beliefsbetween these people. The nature of relations is

evident in some stories in the Mahabharata.

A t iger - l i ke husband

This is a sum ma ry of a story from the Adi Parva nof the

Mahabharata:

The Pandavas ha d 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 rakshasacaught the scent of the Pand avasand sen t his sister Hidimba to ca pture them . She fell in

love with Bhima, transformed herself into a lovely

maiden a nd p roposed to him. He refused. Meanwhile,th e rakshasa arrived and challenged Bhima to a

wrestling match. Bhima accepted the challenge andkilled him. The others woke up hearing the noise.

Hidimba introduce d herself, and declared her love for

Bhima. She told Kunti: I have forsaken my friends,my dharmaan d my kin; and good lad y, chosen you r

tiger-like son for m y man whe ther you think me afoo l, or your de voted servant, let me join you, grea t

lad y, with your son as my husban d.

Ultimate ly, Yud histhira agree d to th e m arriage oncondition that they would spend the da y together bu t

that Bhima would return every night. The couple

roame d a ll over the world d uring the da y. In d ue courseHid im ba ga ve b i r th to a r ak s h as a b o y n a m e d

Ghatotkacha. Then the mother and son lef t thePandavas. Ghatotkacha promised to return to the

Pandavas whene ver they nee ded h im.

Some historians suggest that the term rakshasais usedto de scribe p eo ple who se practices differed from th ose

laid down in Brah ma nical texts.

3.5 Beyond the four varnasSubordination and confl ict

While the Brahmanas considered some people as

being outside the system, they also developed asharper social divide by classifying certain socialcategories as untouchable. This rested on a notionthat certain activities, especially those connectedwith the performance of rituals, were sacred and by

Source 9

Ident ify t he practices

described in th is passagewhich seem non-B rahm anical.


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extension pure. Those who considered themselves

pure avoided taking food from those they designated

as untouchable. In sharp contrast to the purity

aspect , some ac t i v i t i es were regarded as

part icular ly pol lut ing. These included handl ing

corpses and dead animals. Those who performed

such tasks, 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.

Th e Manusmri t i la id down the dut ies o f thechandalas. 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

v i l lages and c i t ies at n ight .

They had to d ispose o f the

bodies of those who had no

re la t i ves and serve as

executioners. Much later, the

Ch inese Buddh i s t monk Fa

Xian (c. fifth century CE) wrote

th a t u n to u c h a b l e s h a d t o

sound a clapper in the streets

so that people could avoid seeing

them. Another Chinese pilgrim,

Xuan Zang (c. seventh centur y),

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 tofind out whether chandalas

accepted the life of degradation

prescribed in the Shastras.

Sometimes, these depictions

correspond with those in

the Brahmanical texts. But

occasionally, there are hints of

different social realities.

Fig. 3.6Depiction of a mendicant seeking

alms, stone sculpture (Gandhara)c. third century, CE

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67

Discuss...Which of the sourcesmentioned in this sectionsuggest that people followed

the occupations laid down byBrahmanas? Which sourcessuggest other possibilities?

The Bodh i sa t t a as a chandala

Did chandalasresist the attempts to push them to the

botto m o f the social orde r? Rea d this story, which is part

of the Matanga J ataka, a Pali text, where the Bod hisatta(the Budd ha in a pre vious birth) is identified as a chandala.

Once, the Bodhisatta was born outside the city of

Banara s as a chandalasson an d nam ed Matanga. Oneday, when he h ad gone to the city on some work, he

encountered Dittha Mangalika, the daughter of a

me rcha nt. Whe n she saw him, she e xclaimed I haveseen something inauspicious and washed her eyes.

The a ngry han gers-on the n be at him up. In protest, hewent an d lay down a t the d oor o f her fathers house.

