According to the Brahmanical gotra rules that developed from about 1000 BCE:

Women took their husband's gotra on marriage, and members of the same gotra could not marry

Women kept their father's gotra after marriage, and marriage within a gotra was preferred

Only Kshatriyas were assigned gotras, named after the founders of their dynasties

Women took their husband's gotra on marriage, and members of the same gotra could not marry

Gotras were assigned by kings as a reward for military service

Satavahana rulers such as Gotami-puta Siri-Satakani were identified by their mothers' names. What does this most reasonably indicate?

Mothers were important in identity, though succession was generally patrilineal

The Satavahanas followed matriliny, passing the throne through daughters

Satavahana queens ruled in their own right after the king's death

The Satavahanas rejected Vedic gotras altogether

The Mandasor inscription of about the fifth century CE is important to historians of caste because it:

Records a silk weavers' guild that migrated from Lata and whose members took up other occupations

Lists the duties of the four varnas as laid down by Manu

Records a land grant made by a Gupta princess

Describes the punishment of chandalas who entered a city

Records a silk weavers' guild that migrated from Lata and whose members took up other occupations

Read the source (paraphrased) and identify its author: "Untouchables must strike a piece of wood as they walk through the streets, so that people know they are coming and avoid them." The observation was made by a

Chinese Buddhist pilgrim of about the fifth century CE

Greek ambassador at the Mauryan court

Chinese Buddhist pilgrim of about the fifth century CE

Moroccan traveller of the fourteenth century

Brahmana author of a Dharmasutra laying down rules for chandalas

Assertion (A): The Dharmashastras laid down that only Kshatriyas could be kings. Reason (R): Every ruling lineage of early India, including the Shungas and the Kanvas, was of Kshatriya origin.

Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A

Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A

Under the norms of the Manusmriti, which kind of property could a woman retain as her own, to be inherited by her children without any claim from her husband?

Gifts received at marriage — stridhana

An equal share of her father's land

Gifts received at marriage — stridhana

Land granted to her by the king as an agrahara

Kinship, Caste and Class — Early Societies and the Mahabharata

How were families organised in early India, who could marry whom, who could inherit, and how rigid was the order of varna? Historians answer these questions mainly from texts, and above all from the Mahabharata and the Sanskrit treatises on social norms written by Brahmanas. The chapter's key move — and the one the paper tests most — is to read those texts critically: the Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras describe how society ought to be, not necessarily how it was, and inscriptions, Buddhist texts and the accounts of foreign travellers often show a more varied picture. The chapter also introduces the Mahabharata itself as a source: how it was composed, and how a team of scholars produced its critical edition.

The Mahabharata as a Source — the Critical Edition

In 1919 the Sanskritist V. S. Sukthankar led an ambitious project, based at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune, to prepare a critical edition of the Mahabharata. Scholars collected Sanskrit manuscripts written in a variety of scripts from different parts of the subcontinent, compared verses from each, and selected those that appeared common to most versions; they were published in several volumes running to over 13,000 pages. The project took about 47 years to complete. Two things emerged: there were common elements in the Sanskrit versions of the story across the subcontinent, and there were enormous regional variations in how the text had been transmitted — evidence of a dialogue between dominant traditions and local ones.

The Mahabharata is classified by historians as itihasa ("thus it was") and its contents are often divided into two broad heads: narrative sections containing stories, and didactic sections containing prescriptions about social norms. The original story was probably composed by charioteer-bards known as sutas, who accompanied Kshatriya warriors to the battlefield; from the fifth century BCE Brahmanas took over the story and began to write it down. The period between c. 200 BCE and 200 CE saw the story re-cast, with Krishna coming to be identified with Vishnu, and the great didactic sections resembling the Manusmriti were probably added between c. 200 and 400 CE. Tradition names the sage Vyasa as the author who dictated it to Ganesha.

