Скачать или смотреть Episode 8: Caste System and Social Organisation; Varnashram and Vivaaha among the Mauryans.

We are back with Episode 8 after the mid-season break.
This episode talks about social organisation during Mauryan times. The basis for this was the varnashrama system and the purusharthas,
Varna jaati vyavastha of the past is seen as being synonymous with the caste system as we know it today. The translation, however, has lead to a real loss of meaning. The varna jaati vyavastha was very different from the Western, Colonial, Christian understanding of the way Indic society was organised.
Integrating India into one of the heathen nations mentioned in the Old Testament they modelled India as a group of warring tribes controlled by the all powerful Brahmins at the top regardless of the reality of the country.
Sociological theories such as those of Louis Dumont pitting Homo Hierarchicus of India vs the Homo Equaalis of Europe made the situation even more murky. Such artificially built up theoretical structures were accepted even though there was not enough evidence to back these up.
A study of Kautilya’s Arthsashatra shows us the complex and dynamic reality of the time where the idea of 4 rigid varnas in a rigid hierarchy of status and occupation where entry was by birth only was simply not true.
There is evidence of fluidity of varnas, Chandragupta Maurya himself could have been a Shudra, his Senapati Pushymitra Sunga a Brahmin, and his viceroy Pushyagupta a Vaishya.
The descriptions of the 4 varnas in the Arthashastra throw up many surprises in terms of the active and dynamic role of the Shudras including being recruited as soldiers in the army and as artists, artisans, poets, scientists etc; the doers of society which made it move.
The ashrama system was envisaged as a choice between different modes of life although most people chose the householder or grihast way of life.
There were 8 kinds of marriage and a strong focus on the consent of the woman. Vivaaha was situated in the context of the community and also allowed for personal inclinations through the concept of Gandharva Vivaaha.
Dharma Artha and Kama, the purusharthas, were the guiding lights of earthly endeavours and Kautilya has much to say of them concluding in the idea of a balance between all of them.
The Law and Justice system kept this social organisation in place.
• Selected References :
• “The Heathen in his Blindness” by S.N. Balagangadhara
• “Western Foundations of the Caste System” Editors: Fárek, M., Jalki, D., Pathan, S., Shah, P.
• “The Nay Science” by Vishwa Adluri and Joy Bagchee, “
• “Social Stratification” ed Dipankar Gupta.
• “Kautilya Arthashastra” R P Kangle Vol1 to 3 .
• “Homo Hierarchicus” by Louis Dumont
• Writings of Andre Beteille