Chapter – 3

Kinship, Caste and Class

In this post, we have given the detailed notes of Class 12 History Chapter 3 (Kinship, Caste and Class) in English. These notes are useful for the students who are going to appear in class 12 board exams.

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Mahabharata

The Mahabharata is a dynamic epic that describes the battle of Kurukshetra between the Kauravas and the Pandavas.

Creation of Mahabharat

• Initially there were about 8800 verses in the Mahabharata, but over time this number increased to one lakh.
• It is believed that Mahabharata was created in a thousand years.
• Keeping these two things in mind, one thing is clear that Mahabharata was not created by any one person, but from time to time new compositions were added to it.

Author of Mahabharat

In Ancient Time

• Bhat Sarathi is believed to be the original author of Mahabharata .
• Bhaat Charioteer
  • were the people who accompanied the warriors to the battlefield
  • Then he used to write the description of every event that happened on the battlefield.
• Veda Vyasa is considered to be the main literary writer of Mahabharata .
• Veda Vyasa gave literary form to Mahabharata
• Some fragments of Manusmriti were added to it around 200 BC.
• And after that it included the teachings of Shri Krishna and Bhagwat Geeta
• The creation period of Mahabharata is believed to be from 500 BC to 500 AD.
• In olden times it was called Jayasamhita

In Modern Times

• In 1919, VS Sukhtankar (Sanskrit scholar) took up the task of re-creating the Mahabharata.
• In this project, he collected all the manuscripts and information related to Mahabharata available in the country and made Mahabharata on the basis of them.
• It took him about 47 years to complete this work.
• It was published in several volumes spread over 13000 pages.

Family

• Family was one of the important institutions of society
• In Sanskrit texts the family was called Kul.
• family characteristics
  • Distribution of resources among all family members
  • gets along
  • mutual support
  • use of family resources

Patriarchy

• According to this system, male is given more importance in the society.
• according to tradition
  • the head of the household is a male
  • and has the power to make all the major decisions
  • The property is the right of the son after the death of the father.
  • In the absence of a son, a brother or brother is made the heir.
  • In certain circumstances, power was also given to women.

Dharmasutras and Theology

• In view of the changing circumstances of the society and the increasing interaction among the people, the Brahmins made some rules and regulations.
• These set of rules, laws and rules were called code of conduct.
• These were compiled into 520 Christian scriptures called the Christian Dharma Sutras and Dharma Shastras.
• The most important of these was the Manusmriti.
• It was compiled between 200 BC to 200 AD

Things mentioned in the scriptures and sutras

• gotra
• types of marriages
• varna system
• other characters
• caste system
• Property

Gotra

• In Hinduism, it is mainly believed that every Hindu is the child of one or the other sage.
• Gotra is determined according to the name of these sages.
• In Hinduism, the origin of all is mainly believed to be from 7 zodiac signs.
• That is why in the beginning the number of gotras was 7
• In future, another gotra Agastya was added to it and in this way the number of gotras became 8.
• With the passage of time the number of these gotras increased.
• They have been in circulation since about 1000 BC.
• Main Gotra
  • Atri
  • Bhrigu
  • Gautam
  • Kashyap
  • Vashist
  • Vishwamitra
  • Agastya

Gotra Rules

• Members of the same gotra cannot intermarry because it is believed that they are sister and brother.
• After marriage, a woman has to change her father’s gotra and adopt her husband’s gotra.

Types of Marriage on the basis of Gotra

• Bahir Marriage – The practice of marrying from one gotra to another was called Bahir marriage.
• Inter marriage – The state of marriage between people of the same gotra, clan or caste was called inter marriage
• Polyandry – This was the situation in which a woman had multiple husbands.
• Multiple wife marriage – In this marriage, the same man used to have many wives.

Types of Marriages

According to the Dharma Sutras and Dharma Shastras, there were eight types of marriages.

• Brahma Marriage
  • Marriage of a girl child with the consent of both the parties is called Brahma Vivah.
• God Marriage
  • Giving one’s daughter in charity as the value of a religious ritual is called Dev Vivah.
• Half Marriage
  • Marrying a girl child by giving dowry to the parents of the girl child is called Arsh Vivah.
• Prajapatya Marriage
  • Without the consent of the girl, marrying her to the groom of the elite class, that is, the upper class, is called Prajapatya marriage.
• Gandharva Vivah
  • Without the consent of the family, the marriage of the bride and the bridegroom without any customs is called Gandharva marriage.
• Asura Marriage
  • Buying a girl and getting married is called asura marriage.
• Monster Marriage
  • Abducting a girl child without her consent and forcibly marrying her is called Rakshasa Vivah.
• Paisach Marriage
  • Taking advantage of the girl’s intoxication (deep sleep, mental weakness etc.) to make physical relation with her and marry her is called ‘Paisach Vivah’.   

Out of these marriages, the first four marriages were considered correct while the remaining 4 were considered wrong .

Origin of Characters

• According to the brahmins, all the varnas have originated from different parts of the body of Brahma ji.
• Based on this, the functions of that Varna were determined.
• According to Brahmins
  • Brahmins originated from the mouth of Brahma ji
  • Kshatriyas originated from their shoulders and arms.
  • Origin of Vaishya told from thighs
  • Shudras originated from the feet of Brahma

Varna System

• According to the Dharma Sutras and Dharma Shastras, the Brahmins had divided the society into 4 varnas.
  • Brahmin
  • Kshatriya
  • Vaishya
  • Shudra

Functions of different Characters

According to this division, the work of all these was also divided.

