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Kinship, Caste And Class
Describe Brahmanical prescriptions about marriage, were the rules universal as proclaimed by the brahmanas.
The marriage had its own rules and regulations. And we find that these regulations were prescribed by the Brahmanas in the Dharmasutras and the dharmashastras. We find that the rules differed for men and women.
We find that a women in a gotra had to follow some distinct rules, they are not suppose to marry within the same gotra and secondly women have to change her gotras name from her fathers to her husbands. In the men we find that such was not the case, he kept the name of his gotra even after marriage.
However we find that there are some common rules for both men and women, that were, not marrying outside the one's caste and outside one's gotra.
However when we look at the evidences in the ancient text we find that the claims made by the Brahmanas that their rules were universal were not so. For example Satavahanas, though they claimed to brahmanas, we find that they had married outside their own caste, that is from brahmanas to Kshatriya and we also finds instances where they have married inside their own gotra.
There are also instances of Polyandry in Mahabharata, which seems to be frown upon as we find that Draupadi's marriage to Five Pandavas are legitimised by giving some background story.
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Discuss whether kings in early states were invariably Kshatriyas.
Compare and contrast the dharma or norms mentioned in the stories of Drona, Hidimba and Matanga.
In what ways was the Buddhist theory of a social contract different from the Brahmanical view of society derived from the Purusha Sukta?
The following is an excerpt from the Mahabharata in which Yudhisthira, the eldest Pandava, speaks to Sanjaya, a messenger:
Sanjaya, convey my respectful greetings to all the Brahmanas and the chief priest of the house of Dhritarashtra. I bow respectfully to teacher Drona .... I hold the feet of our preceptor Kripa .... (and) the chief of the Kurus, the great Bhishma. I bow respectfully to the old king (Dhritarashtra). I greet and ask after the health of his son Dpryodhana and his younger brother ......Also greet all the young Kuru warriors who are our brothers, sons and grandsons......Greet above all him, who is to us like father and mother, the wise Vidura (born of a slave woman)......I bow to the elderly ladies who are known as our mothers. To those who are our wives you say this, 'I hope they are well-protected.'...... Our daughters-in-law born of good families and mothers of children greet on my behalf. Embrace for me those who are our daughters..... The beautiful, fragrant, well-dressed courtesans of ours, you should also greet. Greet the slave women and their children, greet the aged, the maimed (and) the helpless.
Try and identify the criteria use to make this list in terms of age, gender, kinship ties. Are there any other criteria? For each category, explain why they are placed in a particular position in the list.
This is what a famous historian of Indian literature Maurice Winternitz, wrote about the Mahabharata: “just because the Mahabharata represents more of an entire literature.... and contains so much and so many kinds of things....(it) give (s) us an insight into the most profound depths of the soul of the Indian folk.' Discuss.
Discuss whether the Mahabharata could have been the work of a single author.
How important were gender differences in early societies? Give reasons for your answer.
Discuss the evidence that suggests that Brahmanical prescriptions about kinship and marriage were not universally followed.
Compare the map in this chapter with Map 1 in chapter 2. List the mahajanapadas and cities located near the Kuru-Panchala lands.
Find out about retellings of the Mahabharata in other languages. Discuss how they handle any two of the episodes of the text described in this chapter, explaining any similarities or differences that you notice.
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