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NCERT Class 12 History Chapter 3 Kinship, Caste and Class Early Societies
Also, you can read the NCERT book online in these sections Solutions by Expert Teachers as per Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Book guidelines. CBSE Class 12 History Solutions are part of All Subject Solutions. Here we have given NCERT Class 12 History Part – I: Themes in Indian History, History Part – II: Themes in Indian History, History Part – III: Themes in Indian History. NCERT Class 12 History Chapter 3 Kinship, Caste and Class Early Societies Notes, NCERT Class 12 History Textbook Solutions for All Chapters, You can practice these here.
Kinship, Caste and Class Early Societies
Chapter: 3
| THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY (PART – I) |
TEXTUAL QUESTIONS ANSWER
1. Explain why patriliny may have been particularly important among elite families.
Ans: Patriliny means tracing descent from father to son, grandson and so on. The elite families included the royal families or the families of the rich. The principle of patriliny would have been essential for them on account of the following reasons:
(i) To Carry Forward the Dynasty: According to Dharmashastras, it is the son who carries forward the dynasty. The daughters cannot do so. That is why, all the families wish for sons and not daughters. This also becomes clear from a couplet of Rigveda. In this couplet, the father wishes for, at the time of the marriage of his daughter that she should get best sons with the grace of Lord Indra.
(ii) To Escape from Disputes Concerning Inheritance: The parents did not like that there should be disputes in their family after their death. In the royal families, the acquisition of throne was also included in the inheritance. After the death of the king, his eldest son is entitled to sit on the throne. He was entitled to inherit the throne. Similarly the property of the parents was equally divided among all the sons after the death of their parents. Most of the royal families followed the patriliny since 600 B.C. No doubt, this tradition had a diversity.
(i) If there was no son, the brother of the king sat on the throne.
(ii) Sometimes the relatives put forward their claim to sit on the royal throne.
(iii) In some special situations, the women like Prabhavati enjoyed the authority.
2. Discuss whether kings in early states were invariably Kshatriyas.
Ans: According to the Dharmashastras, only Kshatriyas could be kings. However many important ruling lineages perhaps had different origins. Some people considered the Mauryas to be Kshatriyas. But some Brahmanical texts described them to be of low origin. The Shungas and Kanvas, the immediate successors of the Mauryas, were Brahmans. Infact, the political power went in the hands of those who could have support and resources. It did not depend on birth as a Kshatriya.
There were other rulers like Shakas who came from Central Asia. But the Brahmans considered them as mlechchhas, barbarians and outsiders. Similarly Gotami-puta Sri Satakani, the best known ruler of the Satavahana dynasty, became a destroyer of the pride of Kshatriyas. Thus we see that the Satavahanas claimed to be Brahmanas whereas according to the 0 Brahmanas, the kings should be Kshatriyas.
3. Compare and contrast the dharma or norms mentioned in the stories of Drona, Hidimba and Matanga.
Ans: Drona: Drona was a Brahmana. He taught archery to princes of the Kuru dynasty. According to Dharmashastras, to impart education was the pious deed of the Brahmanas. In this way, Drona was performing his duty. At that time, the low caste people could not get an education. So he refused Eklavya to have him as his pupil. As Ekalavya had acquired a great skill in archery, Drona demanded his right thumb as his fee though it was against religious norms. It means that at last Drona had accepted Ekalavya as his pupil. In fact, Drona did such a low act just to keep his word that no one was better than Arjuna.
Hidimba: Hidimba was rakshasi. In fact, all the rakshasas were man eaters. One day her brother asked her to capture the Pandavas so that he may eat them. But she did not follow her religion. She fell in love with Bhima and married him. She gave birth to a rakshasa boy named Ghatotkacha. Thus she did not keep up the norms of rakshasas.
Matanga: Matanga was a Bodhisattva. He had taken birth in the house of a Chandala. But he married Dittha Mangalika, the daughter of a merchant. After some time a son named Mandavya Kumara was born to them. As he grew up, he learnt the three Vedas. He offered food to 16000 Brahmans every day. However he refused to offer food to his father, when he, dressed in rags, reached at his door steps with a clay alms bowl in his hand. He considered his father like an outcaste. He told him to be unworthy of his alms. He said that his food was meant for the Brahmanas. Matanga advised his son that he should not be proud of his birth. Then he rose in the air and disappeared. When Dittha Mangalika came to know about this incident, she went after Matanga and begged his forgiveness. She acted like a true wife. She performed her duty religiously. There was a tinge of pride in the behaviour of Mandavya. A donor is often generous. But Mandavya did not follow the norms of religion and generosity.
4. In what ways was the Buddhist theory of a social contract different from the Brahmanical view of society derived from the Purusha Sukta?
Ans: According to the Purusha Sukta of the Rigveda, the four Varnas emerged because of the sacrifice of Purusha, the primeval man. These Varnas were – Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. These Varnas had different jobs. The Brahmanas enjoyed the supreme position in the society. They used to study Dharmashastras. They also taught others. The Kshatriyas were brave warriors. They ran the administration. The Vaishyas were engaged in trade. The Shudras were destined to serve the above three Varnas. So there was inequality in the society. In this system, only the birth was the basis of status and prestige in society.
