📘 Kingship, Caste and Class
(History – Class 12, Chapter 3 : Mahabharata)
📜 Mahabharata – Introduction
- 🔹 Mahabharata is a major poetic text of Hindus, which comes under the category of Smriti (स्मृति – remembered tradition).
- 🔹 It is a unique religious, mythological, historical and philosophical text of India.
- 🔹 Known as the world’s longest literary text (साहित्यिक ग्रंथ) and epic, it is one of the main scriptures of Hinduism.
- 🔹 Mahabharata is considered as the "Fifth Veda" (पंचम वेद) in Hinduism.
✳️ Composition of Mahabharata
- 🖊️ Traditionally, it is believed to be written by Ved Vyasa, but historians suggest it is a work of multiple authors.
- 🔹 Initially, it had only 8,800 verses, later expanded to 1,00,000 verses.
- 🔹 In 1919, under the leadership of V.S. Sukthankar (a renowned Sanskrit scholar – संस्कृत विद्वान), a critical project was started to compile an authentic version.
- 🔹 The original name of Mahabharata was Jai Samhita.
- 🔹 The process of composition went on for about 1000 years (c. 500 BCE).
- 🔹 Mahabharata reflects the society and social rules of that time.
✳️ Critical Version of Mahabharata
- 📖 In 1919, an ambitious project began under V.S. Sukthankar.
- 🔹 Objective – To collect manuscripts (पांडुलिपि) of Mahabharata from different regions and prepare a critical edition.
- 🔹 Scholars compared manuscripts and selected verses that were common across regions.
- 🔹 The final version was published in several volumes (13,000 pages).
- 🔹 The project took 47 years to complete.
👉 Two major observations:
- Many Sanskrit texts had similar parts, found across the subcontinent – from Kashmir & Nepal (north) to Kerala & Tamil Nadu (south).
- Differences in Kshatriya traditions (क्षत्रिय परंपरा) were also observed during transmission.
🔷 Brotherhood and Marriage
✳️ Family
- 👨👩👧 Family was an important social institution (सामाजिक संस्था).
- 🔹 Members shared food, resources and rituals.
- 🔹 Cousins were also considered blood relations in some societies.
✳️ Patriarchy (पितृसत्ता)
- 🔹 Patrilineal system (पितृवंशीय व्यवस्था): After the death of the father, the son inherited resources.
- 🔹 Similarly, the king’s throne was passed to his son; in absence of a son, the brother became heir.
✳️ Rules of Marriage
- 📚 From around 500 BCE, Dharmasutras & Dharmashastras (religious law books) compiled detailed codes of conduct.
- 🔹 Manusmriti (compiled between 200 BCE – 200 CE) was the most important.
- 🔹 They recognized 8 types of marriages:
- First 4 were considered excellent (श्रेष्ठ).
- The rest were considered condemned (निंदनीय).
👉 Marriage Systems:
- Endogamy (अंतर्विवाह): Marriage within the same caste/gotra.
- Exogamy (बहिर्विवाह): Marriage outside the caste/gotra.
- 🔹 Son was highly valued in patrilineal society, while daughter’s marriage was arranged outside gotra.
- 🔹 Kanyadan (कन्यादान – donation of daughter) was considered an important duty of the father.
✳️ Gotra (गोत)**
- 🔹 A system introduced around 1000 BCE among Brahmins.
- 🔹 Each gotra was named after a Vedic sage (ऋषि), and members were considered his descendants.
- 🔹 Women, after marriage, had to adopt husband’s gotra.
- 🔹 Rule: Members of the same gotra could not intermarry.
👉 Exception – Satavahana dynasty (1st century BCE – 2nd century CE):
- Wives continued to use their father’s gotra even after marriage.
- Practiced polygamy (बहुपत्नी प्रथा – one man, multiple wives).
✳️ Polygamy & Polyandry
- 👑 Polygamy (बहुपत्नी प्रथा): One man married to multiple women. (Practiced among Satavahana kings)
- 👩👦 Polyandry (बहुपति प्रथा): One woman married to multiple men. (Example: Draupadi in Mahabharata)
👩 Were Mothers Considered Important?
- 🔹 Historical evidence (इतिहासिक प्रमाण) shows that from 0 CE to 600 CE, mothers held an important position in society.
- 🔹 Example: Satavahana kings used to put their mother’s name before their own name, showing the respect and importance given to mothers.
🔷 Social Inequalities
✳️ Varna System (वर्ण व्यवस्था)
👉 A. Kshatriyas (क्षत्रिय):
- Fought wars when required.
- Protected kings.
- Studied Vedas (वेद – ancient scriptures) and performed yajnas (यज्ञ – rituals).
- Delivered justice to the people.
👉 B. Brahmins (ब्राह्मण):
- Studied scriptures and taught them.
- Performed yajnas and accepted dakshina (दक्षिणा – offerings).
- Specialized in education and rituals.
👉 C. Vaishyas (वैश्य):
- Engaged in trade (व्यापार) and agriculture (कृषि).
- Practiced animal husbandry (पशुपालन).
- Donating charity was considered their duty.
👉 D. Shudras (शूद्र):
- Served the other three varnas.
- Their main duty was service.