On the seventh da y they brought o ut the girl and gavehe r to him. She carried the starving Matan ga ba ck to

th e chandalasettlemen t. Once he returned h ome, he

dec ided to ren oun ce the world. After attaining spiritualpowe rs, he returne d to Banaras and married her. A

son name d Mandavya Kuma ra was born to them . Helearnt the thre e Veda s as he grew u p an d b egan to

pr ovide foo d to 16,000 Brahm ana s every day.

One da y, Matan ga, dressed in rags, with a clay almsbowl in his hand, arrived at his sons doorstep and

be gged for food. Manda vya rep lied tha t he looked like

an o utcaste an d was unw orthy of alms; the food wa sme ant for the Brahm ana s. Matan ga said: Tho se who

are proud o f their birth and are ignorant do n ot deservegifts. On the con trary, those who are free from vices

are wor thy of offerings. Manda vya lost his tem pe r and

asked his servants to throw the m an out. Matanga rosein the air and disappeared. When Dittha Mangalika

lea rnt abo ut the incident, she followe d Matanga an d

be gged h is forgiveness. He a sked her to take a bit ofthe leftover from his bowl and give it to Mandavya

and the Brahma nas

Source 10

Ident ify elements in th e story t hat suggest t hat

it was writ ten from th e perspective of Matanga.


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4 . B e yo n d B ir t hR es o u r c e s a n d St a t u sI f you recal l the economic re la t ions d iscussedin Chapter 2 , you wi l l rea l ise that s laves,landless agricultural labourers, hunters, fisherfolk,

pastoralists, peasants, village headmen, craftspersons,merchants and kings emerged as social actors indi f ferent parts of the subcontinent. Their socialposi t ions were often shaped by their access toeconomic resources. Here we wi l l examine the

social implications of access to resources in certain

specific situations.

4.1 Gendered access to propertyConsider first a critical episode in the Mahabharata.During the course of the long-drawn rivalry betweenthe Kauravas and the Pandavas, Duryodhana invitedYudhisthira to a game of dice. The latter, who was

deceived by his rival, staked his gold, elephants,char io ts , s laves , a rmy, t reasury , k ingdom, theproperty of his subjects, his brothers and final lyhimself and lost all. Then he staked their common

wife Draupadi and lost her too.

Issues of ownership, foregrounded in stories suchas th is one (Source 11) , a lso f igure in theDharmasutras and Dharmashastras. According tothe 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 notclaim a share of these resources.

However, women were allowed to retain the giftsthey received on the occasion of their marriage as

stridhana (literally, a womans wealth). This couldbe inherited by their children, without the husband

hav ing any c la im on i t . A t the same t ime, theManusmriti warned women against hoarding familyproperty, or even their own valuables, without the

husbands permission.You have read about wealthy women such as the

Vakataka queen Prabhavati Gupta (Chapter 2).However, cumulative evidence both epigraphic andtextual suggests that while upper-class women

may have had access to resources, land, cattle andmoney were generally controlled by men. In otherwords, social differences between men and women

were sharpened because of the differences in accessto resources.

D r au p ad i s q u es t i o n

Draupadi is supposed to have

asked Yud histhira wh eth er h e

had lost himself before stakinghe r. Two con trary opinions were

expressed in response to this

question.

On e, th at e ven if Yud histhira

ha d lost h imself ea rlier, his wife

remained under his control, so

he co uld stake he r.

Two, tha t an u nfree m an (a s

Yud histhira w as when he had

lost himself) could not stake

another person.

The matter remained unresolved;

ultimately, Dhritarashtra restored to

the Pandavas and Draupadi their

personal freedom.

Source 11

Do you t hink that this

episode suggests th atwives cou ld be treated as

th e property of their

husbands?

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69

Ho w c o u ld m e n a n d w o m e n

a c q u i re w e a lt h ?

For men, the Manusmritideclares, there are seven mea ns

of acquiring wealth: inheritance, f inding, purchase,

con quest, investmen t, work, and a ccep tanc e of gifts fromgood people.

