Discuss the evidence tliat suggests that Brahmanical prescriptions about kinship and F 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 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 defined 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 from it is very hard 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 the daughters could not over the resources of their household. They were married into families outsidethe 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 right time. Kanayadana 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 Dharmashashtra. These text recognised eight types of marriage. Among these types of marriage the four were considered as good while the rest four as condemnable. Satvahana ruler did not follow exogamy of Brahmans.
The following is an excerpt from the Mahabharata in which Yudhisthira, the eldest Jandava, speaks to Sanjaya, a messenger:
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.
This is what a famous historian of Indian literature, Maurice Wintemitz, wrote about the Mahabharata: "Just because the Mahabharata represents more of an entire literature…. and contains so many kinds of things….(it) give(s) us an insight into the most profound depths of the soul of the Indian folk."Discuss.
In what ways was the Buddhist theory of a social contract different from the Brahmanical view of a society derived from the Purusha Sukta?(VBQ)
Compare and contrast the dharma or norms mentioned in the stories of Drona, Hidimba andMatanga.
Discuss the evidence tliat suggests that Brahmanical prescriptions about kinship and F marriage were not universally followed.