Discuss the evidence that suggests that Brahmanical prescriptions about kinship and marriage were not universally followed.
Brahmanical prescription about kinship and marriage:
Prescription about kinship
According to Sanskrit texts the term “kula’ was used to designate families and jati for the larger network of kinfolk. The term ‘vamsha’ was used for lineage. Very often people belonging to the same family share food and other resources where they live, work and perform rituals together. Families were considered as the part of larger networks of people defined as relatives a technical term used to define them was kinfolk. While familial ties were considered “natural” and based on blood they can be defined in different ways. For instance, some societies regard cousins as being blood relations, whereas others do not regard as from Historians retrieve information about elite families fairly easily since it is very hard to reconstruct the familial relationship of ordinary people. Historians also try to analyse their attitudes towards family and kinship. These are important, because they provide an insight into people’s thinking. It is also expected ideas would have shaped their action because their actions may have led to changes in their attitudes.
Prescription about marriage
For the continuity of the patrilineage the sons were considered important and the daughters could not over the resources of their household. They were married into families outside the kin. This system was known as exogamy which means marrying outside one’s kin or gotra. The women of high status families were married to the right persons at the right time. Kanyadana or the gift of a daughter in marriage was considered as an important religious duty of the father. With the emergence of new means of communication people came into contact with each other and they began to share their view. So the Brahaman said down codes of their social behaviour. These codes regarding social behaviour were later on enshrined in Dharmashastra. These texts recognised eight types of marriage. Among these types of marriage the four were considered as good while the rest four as condemnable. Satvahana rulers did not follow the exogamy of Brahmans.
Discuss whether the Mahabharata could have been the work of a single author.
Discuss whether kings in early states were invariably Kshatriyas.
How important were gender differences in early societies? Give reasons for your answer.
Compare and contrast the dharma or norms mentioned in the stories of Drona, Hidimba and Matanga.
Explain why patriliny may have been particularly important among elite families.
In what ways was the Buddhist theory of a social contract different from the Brahmanical view of society derived from the Purusha sukta?
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) gives(s) us an insight into the most profound depths of the soul of the Indian folk.” Discuss.
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 used 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.
List the items of food available to people in Harappan cities. Identify the groups who would have provided these.
Discuss the evidence of craft production in Early Historic cities. In what ways is this different from the evidence from Harappan cities?
Were the ideas of the Upanishadic thinkers different from those of the fatalists and materialists? Give reasons for your answer.
How do archaeologists trace socio-economic differences in Harappan society? What are the differences that they notice?
Describe the salient features of mahajanapadas.
Summarise the central teachings of Jainism.
Would you agree that the drainage system in Harappan cities indicates town planning? Give reasons for your answer.
How do historians reconstruct the lives of ordinary people?
Discuss the role of the begums of Bhopal in preserving the stupa at Sanchi.
List the materials used to make beads in the Harappan civilisation. Describe the process by which any one kind of bead was made.
Would you agree that the drainage system in Harappan cities indicates town planning? Give reasons for your answer.
Discuss the main features of Mauryan administration. Which of these elements are evident in the Asokan inscriptions that you have studied?
Discuss the role of the begums of Bhopal in preserving the stupa at Sanchi.
List the items of food available to people in Harappan cities. Identify the groups who would have provided these.
List the materials used to make beads in the Harappan civilisation. Describe the process by which any one kind of bead was made.
Were the ideas of the Upanishadic thinkers different from those of the fatalists and materialists? Give reasons for your answer.
Discuss the evidence of craft production in Early Historic cities. In what ways is this different from the evidence from Harappan cities?
How do historians reconstruct the lives of ordinary people?
Discuss how archaeologists reconstruct the past.
To what extent does knowledge of Buddhist literature help in understanding the sculpture at Sanchi?