For wom en, the re are six me ans of acq uiring wea lth:

wha t was given in fron t of the fire (ma rriage) or the bridalproc ession, or as a token of affection, an d wh at she got

from h er b rothe r, mothe r or fathe r. She could also ac quir ewealth through any subsequent gift and whatever her

affec tion ate hu sban d might give he r.

4.2 Varna and access to propertyAcco rd ing to the B rahman i ca l tex ts , ano the rcriterion (apart from gender) for regulating accessto wealth was varna. As we saw earlier, the onlyoccupation prescribed for Shudras was servitude,

while a variety of occupations were listed for men ofthe f i rs t th ree varnas . I f these provisions wereactual ly implemented, the weal thiest men wouldhave been the Brahmanas and the Kshatriyas. Thatthis corresponded to some extent with social realities

is evident from descriptions of priests and kings inother textual traditions. Kings are almost invariablydepicted as wealthy; priests are also generally shownto be rich, though there are occasional depictions ofthe poor Brahmana.

At another level, even as the Brahmanical view ofsoc ie ty was cod i f ied in the Dharmasut ras an dD h a r m a s h a s t r a s, other t rad i t ions deve loped

critiques of the varnaorder. Some of th e best-k nownof these were developed within early Buddhism

(c. sixth century BCE onwards; see also Chapter 4).The Buddh ists recogni sed t hat th ere were differencesin society, but did not regard these as natural orinflexible. They also rejected the idea of claims tostatus on the basis of birth.

Source 12


Compare and cont rast th eways in wh ich men and

women cou ld acquir e wealth .

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T h e w e a l t h y S h u d r a

This story, ba sed on a Budd hist text in Pali kno wn as the

Majjhima Nikaya, is part of a dialogue between a king

nam ed Avantiputta an d a disciple of the Buddha nam edKach cha na. While it ma y not b e literally true, it reveals

Bud dh ist attitud es toward s varna.

Avantiputta asked Kachchana what he thought abou tBrahmanas who held that they were the best caste

and that all other castes were low; that Brahmanas

were a fair caste wh ile a ll other ca stes were da rk; thaton ly Brahm an as were pure , not non-Brahm ana s; that

Brahm ana s were sons of Brahm a, bo rn of his mouth,born of Brahm a, forme d b y Brahm a, he irs to Brahm a.

Kachch ana replied: What if a Shu dra were wealthy

would another Shudra or a Kshatriya or aBrah ma na or a Vaishya spea k politely to him?

Avantiputta replied that if a Shudra had wealth or

corn or gold or silver, he co uld have as his obe dientservant an other Shudra to get up ea rlier than h e, to

go to rest late r, to car ry out his orde rs, to speak po litely;

or he could even have a Kshatriya or a Brahman a or aVaishya a s his ob ed ient servan t.

Kach cha na a sked : This be ing so, are not the se fou r

varnasexactly the sam e?

Avantiputta con ced ed th at there was no differ enc e

amon gst the varnason this count.

4.3 An alternative social scenario:Sharing wealth

So far we have been examining situations wherepeople either claimed or were assigned status onthe basis of their wealth. However, there were otherpossibilities as well; situations where men who weregenerous were respected, while those who were

miserly or simply accumulated wealth for themselveswere despised. One area where these values werecherished was ancient Tamilakam, where, as we sawearlier (Chapter 2), there were several chiefdomsaround 2,000 years ago. Amongst other things, the

chiefs were patrons of bards and poets who sangtheir praise. Poems included in the Tamil Sangam

anthologies often i l luminate social and economic

Source 13

Read Avantiputtas first

statement again. What ar e th e

ideas in i t t hat are derived fromBrahmanical texts/ traditions?

Can you ident ify th e source ofany of th ese?

What, according to t his t ext,explains social difference?

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71

Discuss...How do social relationships operatein present-day societies? Are thereany similarities or differences with

patterns of the past?

re la t ionships, suggest ing that whi le there wered i f fe rences be tween r i ch and poor , those whocontrolled resources were also expected to share

them.

