Big picture
How did people in early India organise families, marriages and social groups? Historians answer this mainly from texts, especially the Mahabharata and the Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras, which laid down norms of behaviour. But norms are not the same as practice, so historians compare texts with inscriptions, other literature and accounts of travellers.
This chapter shows how historians read texts critically: asking who wrote them, for whom, in what language, and whether people actually followed the rules.
Learning goals
Explain the making of the critical edition of the Mahabharata.
Explain kinship and patriliny, with examples from the Mahabharata.
Explain rules of marriage and the eight forms of marriage.
Explain gotra and what Satavahana inscriptions reveal about it.
Explain the varna order, its ideal occupations and exceptions.
Explain jatis, untouchability and the position of Chandalas.
Explain differences in access to property by gender and varna.
Explain alternative views of social difference and the Mahabharata as a dynamic text.
Core ideas
1. The critical edition of the Mahabharata
In 1919, under the leadership of Sanskritist V.S. Sukthankar, scholars at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, began preparing a critical edition of the Mahabharata.
They collected Sanskrit manuscripts of the text written in different scripts from all over the subcontinent, compared verses, and selected those that appeared common to most versions.
The project took 47 years (completed in 1966) and produced over 13,000 pages in several volumes.
Two findings: there were common elements in Sanskrit versions across the subcontinent, showing a shared tradition; and there were enormous regional variations, showing how the story was adapted and transmitted over centuries.
2. Kinship and patriliny
Kinfolk are families related by blood or marriage.
Patriliny: descent traced from father to son, grandson and so on. Matriliny: descent traced through the mother.
The Mahabharata is a story of a feud over land and power between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and Pandavas, both of the Kuru lineage. The victory of the Pandavas reinforced the idea of patrilineal succession: sons claim the father's resources, including the throne.
In practice there were variations: sometimes there were no sons, brothers succeeded one another, and occasionally women such as Prabhavati Gupta exercised power.
3. Rules of marriage
Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
Exogamy | Marrying outside one's kin group (gotra) |
Endogamy | Marrying within a unit, such as a kin group, caste or locality |
Polygyny | A man having several wives |
Polyandry | A woman having several husbands (as with Draupadi and the Pandavas in the Mahabharata) |
Kanyadana (the gift of a daughter in marriage) was considered an important religious duty of the father.
Eight forms of marriage were recognised by the Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras. The first four were considered "good", while the last four were condemned. The disapproved forms may have been practised by those who didn't accept Brahmanical norms.
4. Gotra
According to a Brahmanical practice developed around 1000 BCE, people (especially Brahmanas) were classified into gotras, each named after a Vedic seer (rishi).
Rules: women were expected to give up their father's gotra and adopt their husband's gotra on marriage; members of the same gotra could not marry.
Satavahana evidence: names of Satavahana rulers were derived from their mothers' names, such as Gotami-puta Siri-Satakani (son of Gotami). Many queens retained their father's gotra (Gotama, Vasistha) instead of adopting their husbands', and some belonged to the same gotra as their husbands, showing endogamy. This shows that Brahmanical rules were not universally followed, though succession was still patrilineal.
5. The varna order
The Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras laid down ideal occupations for the four varnas:
Varna | Ideal occupations |
|---|---|
Brahmanas | Study and teach the Vedas, perform sacrifices and get them performed, give and receive gifts |
Kshatriyas | Engage in warfare, protect people, administer justice, study the Vedas, get sacrifices performed, make gifts |
Vaishyas | Agriculture, pastoralism and trade, along with study of the Vedas, sacrifices and gifts |
Shudras | Serve the three "higher" varnas |
Enforcing the norms: Brahmanas claimed the order was divinely ordained (the Purusha sukta of the Rigveda describes the varnas emerging from the body of the primeval man); they advised kings to enforce it; and they tried to persuade people that status was based on birth, using stories in texts like the Mahabharata.
Non-Kshatriya kings: in practice, many rulers were not Kshatriyas. The Mauryas were described as Kshatriyas in some texts and of "low" origin in others; the Shungas and Kanvas were Brahmanas; and the Shakas, regarded as mlechchhas (outsiders) by Brahmanas, produced rulers such as Rudradaman, who rebuilt the Sudarshana lake. The Satavahana ruler Gotami-puta Siri-Satakani claimed to be a unique Brahmana and destroyer of Kshatriyas, yet entered into marriage alliances with the Shakas. Political power was effectively open to anyone who could muster support and resources.