Kinship and Marriage — Patriliny, Gotra and the Exceptions

The Mahabharata is the story of a feud over land and power between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas, who belonged to a single ruling family, the Kurus. Its central story reinforced the idea of patriliny — descent traced from father to son, grandson and so on — which had existed before but was strengthened by the epic. Matriliny is the term for descent traced through the mother. Under patriliny, sons could claim the resources of their fathers when the fathers died; occasionally there were variations, such as a brother succeeding another, or women, such as Prabhavati Gupta, exercising power.

Rules of marriage: endogamy is marriage within a unit (a kin group, caste, or a group living in the same locality); exogamy is marriage outside it; polygyny is a man having several wives; polyandry is a woman having several husbands.
Eight forms of marriage: the Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras recognised eight forms; the first four were considered "good" while the remaining were condemned — possibly forms practised by those who did not accept Brahmanical norms.
The gotra rule: from about 1000 BCE, Brahmanas classified people into gotras, each named after a Vedic seer. Two rules mattered: women were expected to give up their father's gotra and adopt that of their husband on marriage, and members of the same gotra could not marry.
The Satavahana exception: names of several Satavahana women in inscriptions — such as Gotami and Vasithi — were derived from Vedic gotras, showing that some retained their father's gotra after marriage instead of adopting the husband's. Some of them also belonged to the same gotra as their husbands, against the rule of exogamy — an example of endogamy, perhaps reflecting practices common in parts of south India.
Metronymics: Satavahana kings were identified through their mothers — for example Gotami-puta Siri-Satakani, "son of Gotami" — even though succession to the throne was generally patrilineal.

⚠️ Mother's name ≠ matriliny

A Satavahana king named "son of Gotami" looks like evidence of matriliny, and the paper offers exactly that conclusion as a distractor. Succession among the Satavahanas was generally patrilineal; the metronymic shows that mothers mattered in identity, not that the throne passed through them.

Varna, Jati and Who Could Be King

The Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras set out an ideal order of four categories or varnas, each with "proper" occupations: Brahmanas were to study and teach the Vedas, perform sacrifices and give and receive gifts; Kshatriyas were to engage in warfare, protect people and administer justice; Vaishyas were to engage in agriculture, pastoralism and trade; and Shudras were assigned one occupation — serving the three "higher" varnas. Brahmanas claimed this order was divinely ordained, citing a verse of the Rigveda, the Purusha sukta, which describes the four varnas emerging from the body of the primeval man. The Manusmriti, one of the best-known Dharmashastras, was compiled between c. 200 BCE and 200 CE.

Non-Kshatriya kings: the Shastras held that only Kshatriyas could be kings, yet many ruling lineages had other origins. Later Buddhist texts suggest the Mauryas were Kshatriyas while Brahmanical texts describe them as of "low" origin; the Shungas and Kanvas, their immediate successors, were Brahmanas; the Shakas, who came from Central Asia, were regarded as mlechchhas (barbarians) by the Brahmanas — yet Rudradaman's Sanskrit inscription shows a Shaka ruler adopting Sanskritic norms.
Gotami-puta Siri-Satakani, the best-known Satavahana ruler, claimed to be a unique Brahmana and a destroyer of the pride of Kshatriyas — and yet he contracted marriage alliances with the Shakas, whom the Brahmanas called mlechchhas.
Jati: while varnas were fixed at four, there was no limit to the number of jatis. New groups, such as forest peoples or those with new occupations, were assigned jatis, and jatis sharing a common occupation sometimes organised themselves into shrenis or guilds.
The Mandasor inscription (c. fifth century CE, Madhya Pradesh) records the history of a guild of silk weavers who migrated from Lata (Gujarat) to Dashapura (Mandasor) and built a temple to the sun god; some members took up other occupations — evidence that a jati did not always fix a person's work.