The poor generous ch ie f

In this composition from the Puranaruru, one of thean tho logies of po em s of the Tam il Sanga m litera tur e

(c. first ce ntu ry CE), a bard d escribes his patron to otherpo ets thu s :

He (i.e. the patron ) doe snt have the we alth to lavish

on othe rs everyday

Nor doe s he have the pe ttiness to say that he hasnothing and so refuse!

he lives in Iranta i (a place ) and is gen ero us. He is anene my to the hun ger of bards!

If you wish to cure your poverty, come

along with me, bards whose lips are so

skilled!

If we requ est him, showing him ou r ribs

th in w i th hunge r , he w i l l go to theblac ksmith o f his village

And will say to that man of powerful

hands:

Shap e me a long spe ar for war, on e that

has a straight blade!

Source 14

What are th e str ategies which th e

bard u ses to try and persuade th echief to be generous?

What is the chief expected t o do to

acqu ir e wealth in order to give someto th e bards?

Fig. 3.7A chief and his follower, stone

sculpture, Amaravati (AndhraPradesh), c. second century CE

How has the sculpt or

shown th e dif ference betweenth e chief and h is follower?


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5 . Ex pl a in in g So c i al D if f er en c es :A So c ia l Co n t r a c tThe Buddh is ts a lso deve loped an a l te rna t i veunderstanding of social inequal i t ies, and of theinstitutions required to regulate social conflict. In a

myth found in a text known as the Sutta Pitaka theysuggested that originally human beings did not havefu lly evolved bodily forms, nor was the world of plant sfully developed. All beings lived in an idyllic state ofpeace, taking from nature only what they needed for

each meal.

However, there was a gradual deterioration ofthis state as human beings became increasinglygreedy, vindictive and deceitful. This led them towonder: What if we were to select a certain being

who should be wrathful when indignation is right,who should censure that which should rightly becensured and should banish him who deserves tobe banished? We will give him i n r etu rn a proporti onof the ri ce chosen by th e whole people, he wil l be

known as mahasammata, the great elect.This suggests that the inst i tut ion of kingship

was based on human choice, with taxes as a formof payment for services rendered by the king. Atthe same t ime, i t reveals recogni t ion of human

agency in creating and institutionalising economicand social relations. There are other implicationsa s w e l l . Fo r i n s ta n c e , i f h u m a n b e i n g s w e r eresponsible for th e creation of the system, t hey cou ldalso change it in future.

6 .H an d l in g Tex t sH is t o r ia n s a n d t h e Mahabhar a t a

If you look through the sources cited in this chapteronce more you will notice that historians considerseveral elements when they analyse texts. Theyexamine whether texts were written in Prakrit, Palior Tamil , languages that were probably used byordinary people, or in Sanskrit, a language meant

almost exclusively for priests and elites. They alsoconsider th e kindsof text. Were th ese mantr as, learn tand chanted by ri tual special ists, or stories thatpeople could have read, or heard, and then retold ifthey found them interesting? Besides, they try to

find out about the author(s) whose perspectives andideas shaped the text, as wel l as the intended

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73

audience, as, very often, authors keep the interestsof their audience in mind while composing theirwork. And they try and ascertain the possible date

of the composition or compilation of the texts as wellas th e placewhere they may have been composed. Itis only after making these assessments that theyd r a w o n t h e content o f tex ts to a r r i ve a t anunderstanding of their historical significance. As you

can imagine, this is a particularly difficult task fora text as complex as the Mahabharata.

6.1 Language and content

Let us look at the language of the text. The versionof the Mahabharata we have been considering is inSanskr i t (a l though there are vers ions in otherlanguages as well). However, the Sanskrit used in

the Mahabharatais far simpler th an that of th e Vedas,or of th e prashastis discussed in Chapter 2. As such,it was probably widely understood.