• Brahmin
  • Studying the Vedas, Performing and getting Yagyas done, Begging for alms
• Kshatriya
  • To rule, to fight, to do justice, to give charity, to provide protection to people, to perform sacrifices, to read Vedas, etc.
• Vaishya
  • Agriculture, animal husbandry, business, reading the Vedas, performing yagya, giving charity etc.
• Shudra
  • to serve the three varnas

Other Classes

• According to the brahmins, the prestige of a person was determined on the basis of his birth and not on the basis of his ability and ability.
• For this reason this arrangement was controversial.
• Brahmins considered some people outside this varna system
• According to him there were two types of karma
• Holy Deeds
  • All those works which were done by the 4 classes of people were considered sacred deeds.
• Bad Deeds
  • Apart from this, other works such as lifting dead bodies, performing last rites, cleaning the dirt, etc. were considered corrupt deeds.
  • All such people who used to do this evil deed were declared untouchables.
  • These untouchables were called Chandalas.

Status of Chandalas ( Untouchables )

• The Chandalas are mainly described in the Manusmriti.
  • According to this the Chandal had to live outside the village.
  • They were not allowed to enter the village at night
  • He used to use utensils and things thrown by people
  • used to wear clothes after taking off the dead bodies
  • All the dead bodies were cremated by him.
  • They were considered untouchables by the society
  • Chandalas were looked down upon
  • Even looking at them was considered a sin.
• According to other sources such as the Chinese Buddhist monk Fa Xi An
  • Before coming to the village, the Chandalas had to play kartal so that people would know about their arrival and they all went to their homes because according to the people of that time it was a sin to see the Chandalas.

Caste System

• With the passage of time, many such people came to the fore who could not fit into the varna system created by the brahmins.
• In view of this situation, the Brahmins created the caste system.
• These castes were determined according to the work being done by the individuals.
• With the passage of time the number of these castes increased and they were also determined by birth.
• for example
  • Hunter
  • Nishad (people who live in the forest)
  • Potter
  • Goldsmith
• Such people who could not speak Sanskrit at that time were called Malechha and were looked down upon.

Right to Property

• Right to property refers to the resources available with the people in the society.
• The study of right to property can be done on two grounds.

On the Basis of Gender

• All sons had equal rights on father’s property.
• The eldest son was given a special share of property
• The daughter had no right over the property of the parents.
• The gifts and money received during the marriage of a woman were called Stree Dhan and the woman had full rights over it.
• Husband had no right on Streedhan
• Secretly collecting money by wives was considered wrong

By Character

• There was great variation in the distribution of property on the basis of Varna.
• Shudras had only one job, that was to serve the remaining three varnas, that’s why they were mostly poor.
• Brahmins and Kshatriyas used to be the richest because Brahmins used to have a special position in the society and Kshatriyas were engaged in governance work.
• Vaishyas often had the choice of many tasks, but their position in the society was according to their work, for example
• farmers were mainly poor
• While merchants used to be rich
• The condition of the Chandalas was very poor in terms of property, they depended on the things discarded by others.

Did all the people follow the rules made by the brahmins ?

• Due to different systems in different parts of the country, Brahminical system was not accepted everywhere.
• for example
• The Satavahana rulers did not follow the gotra system.
• The wives of these kings adopted their father’s gotra even after marriage.
• The practice of polygamy was also accepted by the Satavahana rulers.
• Some of his queens also belonged to the same gotra.
• In some parts of South India, intermarriage was also adopted.
• according to which marriage was performed between people belonging to the same gotra or caste

Importance of women in society

• Women were not given much rights under the Brahminical system.
• While there were many areas in the country where women were respected equally.
• The Satavahana rulers were known by the name of their mother.
• During the time of the Satavahana rulers, women also had the right to property and she also used the property according to her own.

Were only Chhatriyas used to be kings ?

• According to the brahminical system, only Kshatriyas had the right to become the king but the reality was far different from this.
• for example
• Chandra Gupta Mourya
  • According to Buddhist and Jain texts it is believed that Chandragupta Maurya was a Kshatriya.
  • Whereas according to Brahmins they belonged to the following clan
  • If in this situation the words of the Brahmins are considered correct, then it is clear that not only Kshatriyas used to make kings, but people of other clans also used to make kings.
• Saka ruler
  • They came to India from Central Asia and established rule in India.
  • These were called nomads (a nomad is a person who moves from one place to another in search of food).
  • The Shaka rulers were also of low caste but still they were in the rank of king.
• Shunga and Kanva
  • He was the successor of Maurya
  • They were considered as Brahmins and they also went on to become rulers.
• Satavahana ruler
  • The Satavahana rulers called themselves such a unique brahmin who killed the Kshatriyas.
  • So according to this statement the Satavahana rulers were brahmins and yet they became kings.
• It is clear from the above examples that not only Kshatriyas used to be kings but people of other classes also used to be kings.

The Cause of Social inequality according to Buddhism

• According to the Sutta Pitaka, the main text of Buddhism
• Humans were not fully developed in the beginning
• That is why he used to take from nature only what he needed at a time.
• But over time this system changed and man became greedy and insidious and tried to control all the resources.
• In view of this situation, the people of that time considered whether we could choose such a person.
• One who is angry at the right things and can punish such persons who are spreading evils in the society.
• In return for this act of his, we will give him a portion of rice.
• Here there has been talk of the election of the king, who will see that the situation in the society continues in the right way.
• The portion of rice means the taxes paid to the king.

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