6. Jatis and untouchability
Jatis, unlike varnas, were not fixed at four; they multiplied. When Brahmanical authorities encountered new groups, such as forest dwellers like the Nishadas, or people with new occupations, they classified them as jatis.
Jatis sharing an occupation sometimes organised themselves into shrenis (guilds). An inscription from Mandasor (Madhya Pradesh, fifth century CE) records the history of a guild of silk weavers who migrated from Lata (Gujarat) to Dashapura, and later took up other occupations, showing that occupations weren't always fixed.
Chandalas were placed at the very bottom. Activities like handling corpses and dead animals were considered polluting. According to the Manusmriti, Chandalas had to live outside the village, use discarded utensils, wear the clothes of the dead and iron ornaments, and couldn't walk in villages and cities at night. The Chinese pilgrims Fa Xian (fifth century) and Xuan Zang (seventh century) observed that "untouchables" had to strike a clapper in the streets to warn others of their presence.
Stories in Buddhist texts (Jatakas) show Chandalas resisting their humiliation.
7. Beyond the four varnas
Some groups were outside the varna order: forest people like the Nishadas (the Mahabharata tells of Ekalavya, a Nishada who was asked by Drona to give up his right thumb as a teacher's fee), nomadic pastoralists, and mlechchhas (people who spoke non-Sanskritic languages). The story of Hidimba, a forest-dwelling woman who married Bhima, shows interaction between such groups and those within the varna system.
8. Access to property
By gender: according to the Manusmriti, the paternal estate was to be divided equally among sons, with a special share for the eldest. Women could not claim a share of these resources. However, women could retain gifts received at marriage, known as stridhana, which their children could inherit without the husband having any claim. In the Mahabharata, Duryodhana's mother Gandhari counsels him, but the text shows women had little control over property. Some exceptional women, like Prabhavati Gupta, owned and granted land.
By varna: wealth was ideally linked to varna; Shudras' only "occupation" was service, while the three higher varnas could pursue wealth. Yet Buddhist texts and Sangam poems show that wealth often came from trade and agriculture, cutting across varna.
9. Alternative views of social difference
Buddhist texts recognised differences in society but rejected claims to status based on birth. A Buddhist myth describes how, as human greed grew, people chose a leader, Mahasammata ("the great elect"), to govern them, suggesting that kingship was based on human choice, not divine order.
In the Tamil Sangam tradition, generosity was a prized value: chiefs were praised for distributing wealth, and poets sang of patrons who gave generously.
10. The Mahabharata as a dynamic text
The Mahabharata was composed over about a thousand years (c. 500 BCE onwards), with many authors adding to it. It was originally a story of kinship conflict, composed and retold by charioteer-bards (sutas); later, Brahmanas took over its transmission and added didactic (teaching) sections on norms and dharma, such as the Bhagavad Gita.
The text was retold in many regional languages, written down, performed in plays, dance and storytelling, and adapted to local traditions, which is why it continues to grow and change.
A reliable approach to questions
For texts, discuss author, audience, language and the gap between norms and practice.
For marriage and gotra, give rules, then the Satavahana evidence showing variation.
For varna, give ideal occupations, then examples of non-Kshatriya kings.
For untouchability, cite the Manusmriti and the Chinese pilgrims.
For property, explain sons' inheritance, stridhana and exceptions.
Connections that matter
Kings, farmers and towns describes the states and rulers of the same period.
Thinkers, beliefs and buildings explains Buddhist ideas that challenged birth-based status.
Through the eyes of travellers shows how outsiders observed Indian society.
Common mistakes
Treating texts like the Manusmriti as descriptions of how everyone actually lived.
Saying all rulers were Kshatriyas.
Confusing exogamy and endogamy.
Saying women had no property at all. Stridhana belonged to them.
Treating jatis as fixed at four like varnas.
Revision checklist
I can explain the critical edition of the Mahabharata and its findings.
I can explain patriliny and the rules and forms of marriage.
I can explain gotra and the Satavahana evidence.
I can explain varna, its exceptions, jatis and untouchability.
I can explain gendered access to property and stridhana.
I can explain Buddhist and Sangam views and the Mahabharata as a dynamic text.