Historians usually classify the contents of thepresent text under two broad heads sections that

contain stories, designated as the narrat ive, andsections that contain prescript ions about socialnorms, designated as didactic. This division is by nomeans watertight the didactic sections include

stories, and the narrative often contains a socialmessage. However, generally historians agree thatthe Mahabharatawas meant to be a dramatic, movingstory, and that the didactic portions were probablyadded later.

Fig. 3.8

Krishna advises Arjuna on thebattlefield

This painting dates to theeighteenth century. Perhaps themost important didactic section of

the Mahabharata is the BhagavadGita, which contains the advice

offered by Lord Krishna to Arjuna.This scene is frequently depictedin painting and sculpture.

Didactic refers to something

that is meant for purposes of

instruction.


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Interestingly, the text is described as an itihasawithin early Sanskrit tradition. The literal meaningof the term is thus i t was , which is why i t is

generally translated as history. Was there a realwar that was remembered in the epic? We are notsure. Some historians think that the memory of anactual conflict amongst kinfolk was preserved in thenarrative; others point out that there is no other

corroborative evidence of the battle.

6.2 Author(s) and dates

Who wrote the text? This is a question to which

there are several answers. The original story wasprobably composed by charioteer-bards known assutaswho generally accompanied Kshat ri ya warriorsto the battlefield and composed poems celebrating

the i r v i c to r ies and o ther ach ievements . Thesecompositions circulated orally. Then, from the fifthcentury B CE , Brahmanas took over the story andbegan to commit i t to writing. This was the timewhen chiefdoms such as those of the Kurus and

Fig. 3.9Lord Ganesha the scribe

According to tradition, Vyasadictated the text to the deity.This illustration is from a Persian

translation of the Mahabharata,c. 1740-50.

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75

Panchalas, around whom the story of the epicrevolves, were gradu ally becoming kin gdoms. Did th enew kings want their i t ihasa to be recorded and

preserved more systematically? It is also possiblethat the upheavals that o f ten accompanied theestablishment of these states, where old social valueswere often replaced by new norms, are reflected insome parts of the story.

We notice another phase in the composition ofthe text between c. 200 BCE and 200 CE. This was theperiod when the worship of Vishnu was growing inimportance, and Kr ishna, one of the important

figures of the epic, was coming to be identified withVishnu. Subsequently, between c. 200 and 400 CE ,large didactic sections resembling the Manusmritiwere added. With these addi t ions, a text whichinitially perhaps had less than 10,000 verses grewto comprise about 100,000 verses. This enormous

composi t ion is tradi t ional ly attr ibuted to a sagenamed Vyasa.

6.3 The search for convergenceThe Mahabharata, like any major epic, contains vividdescr ip t ions o f ba t t les , fo res ts , pa laces andsettlements. In 1951-52, the archaeologist B.B. Lal

excavated at a village named Hastinapura in Meerut(Uttar Pradesh). Was this the Hastinapura of theep i c? Wh i l e the s im i l a r i t y i n names cou ld becoincidental, the location of the site in the UpperGanga doab, where the Kuru kingdom was situated,

suggests that it may have been the capital of theKurus mentioned in the text.

Lal found evidence of five occupational levels, ofwhich the second and third are of interest to us.This is what Lal noted about th e houses in t he second

phase (c. twelfth-seventh centuries BCE): Within thelimited area excavated, no definite plans of houseswere obtained, but walls of mud and mud-brickswere du ly encountered. The discovery of mu d-plasterwith 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), henoted: Houses of this period were built of mud-brickas wel l as burnt br icks. Soakage jars and br ickdrains were used for draining out refuse water, while

terracotta ring-wells may have been used both as

wells and drainage pits.


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Was the description of the city in the epic addedafter the main narrative had been composed, when(after the sixth century BCE) urban centres flourished

in th e region? Or was it a fl ight of poeti c fancy, whichcannot always be verified by comparisons with otherkinds of evidence?

