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Kinship, Caste And Class
Read the following extracts carefully and answer the questions that follows:
Samudragupta In praise of Samudragupta
This is an excerpt from the Prayaga Prashasti:
He was without an antagonist on earth; he, by the overflowing of the multitude of (his) many good qualities adorned by hundreds of good actions, has wiped off the fame of other kings with the soles of (his) feet; (he is) Purusha (the Supreme Being) , being the cause of the prosperity of the good and the destruction of the bad (he is) incomprehensible; (he is) one whose tender heart can be captured only by devotion and humility; (he is) possessed of compassion; (he is) the giver of many hundred thousands of cows; (his) mind has received ceremonial initiation for the uplift of the miserable, the poor, the forlorn and the suffering; (he is) resplendent and embodied kindness to mankind; (he is) equal to (the gods) Kubera (the god of wealth) , Varuna (the god of the ocean) , Indra (the god of rains) and Yama (the god of death) ….
(14.1) Who wrote the above Prashasti? State the importance of Prashasti.
(14.2) Mention any three qualities of the ruler described in the excerpt.
(14.3) How far are these values, shown by the rulers, relevant in the contemporary society? Explain.
OR
Why kinfolk quarreled
This is an excerpt from the Adi Parvan (literally, the First section) of the Sanskrit Mahabharata, describing why conflicts arose amongst the Kauravas and Pandavas:
The Kauravas were the.... of Dhritarashtra, and the Pandavas ... were their cousins. Since Dhritarashtra was blind, his younger brother Pandu ascended the throne of Hastinapura ... However, after the premature death of Pandu, Dhritarashtra became king, as the royal princes were still very young. As the princes grew up together' the citizens of Hastinapura began to express-their preference for the Pandavas, for they were more capable and virtuous than the Kauravas. This made Duryodhana, the eldest of the Kauravas, jealous. He approached his father and said; 'You yourself did not receive the throne, although it fell to you, because of-your defect. If the Pandava receives the patrimony from Pandu, his son will surely inherit it in turn, and so will his son, and his. We ourselves with our sons shall be excluded from the royal succession and become of slight regard in the eyes of the world, lord of the earth!
(14.1) Explain about the worries of Duryodhana that he expressed to his father.
(14.2) Mention the criteria for becoming king as suggested in the excerpt.
(14.3) Why did the citizens of Hastinapura express their preference for the Pandavas?
(14.1) Harishena, the court poet of Samudragupta, had written the above Prashasti. Historians often attempt to draw factual information from such compositions, those who composed and read them often treasured them as works of poetry.
(14.2) Samudragupta is compared to gods as:
(i) He was without an antagonist on earth and was adorned by Hundreds for multitude of overflowing good qualities.
(ii) He being the cause of the prosperity of the good and destruction of the bad.
(14.2) under patriliny, sons could claim the resources including the throne in the case of kings of their fathers when the latter died. Sometimes there were no sons, in that situations brothers succeeded one another and sometimes other kinsmen claimed the throne.
(14.3) The citizens of Hastinapura express their preference for the Pandavas as they were more capable and virtuous than the Kauravas.
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Explain why patriliny may have been particularly important among elite families.
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.
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