The Buddhist concept was contrary to this Brahmanical notion. They accepted that there was an inequality in the society. But according to them, this inequality was neither natural nor permanent. They also rejected birth as the base of social prestige.
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 use 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.
Ans: Besides age, gender and kinship ties, there are many other bases to make this list. For example, the respect for teachers, brave warriors, slaves and their sons. All these have been given a due place in the list keeping in mind their social status:
(i) First of all, the highest honours have been bestowed on the Brahmanas, the Purohits and the Gurus who were all widely respected.
(ii) Secondly, respect has been shown to fraternal kins who are also like parents.
(iii) Thereafter have been placed those who are younger or equal in age.
(iv) In this order, the young Kuru warriors have been respected.
(v) After this, the women have been given the due place. In this order come the mothers, wives, daughters-in-law and daughters. They also include beautiful dasis and their sons.
(vi) The orphans and handicapped have also not been ignored. Yudhisthira also salutes or greets them.
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) give (s) us an insight into the most profound depths of the soul of the Indian folk.” Discuss.
Ans: There are several literary sources to reconstruct ancient Indian history. Mahabharata is one of them. This is a famous historical source Its importance has been recognised in not by Indian historians but also by foreign or western historians; for example Maurice Winternitz wrote about great epic, just because the Mahabharata represents more of an entire literature. It contains so many kinds of hints related with different aspects of the Indians live. If we study this vast book it gives us an inside into the most profound depth of the soul of the Indian people For example Mahabharata was written in Sanskrit, a language meant also exclusively for priests and elites. However, the Sanskrit used in simpler than that of the Vedas. Therefore it was probably widely understood.
Historians usually classify the contents of the present text under two broad heads- sections that contain stories, designated as the narrative, and sections that contain prescriptions about social norms, designated as didactic. This division is by no means watertight – the didactic sections include stories, and the narrative often contains a social message. However, generally historians agree that the Mahabharata was meant to be a dramatic, moving story, and that the didactic portions were probably added later.
Interestingly, the text is described as an itihasa within early Sanskrit tradition. The literal meaning of the term is “thus it was”, which is why it is generally translated as “history”.
Who wrote the Mahabharata: This is a question to which there are several answers. The original story was probably composed by charioteer-bards known as sutas who generally accompanied Kshatriya warriors to the battlefield and composed poems celebrating their victories and other achievements. These compositions circulated orally. Then, from the fifth century BCE, Brahmanas took over the story and began to commit it to writing.
Importance: The Mahabharata, like any major epic, contains vivid descriptions of battles, forests, palaces and settlements. This book described not only kinship, political life of that period but also social priority based on caste, sex and social classes. We can find about some major feature of family life such as ideal of patriliny, different forms of marriage and rules related with marriage system, the social position of women, however mothers’ importance in the society. Social differences prevailed in the social system of India. Some thrones were occupied even by known Kshatriya kings. The epic also deals about jati and social mobility etc.
7. Discuss whether the Mahabharata could have been the work of a single author.
Or
Who composed the original story of the text of the Mahabharata? Describe the various stages through which the Mahabharata was completed between the fifth century BCE and 400 СЕ.
Ans: It is not possible for a single author to compose the entire Mahabharata. It seems to have been composed between 500 B.C.E. to 100 C.E. As a result, many episodes have been incorporated in it from time to time. Some of the stories mentioned in it were alrealy popular among the people. As Mahabharata was written in a very long time, it seems as if no single author would have written it.
Different Authors
The following suggestions are given regarding the authors of Mahabharata:
(i) The original story of Mahabharata was written by Bhatt-Sarthis. They were called as Sutas. They generally accompanied Kshatriya warriors to the battlefield. So they composed poems to celebrate the victories and achievements of various warriors. These composition were circulated through oral method.
(ii) From the 5th century B.C.E., the Brahmanas took over the story and began to write it in the form of an epic. The story moved around the Kurus. As the Kurus and Panchalas had attained kingdom from chiefdom, it is possible that these new kings might have wanted their history to be recorded and preserved in a more systematic way. Besides, old social values were replaced by new norms. So it is possible that such upheavals might have necessitated the re-writting of the epic story.
(iii) Another phase in the composition of the epic task of Mahabharata started between 200 B.C.E. and 200 C.E. This was the time when the worship of Vishnu was becoming quite important. Krishna who was one of the most important characters in the epic, was identified with Vishnu.
(iv) Therefore between 200 and 400 C.Е., many didactic sections resembling the Manusmriti was added in the main story. Originally the text of Mahabharata had 10,000 verses. But after addition of didactic section, it comprised of 1,00,000 verses.
(v) However the enormous composition of Mahabharata is traditionally attributed to Vyasa, a famous sage.
8. How important were gender differences in early societies? Give reasons for your answer.
Ans: There were three main reasons of gender differences in early societies:
(i) Gender inequality, patrilineal system.