Consider another instance. One of the mostcha l leng ing ep isodes in the Mahabha ra ta i s

Draupadis marriage with the Pandavas, an instanceof polyandry that is central to the narrative. If weexamine the section of the epic that describes thisevent, it is evident that the author(s) attempted to

explain it in a variety of ways.

D r a u p a d i s m a r r i a g e

Drupa da , the king of Pancha la, organ ised a com pe tition

whe re the ch allen ge was to string a bo w and hit a target;the winner would be chosen to marry his daughter

Draupadi. Arjuna was victorious and was garlanded by

Draupa di. The Pand avas returned with her to the ir mothe r

Kunti, who, even before she saw them, asked them toshare whatever they had got. She realised her mistakewhen she saw Draupadi, but her comm and co uld not be

violated. After much de liberation, Yudhisthira decide d th at

Draupad i would b e the ir comm on wife.

When Drupada was told about this, he protested.

Howe ver, the seer Vyasa a rrived and told him that th e

Pandavas were in rea lity incarnations of Ind ra, whose wifehad bee n rebo rn as Draupa di, and they were thus destined

for e ach othe r.

Vyasa add ed that in an other instance a young wo man

had prayed to Shiva for a husban d, and in her en thusiasm,

ha d p rayed five times instead of once. This wom an wasnow reborn as Draupadi, and Shiva had fulfilled her

prayers. Convinced by these stories, Drupad a co nsented

to the marriage.

Fig. 3.10

A w all excavated at Hastinapura

H a s t i n a p u r a

This is ho w th e c ity is de scribed

in the A d i Pa r v an of the

Mahabharata:

The c ity, bu rsting like the

ocean, packed with h undreds

of mansions, displayed withi t s ga teways , a rches and

turrets like massing clouds

t h e s p l e n d o u r o f G r e a tIndras city.

Source 15

Source 16 Do you th ink Lals finds

match t he descripti on ofHastin apur a in th e epic?

Why do you th ink th e aut hor(s) offered th ree

explan ations for a sin gle episode?

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77

Present-day historians suggest that the fact thatthe author(s) describe a polyandrous union indicatesthat polyandry may have been prevalent amongst

ruling elites at some point of time. At the same time,the fact that so many di f ferent explanations areoffered for the episode (Source 16) suggests thatpolyandry gradually fell into disfavour amongst theBrahmanas, who reworked and developed the text

through the centuries.Some historians note that while the practice of

po lyandry may have seemed unusua l o r evenundesirable from the Brahmanical point of view, it

was (and is) prevalent in the Himalayan region.Others suggest that there may have been a shortageof women during times of warfare, and this led topolyandry. In other words, i t was attr ibuted to asituation of crisis.

Some early sources suggest that polyandry was

not the only or even the most prevalent form ofmarr iage. Why then did the author(s) choose toassociate this practice with the central charactersof the Mahabharata? We need to remember thatc rea t i ve l i te ra tu re o f ten has i ts own nar ra t i ve

requirements and does not always literally reflectsocial realities.

7. A D yn amic TextThe growth of the Mahabharata did not stop withthe Sanskrit version. Over the centuries, versionsof the epic were written in a variety of languagesthrough an ongoing process of dialogue between

peoples, communit ies, and those who wrote thetexts. Several stor ies that or ig inated in speci f icregions or circulated amongst certain people found

th eir way int o the epic. At the same ti me, the cent ralstory of the epic was often retold in different ways.

And ep isodes were dep ic ted in scu lp tu re andpaint ing. They also provided t hemes for a wide rangeof performing arts plays, dance and other kindsof narrations.

Discuss...Read the excerpts from theMahabharata included in thischapter once more. For each

of these, discuss whether theycould have been literally true.What do these excerpts tell usabout those who composedthe text? What do they tell us

about those who must haveread or heard the epic?


