The Chapter introduces students to early Indian history, explains social behaviour, and various social differences beyond and within the framework of caste. We also highlight the critical edition of Mahabharata and the varna system and its integration of varna practices. The chapter also talks about the types and rules of different marriages.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Early Historic Period
Social Behaviour
Historians often use textual traditions to understand social history, many texts lay down norms of social behaviour.
Many of the sources comment on a wide range of social situations and practices.
Mahabharata is one of the major texts that allow piecing together attitudes and practices that shaped social histories.
It is one of the richest texts of the sub-continent & was composed over a period of 1000 years.
The central story is about two sets of warring cousins. The text also contains sections laying down norms of behaviour for various social groups.
The Critical Edition of Mahabharata
A team of scholars initiated the task of preparing a critical edition of Mahabharata, under the leadership of a noted Indian Sanskritist V.S. Sukthankar.
Initially they collected the Sanskrit manuscript of the text, written in a variety of languages from different parts of the country.
The team compared the verses from each manuscript, also they selected the verses which appeared common and published in several volumes, running into over 13,000 pages. It took 47 years to complete.
There were several common elements in the Sanskrit versions of the story, evident in manuscripts found all over the subcontinent from Kashmir to Kerala & Tamil Nadu in the South.
Also evident were enormous regional variations in the ways in which the text had been transmitted over the centuries. These variations were documented in footnotes and appendices to the main text.
Rules and Varied Practices
Kinship
Families are usually part of a larger network of people defined as relatives or Kinfolk. Not all families are identical; they vary in terms of the number of members, their relationship with one another as well as the