Q9 of 9 Page 80

Discuss the evidence that suggests that Brahmanical prescriptions about kinship and marriage were not universally followed.

1. The family system: - The Sanskrit texts use the term “Kula” to designate a family and familial ties that were to be based on blood relations. However some societies regarded cousins also as blood relations where as others do not.

2. The System of Patriliny: - According to the Brahmanical system only sons could claim the resources of their fathers when the latter died. However sometimes Brothers succeeded each other- like Kaurav and Pandavas and in very exceptional circumstances women such as “Prabhavati Gupta” also exercised power.


3. Rules of Marriage:- According to Brahmanical system “Exogamy, which refers to marriage outside the unit was the ideal form of marriage. It was the religious duty of the father to marry his daughter outside the unit to the right person at the right time.


However, the Dharamsutras and Dharamshastras recognize “EIGHT” forms of marriage. Of these first four were considered “good” while the remaining were condemned. It is possible that these were practised by those who did not accept brahmanical norms.


4. The Gotra of Women: - There are two rules about the Gotra system:


Women were expected to give up their father’s Gotra and adopt that of their husband on marriage and, members of the same Gotras could not marry.


However some Satavahana rulers adopted the Gotra of their mother for example Raja GOTAMI-PUTA-SIRI-SATAKINI. Some of the Satvahanas rulers were polygynous (had more than one wife).


A careful examination of the names of women who married Satavahana rulers indicate that they belonged to the same Gotras. For example Raja Gotami-Puta Siri- Vijaya- Satakani


All these evidences suggest that the brahmanical prescription about marriage and kinship were not followed universally.


More from this chapter

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5

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 Duryodhana 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 used 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.

 6

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) gives(s) us an insight into the most profound depths of the soul of the Indian folk.” Discuss.

 7

Discuss whether the Mahabharata could have been the work of a single author.

 8

How important were gender differences in early societies? Give reasons for your answer.