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Most retellings or re-enactments of the epic draw on

th e main nar rat ive in creative ways. Let u s look at one

example, an episode from the Mahabharata that hasbeen tr ansformed by Mahashweta Devi, a contemporary

Bengali writer known for raising her voice against allforms of exploitation and oppression. In t hi s part icular

instance, she works out alternative possibilities from

th e main story of theMahabharataand draws attentionto questions on wh ich t he Sanskrit text is silent .

The Sansk ri t t ext describes how Du ryodhana plottedto kil l the Pandavas by inviting them to stay in a

specially prepared house of lac, which he planned toset on fir e. Forewarned, t he Pandavas dug a tu nn el t o

ensu re th eir escape. Then Ku nt i ar ranged for a feast.

Whil e most of th e invitees were Brahmanas, a nishadawoman came with her five sons. When they were

satiated with drink and fell off to sleep, the Pandavas

escaped, setting fire to the house. When the bodies of

the woman and her sons were discovered, people

th ought th at t he Pandavas were dead.I n h e r s h o r t s t o r y t i t l e d K u n t i O N i s h a d i ,

Mahashweta Devi takes up the narrative from where

the Mahabharataends it . She sets the story in a forest,where Kunt i r etir es after t he war. Ku nt i now has tim e

to reflect on her past, and often confesses to what sheregards as her fail ings, talking with the earth, the

symbol of natu re. Every day she sees th enishadaswhocome to collect wood, honey, tubers and roots. One

nishadi(a nishadawoman) often l istens to Kun ti whenshe talks with th e earth .

One day, there was someth ing in t he air ; th e anim als

were fleeing the forest. Kunti noticed that the nishadiwas watchi ng her, and was star tled when she spoke to

her and asked if she remembered the house of lac. Yes,Kunt i said, she did. Did she remember a cert ain elderlynishadiand her five young sons? And that she hadserved them wine till they were senseless, while she

escaped with h er own sons? That nishadi Not you !Kunti exclaimed. The nishadireplied that the womanwho was kil led had been h er m other-in -law. She addedthat while Kunti had been reflecting on her past, not

once did she remember th e six i nn ocent lives th at were

lost because she had wanted to save herself and her

sons. As th ey spoke, the flames drew nearer. Thenishadiescaped t o safety, bu t Kunt i r emain ed wh ere she was.

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Timel ine 1Ma j o r T ex t u al Tr a dit io n s

c. 500 BCE Ashtadhyayiof Panin i, a work on Sansk rit grammar

c. 500-200 BCE Major Dh armasut ras (in Sanskri t )

c. 500-100 BCE Early Buddhist texts inclu ding the Tripitaka(in Pali)

c. 500 BCE-400 CE Ramayana an d Mahabharata( in Sanskri t)

c. 200 BCE-200 CE Manusmriti(in Sanskr it ); compositi on and compilati onof Tamil Sangam lit eratu re

c. 100 CE Charakaan d SushrutaSamhitas, works on medicine(in Sansk rit )

c. 200 CE onwards Compilat ion of the Puranas(in Sanskri t )

c. 300 CE Natyashastra of Bharata, a work on d ramatu rgy(in Sansk rit )

c. 300-600 CE Other Dharmashastras (in Sanskr it)

c. 400-500 CE Sansk ri t plays inclu din g th e work s of Kalidasa;

work s on astronomy and m athematics by Aryabhata andVarahamih ira (in Sanskr it); compil ation of Jain a work s(in Prakr i t)

Timel ine 2Ma j o r L an d ma r k s in t h e St u dy o f t h e Mahabha r a t a

Twen t ie th cen t u ry

1919-66 Preparat ion and pu bl icat ion of the Cr i t ical Edi t ion of theMahabharata

1973 J.A.B. van Bu itenen begins Engl ish t ranslat ion of the Cr it icalEdit ion; remains in compl ete after his death in 19 78


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A n s w er in 10 0 -15 0 w o r d s1. Explain why patri l iny may have been particularly

importan t among elit e famili es.