Beyond the Four Varnas, Property and Gender

Some populations stood outside the varna order. Forest peoples — often called nishadas — were looked upon with suspicion; the story of Ekalavya, a forest-dweller who was refused as a pupil by the teacher Drona and then asked to cut off his right thumb as the teacher's fee, is told in this light. At the bottom of the order, Brahmanas classified certain groups as "untouchable", chiefly the chandalas, who were expected to live outside the village, use discarded utensils, wear clothes of the dead and ornaments of iron, and handle corpses and dead animals. The Chinese Buddhist monk Fa Xian (c. fifth century CE) wrote that "untouchables" had to sound a clapper in the streets so that people could avoid seeing them, and Xuan Zang (c. seventh century) observed that executioners and scavengers were forced to live outside the city.

On property, the Manusmriti holds that the paternal estate was to be divided equally among sons after the death of the parents, with a special share for the eldest; women could not claim a share. Women were allowed to retain gifts received at marriage as stridhana ("a woman's wealth"), which their children could inherit without any claim from the husband. Wealth could also come from other sources — Buddhist texts note that a rich man could be of any varna. And the Mahabharata itself shows norms being questioned: when Draupadi was staked and lost in the game of dice, she asked whether Yudhisthira had lost himself before staking her, a question the elders could not answer.

ℹ️ Draupadi's marriage — the historians' readings

Draupadi's marriage to the five Pandavas is the epic's best-known instance of polyandry, and the book does not settle why it is there. Some historians suggest the authors were describing a custom that existed among ruling elites at some point; others that polyandry may have been practised in some Himalayan regions or in times of crisis, such as a shortage of women; and others that it was gradually given up because it was disapproved of by the Brahmanas, so that later versions of the text offer explanations for it.

Key takeaways

The critical edition of the Mahabharata began in 1919 under V. S. Sukthankar at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, and took about 47 years.
The Mahabharata is classed as itihasa, with narrative and didactic sections; it was composed and expanded over many centuries.
The epic strengthened patriliny; the gotra rule required women to adopt the husband's gotra and forbade marriage within a gotra.
Satavahana queens who kept their father's gotra, some married within it, and kings named after their mothers show the rules were not universal.
The Shastras allowed only Kshatriyas to rule, yet Shungas and Kanvas were Brahmanas and Shakas were called mlechchhas.
The Mandasor inscription records a guild of silk weavers who moved from Lata to Dashapura; Fa Xian and Xuan Zang describe the treatment of "untouchables".
Stridhana — gifts received at marriage — remained a woman's own property, inheritable by her children.

Practice questions (8)

Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.