(ii) Gotra of woman.
(iii) Right over property.
(i) Gender inequality: Earlier societies were male dominated and were run according to the patrilineal system. That is why male child was desired in every type of family as sons were important for the continuity of the patilineage. Daughters was viewed rather differently in this system. They had no right over ancestral resources. They were expected to marry out of their gotras. This custom of marriage is known as ‘exogamy’. It means that young girls and women of reputed families were regulated in a way that they could marry at right time and with right person. This gave rise to the belief that Kanyadana was an important religious duty of the father.
(ii) Gotra of Women: From C 1000 BCE onwards, people were classified into gotras by Brahamanas. Each gotra was named after a Vedic seer as all the members of that gotra were assumed as the descendants of that seer.
There were two important rules of gotras:
(a) Woman had to adopt gotra of her husband after her marriage.
(b) Members of same gotra could not marry with each other.
But some evidences have been found in which these rules were not obeyed. For example, some of the Satavahana rulers had more than one wife (polygamy). A study of the names of wives of Satavahana rulers revealed that a few of them had names derived from gotras such as Gotama and Vasistha which were their father’s gotras. They probably had retained these names instead of adopting names of their husband’s gotras. Some women also belonged to the same gotra as of their husbands. This fact was against the rules of exogamy. This fact actually exemplified an alternative practice that of endogamy or marriage within the kin group. This type of marriage still exists in many communities of South India. These sorts of marital relations give strength to organised communities.
Satavahana rulers were identified through the names derived from that of the mother. Although this may suggest that mothers were important but we should note down the fact the succession to the throne, among Satavahanas, was generally patrilineal.
(iii) Access to Property: According to Manusmriti, ancestral property of parents should be distributed (after their death) equally among all the sons. But eldest son should be given special share. Women could not demand their share in these ancestral resources. But they had the right over the gifts given to them at the time of their marriage. It was known as stridhana or woman’s wealth. This wealth could be inherited by her children. Their husbands had no right over this wealth. But Manusmriti restricts women to secretly collect any valuable goods or familial property without the permission of their husbands.
Some evidences indicate that yet women of upper class had resources within their reach but still land, animals and wealth were under the control of males. In other words, social differences among men and women were increased because of the difference in access of resources or property.
9. Discuss the evidence that suggests that Brahmanical prescriptions about kinship and marriage were not universally followed.
Ans: I. Brahmanical prescriptions about kinship and their followup by other people:
(i) Sanskrit texts use the term kula to designate families and jati for the larger network of kinfolk. The term vamsha is used for lineage.
(ii) Often people belonging to the same family share food and other resources, and live, work and perform rituals together. Families are usually parts of larger networks of people defined as relatives, or to use a more technical term, kinfolk. While familial ties are often regarded as “natural” and based on blood, they are defined in many different ways. For instance, some societies regard cousins as being blood relations, whereas others do not.
(iii) For early societies, historians can retrieve information about elite families fairly easily; it is, however, far more difficult to reconstruct the familial relationship of ordinary people. Historians also investigate and analyse attitudes towards family and kinship. These are important, because they provide an insight into people’s thinking; it is likely that some of these ideas would have shaped their actions, just as actions may have led to changes in attitudes.
II. Causes of quarrel in kinsfolk: A question arises why do kinsfolk quarrel? We can understand it by taking an excerpt from the Adi-Parvan.
The Mahabharata describe in a very interesting manner why conflict arose among cousins, in this case-Kauravas and Pandavas, both part of the Kuru lineage.
The Kauravas were the….sons of Dhritarashtra, and the Pandavas…were their cousins. Since Dhritarashtra was blind, his younger brother Pandu ascended to throne of Hastinapura when their father died. However, after the premature death of Pandu, Dhritarashtra had to become the king, as the
royal princes were still very young. As the princes grew up together, the citizens of Hastinapura began to express their preference for the Pandavas, for they were more capable and virtuous than the Kauravas.
This made Duryodhana, the eldest of the Kauravas, jealous. He approached his father and said, “You yourself did not receive it (the throne), although it fell to you, because of your defect. If the Pandavas receive the patrimony from Pandu, his son will surely inherit it in turn, and so will his son, and his (i.e. a patrilineal form of succession).
10. Compare the map in this chapter with Map 1 in chapter 2. List the mahajanapadas and cities located near the Kuru-Panchala lands.
Ans:
Indication Mahajanapadas: Malla, Koshala, Sakya, Avanti, Matsya, Surasena, Vatsa, Gandhara, Chedi, Vanga, Kuru.
Map-2: Hints: Name of the cities: Hastinapura, Indraprastha, Virat, Mathura, Ujjayini, Kaushambi, Kapilavastu, Lumbini, Pava, Kushinagara, Vaishali, Sarnath, Varanasi, Bodh Gaya, Shravasti, Pataliputra.
List of Mahajanapadas: Kamboja, Gandhara, Kuru, Surasena, Matsya, Avanti, Chedi, Vatsa, Ashmaka, Magadha, Anga, Shakya, Kashi, Panchala, Malla, Koshala.
