Kinship, Caste and Class: Early Societies

Class 12 History

In focusing on the Mahabharata, a colossal epic running in its present form into over 100,000 verses with depictions of a wide range of social categories and situations, we draw on one of the richest texts of the subcontinent. It was composed over a period of about 1,000 years (500 BCE onwards), and some of the stories it contains may have been in circulation even earlier.

Kinship and Marriage

The ideal of patriliny

The Mahabharata describes a feud over land and power between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas, who belonged to a single ruling family, that of the Kurus, a lineage dominating one of the janapadas. Ultimately, the conflict ended in a battle, in which the Pandavas emerged victorious. After that, patrilineal succession was proclaimed. Under patriliny, sons could claim the resources (including the throne in the case of kings) of their fathers when the latter died.

Most ruling dynasties (sixth century BCE onwards) claimed to follow this system, although there were variations in practice: sometimes there were no sons, in some situations brothers succeeded one another, sometimes other kinsmen claimed the throne, and, in very exceptional circumstances, women such as Prabhavati Gupta exercised power.

Rules of marriage

While sons were important for the continuity of the patrilineage, daughters were viewed rather differently within this framework. At the same time, marrying them into families outside the kin was considered desirable. This system, called exogamy (literally, marrying outside), meant that the lives of young girls and women belonging to families that claimed high status were often carefully regulated to ensure that they were married at the “right” time and to the “right” person. This gave rise to the belief that kanyadana or the gift of a daughter in marriage was an important religious duty of the father.

Social Differences

The “right” occupation

The Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras contained rules about the occupations of the four categories or varnas.

• Brahamanas were primarily supposed to study and teach the Vedas and scriptures, perform sacrifices, get sacrifices performed, and give and receive gifts (dana).
• Kshatriyas were primarily supposed to engage in warfare, protect people, and administer justice, study the Vedas and scriptures, get sacrifices performed and make dana, and maintain the social order.
• Vaishyas were expected to engage in agriculture, pastoralism and trade, along with studying the Vedas and other scriptures, performing sacrifices, getting sacrifices performed and making dana.
• Shudras were expected to assist the three varnas in the proper functioning of the society.

Jatis and social mobility

These complexities are reflected in another term used in texts to refer to social categories - jati. While the number of varnas was fixed at four, there was no restriction on the number of jatis. In fact, the number of jatis kept on increasing as the society encountered new social groups and new occupations. Jatis which shared a common occupation or profession were sometimes organised into shrenis or guilds.