The project to prepare a critical edition of the Mahabharata, begun in 1919, was led by:
1. R. G. Bhandarkar
2. V. S. Sukthankar
3. Max Müller
4. D. D. Kosambi
Show answer
Answer: B — V. S. Sukthankar
V. S. Sukthankar led the project at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune, which took about 47 years. The institute's name is what makes R. G. Bhandarkar tempting — it was named after him, but he did not lead the edition. Max Müller edited the Rigveda, not the Mahabharata.
According to the Brahmanical gotra rules that developed from about 1000 BCE:
1. Women kept their father's gotra after marriage, and marriage within a gotra was preferred
2. Only Kshatriyas were assigned gotras, named after the founders of their dynasties
3. Women took their husband's gotra on marriage, and members of the same gotra could not marry
4. Gotras were assigned by kings as a reward for military service
Show answer
Answer: C — Women took their husband's gotra on marriage, and members of the same gotra could not marry
The two rules were that a woman adopted her husband's gotra at marriage and that people of the same gotra could not marry; each gotra was named after a Vedic seer. The option about keeping the father's gotra describes the Satavahana exception — queens who kept their father's gotra and sometimes married within it — which is precisely why it is notable as a departure from the norm.
Satavahana rulers such as Gotami-puta Siri-Satakani were identified by their mothers' names. What does this most reasonably indicate?
1. Mothers were important in identity, though succession was generally patrilineal
2. The Satavahanas followed matriliny, passing the throne through daughters
3. Satavahana queens ruled in their own right after the king's death
4. The Satavahanas rejected Vedic gotras altogether
Show answer
Answer: A — Mothers were important in identity, though succession was generally patrilineal
The metronymic shows that a mother's identity mattered, but succession to the Satavahana throne was generally patrilineal, so the name does not prove matriliny. The idea that they rejected gotras is contradicted by the evidence itself: names like Gotami and Vasithi are derived from Vedic gotras.
The Mandasor inscription of about the fifth century CE is important to historians of caste because it:
1. Lists the duties of the four varnas as laid down by Manu
2. Records a land grant made by a Gupta princess
3. Describes the punishment of chandalas who entered a city
4. Records a silk weavers' guild that migrated from Lata and whose members took up other occupations
Show answer
Answer: D — Records a silk weavers' guild that migrated from Lata and whose members took up other occupations
The inscription tells of a guild of silk weavers who moved from Lata in Gujarat to Mandasor, built a sun temple, and included members who took up other occupations — showing that a jati did not always fix a person's work. The land-grant option describes Prabhavati Gupta's grant, a different inscription; the varna duties come from the Dharmashastras, not from an inscription.
Read the source (paraphrased) and identify its author: "Untouchables must strike a piece of wood as they walk through the streets, so that people know they are coming and avoid them." The observation was made by a
1. Greek ambassador at the Mauryan court
2. Chinese Buddhist pilgrim of about the fifth century CE
3. Moroccan traveller of the fourteenth century
4. Brahmana author of a Dharmasutra laying down rules for chandalas
Show answer
Answer: B — Chinese Buddhist pilgrim of about the fifth century CE
The paraphrase matches Fa Xian, the Chinese Buddhist monk of about the fifth century CE, who wrote that "untouchables" had to sound a clapper in the streets so that people could avoid seeing them. A Dharmasutra prescribes rules about chandalas but would not describe them as an observer of street life, and the fourteenth-century traveller belongs to a much later chapter of history.
Assertion (A): The Dharmashastras laid down that only Kshatriyas could be kings. Reason (R): Every ruling lineage of early India, including the Shungas and the Kanvas, was of Kshatriya origin.
1. Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
2. Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
3. A is true, but R is false
4. A is false, but R is true
Show answer
Answer: C — A is true, but R is false
The Shastras did prescribe kingship for Kshatriyas, so A is true. But the Shungas and Kanvas, who succeeded the Mauryas, were Brahmanas, and the Shakas were regarded as mlechchhas — so R is false, and the gap between the norm and actual practice is exactly the chapter's point. Accepting R confuses what the texts prescribed with what happened.
Under the norms of the Manusmriti, which kind of property could a woman retain as her own, to be inherited by her children without any claim from her husband?
1. An equal share of her father's land
2. Gifts received at marriage — stridhana
3. Land granted to her by the king as an agrahara
4. The eldest son's special share
Show answer
Answer: B — Gifts received at marriage — stridhana
Stridhana, the gifts a woman received at marriage, remained hers and passed to her children. The paternal estate was divided among sons, with a special share for the eldest, and women could not claim a share of it — so the equal-share option states the opposite of the norm.
Match the term with its meaning. A. Endogamy B. Exogamy C. Polygyny D. Polyandry — 1. A woman having several husbands 2. Marriage within a unit 3. A man having several wives 4. Marriage outside a unit
1. A-4, B-2, C-3, D-1
2. A-2, B-4, C-1, D-3
3. A-2, B-4, C-3, D-1
4. A-4, B-2, C-1, D-3
Show answer
Answer: C — A-2, B-4, C-3, D-1
Endogamy is marriage within a unit and exogamy outside it; polygyny is a man with several wives (gyne, woman) and polyandry a woman with several husbands (andros, man). Draupadi's marriage to the five Pandavas is the epic's instance of polyandry. Swapping the two pairs is the common error, which is why every distractor here reverses one of them.