2. D iscuss whether k ings in ear ly states wereinvariably Kshatriyas.

3. Compare and cont rast the dharma or norms

mentioned in th e stories of Drona, Hid imba andMatanga.

4. In what ways was the Buddhist theory of a social

cont ract di fferent from t he Brahm anical view ofsociety deri ved from t he Purusha sukta?

5. Th e f ol l ow i n g i s an ex cer p t f r o m t h e

Mahabharata, in which Yudhisthira, the eldestPandava, speaks to Sanjaya, a messenger:

Sanjaya, convey my r espect fu l greeti ngs to all

the Brahmanas and the chief priest of thehouse of Dh rit arasht ra. I bow respectfully to

teacher Dron a I hold the feet of ourpreceptor Kripa (and) the chief of th e Kuru s,

th e great Bhishm a. I bow respectfully to t he

old k ing (Dhrit arashtr a). I greet and ask afterthe health of his son Duryodhana and his

younger brother ... Also greet all the youngKur u warr iors who are our broth ers, sons and

grandsons Greet above all him , who is to

us l ike father and mother, the wise Vidura(born of a slave woman ) ... I bow to the elderl y

ladies who are known as our mothers. Toth ose who are our wives you say th is, I h ope

th ey are well-p rotected Our daughters-in -

law born of good families and mothers ofchil dren greet on m y behalf. Em brace for me

those who are our daughters The beaut ifu l,fragrant , well-dressed cour tesans of ours you

shoul d also greet. Greet th e slave women and

their children, greet the aged, the maimed(and) the helpless

Try and identify the criteria used to make this

list in terms of age, gender, k inship ties. Are thereany oth er crit eria? For each category, explain why

th ey are placed in a part icular positi on in t he list.

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W r it e a sh o r t es sa y (abou t5 00 w o r d s) o n t h e f o l l o w in g :

6 . Th i s i s w hat a f am ous h i stor i an of I nd i anliterature, Maurice Winternitz, wrote about the

Mahabharata: just because the Mahabharata

represent s more of an ent ir e lit eratu re andcontains so much and so many k inds of th ings,

(it ) gives(s) us an insight i nt o the most pr ofounddepth s of the soul of th e Indian folk. D iscuss.

7 . D iscuss whether the Mahabharata could have

been th e work of a single aut hor.8. How important were gender differences in early

societies? Give reasons for you r an swer.

9 . D i s cu s s t h e ev i d en c e t h a t s u g ges t s t h a t

Brahmanical prescriptions about kinship andmar riage were not uni versally followed.

M a p w o r k

10. Compare the map in this chapter with Map 1 in

Chapter 2. List the mahajanapadas and citieslocated n ear t he Kur u-Panchala l ands.

Pr o j ec t (a n y on e)

11. Find out about retel l ings of the Mahabharatain

other languages. Discuss how they handle anytwo of th e episodes of the text descri bed in t hi s

chapter, explaining any sim ilar it ies or differences

th at you notice.

12. Imagine that you are an auth or and rewrite the

story of Ekalavya from a perspective of yourchoice.

If y o u w o u l d l ik e t o k n o w

m o re , r e a d :

Uma Chakra varti. 2006.

Everyda y Lives, Everyday

Histories. Tulika, New De lhi.

Irawa ti Karve . 1968.

Kinship Orga nisation in India.

Asia Pub lishing House, Bom ba y.

R.S. Sharm a. 1983.Perspec tives in Social an d

Econ om ic History of Early Ind ia.

Mun shiram Manoh arlal,

New Delhi.

V.S. Sukthan kar. 1957.

On the Meaning of the

Mahabharata. Asiatic Socie ty of

Bombay, Bombay.

Rom ila Thapa r. 2000.

Cultural Pasts: Essays in Ea rly

Indian History. Oxford University

Press, New Delhi.


For m ore in form at ion ,

you cou ld v i s it :

http ://bom ba y.indo logy.info/

mahabharata/statement.html

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