Class 12 History Chapter 3: Kinship, Caste and Class
Early Societies (c. 600 BCE-600 CE)

1. The Critical Edition of the Mahabharata

• Critical Edition project began in 1919 under V.S. Sukthankar
• Took 47 years to complete (1919-1966)
• Compared Sanskrit manuscripts from across India
• Published common verses (13,000+ pages) with regional variations documented
• Revealed both common elements and regional variations in transmission

2. Kinship and Marriage: Many Rules and Varied Practices

2.1 Finding out about families

• Families varied in size, relationships and shared activities
• Kinfolk networks defined differently across societies
• Easier to reconstruct elite families than ordinary people's

2.2 The ideal of patriliny

• Mahabharata reinforces patrilineal succession
• Sons inherit father's resources/throne
• Variations existed: brothers succeeding, women rulers like Prabhavati Gupta
• Rigveda mantras emphasize producing "fine sons"

2.3 Rules of marriage

• Daughters had no claim to family resources
• Exogamy (marrying outside kin) preferred for high-status families
• Kanyadana (gift of daughter) considered father's religious duty
• Dharmasutras/Dharmashastras (500 BCE onwards) codified social behavior
• Manusmriti (200 BCE-200 CE) recognized 8 marriage forms (4 "good", 4 condemned)

2.4 The gotra of women

• Gotra system emerged c. 1000 BCE
• Women expected to adopt husband's gotra, drop father's
• Same gotra marriages prohibited
• Satavahana inscriptions show women retained father's gotra names
• Some Satavahana rulers married women of same gotra (endogamy vs Brahmanical exogamy)

2.5 Were mothers important?

• Satavahana rulers identified through mothers' names (metronymics)
• But succession remained patrilineal
• Mahabharata shows mothers offering advice (e.g., Gandhari to Duryodhana)

3. Social Differences: Within and Beyond the Framework of Caste

3.1 The "right" occupation

• Varna system: Brahmanas (study/teach Vedas), Kshatriyas (warfare), Vaishyas (agriculture/trade), Shudras (serve others)
• Brahmanical strategies: divine origin claims, king's enforcement, birth-based status
• Purusha sukta hymn used to justify varna hierarchy

3.2 Non-Kshatriya kings

• Shastras said only Kshatriyas could be kings, but reality differed
• Mauryas' varna debated (Buddhist texts say Kshatriya, Brahmanical say "low")
• Shungas and Kanvas were Brahmanas
• Shakas (Central Asians) called mlechchhas but adopted Sanskritic traditions
• Satavahana ruler claimed to be "unique Brahmana" and "destroyer of Kshatriya pride"

3.3 Jatis and social mobility

• Jati - birth-based but flexible category for new groups
• Occupational jatis organized into shrenis (guilds)
• Example: Mandasor inscription of silk weavers guild migrating from Gujarat
• Some guild members took up other occupations

3.4 Beyond the four varnas: Integration

• Forest-dwellers, pastoralists, non-Sanskrit speakers often excluded
• Mahabharata stories show complex interactions (e.g., Bhima marries rakshasa Hidimba)

3.5 Beyond the four varnas: Subordination and conflict

• "Untouchables" (chandalas) handled "polluting" tasks (corpses, dead animals)
• Manusmriti prescribed discriminatory rules (live outside village, use discarded items)
• Chinese pilgrims Fa Xian and Xuan Zang describe untouchability practices
• Matanga Jataka shows resistance - chandala attains spiritual powers, shames Brahmanas

4. Beyond Birth: Resources and Status

4.1 Gendered access to property

• Paternal estate divided among sons (eldest got extra share)
• Women couldn't inherit but kept stridhana (marriage gifts)
• Draupadi staked in dice game shows women treated as property
• Exceptions like Prabhavati Gupta existed but rare

4.2 Varna and access to property

• Shudras officially restricted to servitude, but reality varied
• Buddhist texts critique varna - wealth could override birth status

4.3 An alternative social scenario: Sharing wealth

• Tamil Sangam literature shows chiefs expected to share wealth
• Bards praised generous patrons, mocked misers

5. Explaining Social Differences: A Social Contract

• Buddhist Sutta Pitaka myth: humans chose first king (mahasammata) to maintain order
• Kingship as human institution, not divine
• Taxes as payment for king's services
• Implied humans could change social systems they created

6. Handling Texts: Historians and the Mahabharata

6.1 Language and content

• Simpler Sanskrit than Vedas, meant for wider audience
• Two broad sections: narrative (stories) and didactic (social norms)
• Described as itihasa ("thus it was") - may preserve memory of actual conflict

6.2 Author(s) and dates

• Originated as oral compositions by sutas (charioteer-bards)
• Brahmanas began writing it down from 5th century BCE
• Major additions between 200 BCE-400 CE (Vishnu worship, didactic sections)
• Attributed to sage Vyasa, but clearly multiple authors over centuries

6.3 The search for convergence

• B.B. Lal excavated Hastinapura (Meerut) - possible Kuru capital
• Found mud-brick and burnt-brick structures, ring wells (6th-3rd century BCE)
• Draupadi's polyandry - may reflect Himalayan practices or crisis situations
• Multiple explanations in text suggest Brahmanas uncomfortable with polyandry

7. A Dynamic Text

• Translated/retold in various languages with regional variations
• Mahashweta Devi's "Kunti O Nishadi" gives voice to marginalized nishadi character
• Epic continues to evolve through performances, art, literature