📌 To enforce this system, Brahmins used three strategies:
- Declared caste system as a divine gift (दैवीय वरदान).
- Motivated rulers to implement it.
- Convinced society that status depended on birth (जन्म आधारित प्रतिष्ठा).
✳️ Can Kshatriyas Always Be Kings?
- ❌ No. History shows that not all kings were Kshatriyas.
- Example:
- Chandragupta Maurya (Maurya dynasty founder) – Claimed as a Kshatriya in Buddhist texts, but Brahmanical texts say he belonged to a lower clan.
- Sungas and Kanvas – Successors of Mauryas, belonged to Brahmin families.
👉 Conclusion: Kingship was based on power and support, not just birth in Kshatriya clan.
✳️ Caste (जाती व्यवस्था)
- 🔹 Apart from 4 varnas, many jatis (castes – जाति) existed.
- 🔹 Groups excluded from varna were placed in special castes like Nishad (forest dwellers) and Suvarnakar (goldsmiths).
- 🔹 Castes were often created on the basis of karma (कर्म – occupation/livelihood).
✳️ Beyond the Four Classes: Subjugation & Struggle
- 🔹 Some groups were excluded from the varna system, labelled as untouchables (अछूत).
- 🔹 Works like cremating dead bodies, touching dead animals were considered impure.
- 🔹 People performing these jobs were called Chandalas (चांडाल).
- 🔹 Society treated them as outcastes:
- Lived outside the village.
- Used discarded utensils, dead people’s clothes and ornaments.
- Forbidden to walk in villages at night.
- Had to ring kartal (करताल – small cymbals) while walking so others could avoid them.
✳️ Position of Chandalas (According to Manusmriti)
- Lowest in society.
- Duties: disposing of dead bodies and animals.
- Forced to live separately and use discarded items.
- Considered impure to touch or even see.
✳️ Resources and Reputation
- Social status depended on control over economic resources.
- Included farmers, labourers, fishermen, herders, chiefs, craftsmen, merchants, kings.
✳️ Different Rights of Men and Women on Property
👉 According to Manusmriti (मनुस्मृति):
- After father’s death, property was divided among sons.
- Eldest son got a special share.
- Gifts received during marriage (stridhan – स्त्रीधन) belonged to women.
- Women’s property was inherited by her children, not by her husband.
- Woman could not keep secret wealth without her husband’s permission.
- Women of higher classes had greater rights over resources.
❇️ 7 Ways Men Could Earn Wealth (as per Manusmriti)
- Inheritance (उत्तराधिकार)
- Purchase (खरीद)
- Conquest (विजय)
- Investment (निवेश)
- Discovery/Find (खोज)
- Work/Labour (कार्य)
- Offerings from noblemen (सम्मान स्वरूप भेंट)
❇️ 6 Ways Women Could Earn Wealth
- Gifts at matrimonial fire (विवाह के समय अग्नि के सामने)
- Gifts at marriage (विवाह उपहार)
- Token of affection (स्नेह-चिह्न)
- Gift from mother
- Gift from brother
- Gift from father
📌 Note: Also included gifts received during Pravritti period (प्रवृत्ति काल) and presents from a loving husband.
⚖️ Varna and Property Rights
- 🔹 Shudras (शूद्र) had only one livelihood → Service (सेवा) of upper varnas.
- 🔹 Men in upper classes had more occupational choices.
- 🔹 Brahmins & Kshatriyas were generally wealthy (धनवान).
- 🔹 Buddhists (बौद्ध) strongly criticized Brahmanical Varna system, rejecting status by birth (जन्म आधारित प्रतिष्ठा).
📚 Use of Literary Sources
Historians consider multiple aspects while analyzing ancient texts:
- 📖 Language → Ordinary or specialized
- 📖 Type of text → Mantra (मंत्र – sacred verse) or Story (कहानी)
- 📖 Author’s view (लेखक की दृष्टि)
- 📖 Audience (पाठक वर्ग)
- 📖 Time of writing (लेखन काल)
- 📖 Content (विषयवस्तु)
✍️ Language and Content of Texts
- Narrative (वर्णनात्मक) → Storytelling style
- Stories (कहानियाँ) → Used as examples
- Didactic (शिक्षाप्रद) → Teaching morals
- Norms of Social Ethics (सामाजिक आचार संहिता)
🔎 In Search of Equality – B.B. Lal’s Efforts
- 📍 In 1951–52, archaeologist B.B. Lal (बी.बी. लाल) excavated a site at Hastinapur (Meerut, UP).
- 🔹 But this Hastinapur was not like the one in Mahabharata.
- 🔹 Excavations revealed only mud walls & raw bricks → No palaces or large structures.
- 🔹 Suggests that the Mahabharata’s description was more symbolic/epic (महाकाव्यात्मक) than historical.
📖 Mahabharata as a Dynamic Book
- 🔹 Mahabharata is dynamic (गतिशील) because it evolved over thousands of years.
- 🔹 Many changes & additions occurred with time.
- 🔹 It has been translated into multiple languages (अनुवादित ग्रंथ).
- 🔹 Contains numerous verses (श्लोक).
- 🔹 Stands as the largest epic (महाकाव्य) in the world.
