Previous NextThe Social Structure and Other Features of the Age 1 October 1967, Ranchi Published in: Discourses on the Mahábhárata Notes: official source: Discourses on the Mahábhárata this version: is the printed Discourses on the Mahábhárata, 2nd edition, version (obvious spelling, punctuation and typographical mistakes only may have been corrected). I.e., this is the most up-to-date version as of the present Electronic Edition. Words in double square brackets [[   ]] are corrections that did not appear in the printed version. (1) Now we shall discuss dress, food, language, script and social structure in the Mahábhárata period. DRESS (2) Dhuti and cádar are Indiaʼs own dress. To stitch a shirt and the like was not done in ancient India. But sometimes there was inconvenience with the cádar, so people began getting it stitched. When the Aryans came to India, the dhuti was being used, but with it people were wearing a stitched garment, a sort of T-shirt. Excepting purohits, all were using it. The purohits would use cádars. (3) Páyjámá, kámij, etc., came from Persia a long time later. “Kámij” is a Persian word, so is “jama”. Jámá is known as “kurtá” in Bengali. “Jámá” is a Persian word and not an Indian word. (4) During the Mahábhárata period, vipras would use dhuti and cádar. And so would vaeshyas. Shúdras would use only dhuti, and kśatriyas would wear a dhuti and a tight kurtá like a T-shirt. The Kaoravas and Pandavas used this very dress. (5) Long after the Mahábhárata, Kaniska, the Hiinayanii Buddhist king from Central Asia, invaded India and expanded his kingdom. Of course he did not invade personally; rather the invasion was done by Kujela Kadphisus. Then Bhima Kadphisus made his entry, and then came Kaniska. The names Kujela Kadphisus and Bhima Kadphisus alone show that they were not Indians; but when Kaniska was enthroned his name was Kaniska – an Indian name. At the time of Kaniska, Indians began to use páyjámá. Before him there was no usage of páyjámá in India. Even a short time before the present, people with old ideas would regard a man in páyjámá as a Muslim. (6) So this was the dress during the Mahábhárata period. (7) Those persons – vipra, kśatriya and vaeshya – who came from Aryan families generally used turbans. And the respect to be paid was judged from the turban – the costlier the turban, the greater the man. That Mahábhárata system as regards the turban is still there in the Punjab in one way or other. When juniors were greeting seniors, they had to take off their turbans. FOOD (8) The staple food of ancient India was very simple. The ancient people did not use rut́i, but rather used rice. There was no use at all of garam masalá and the like. People were taking boiled food which nowadays we call haviśánna the kind of food which is taken in India for a particular number of days of the mourning period after death. But in the Mahábhárata period, because of the Aryans, there was use of meat, especially among the kśatriyas. There were a number of jungles then. Hence people mostly liked to take deer meat According to Vaedika views, deer meat, being sentient, could be taken by Vipras also. There is no proof about fish-eating in that period. Probably people did not eat fish. Food made with spices – polao and the like – was not known to Indians. The use of polao we have learned from Persia. (9) As far as vegetables, [[radish]], eggplant, beans, okra and potato were not used in India, because all these were brought to India afterwards. Eggplant came from China, the radish from Japan, okra from Africa, pumpkin and squash from Europe, and potato from America. In the India of that time there were none of these things. We have learned about spices mostly from South Russia and old Iran. (10) Rice was heavily used, as wheat came from outside India. In the old Vaedika language, rice has no name. Of course, the same is the case with wheat, with which the Aryans first came in contact in Persia. When the Aryans moved from Persia to India, in the period of the Atharva Veda, they first came in contact with rice. Before they came to Persia, known as Iran (known as Áryańyavraja in the Vaedika language, which got changed into Iráńvej – at present the official name of Persia is Iráńbej), they knew only the use of barley. (11) Coming to Persia, they learned the use of wheat. It was tasty. When some function is held that we enjoy, we say the function was held with “dhum-dhám” (pomp and show). “Go” in Saḿskrta means “tongue”. And since there was great pleasure in the tongue upon taking wheat, it was known as “godhum”. This “godhum” got changed in the Prákrta language to “gohuma” which in Bihar became “gahum” or “gehuṋ.” (12) And when the Aryans came in contact with rice, they named it “briihi,” which means “food.” India was a rice-eating country. Later on, wheat from outside India was brought and used. The first use of wheat was in Saptanada Desha, the Punjab. Wheat did not have any local name. When it ripens it becomes like gold. So in the Punjab it is known as “kanaka,” meaning “gold.” (13) So in the Mahábhárata age, people were rice-eaters. This was the food, the most simple food. LANGUAGE (14) As regards language, as was said earlier, after the death of the Vaedika language, the seven Prákrta languages were used in India. Paeshácii and Shaorasenii Prákrta were spoken by the people around Delhi. The mother tongue of Krśńa was Shaorasenii Prákrta. SCRIPT (15) In India at that time, the old Bráhmii and Kharośt́hii script were in use. People who wanted to write the Vaedika language had to write in the Bráhmii and Kharośt́hii scripts, as neither the Vaedika nor the Saḿskrta language had its own script. The same Bráhmii and Kharosthii scripts got transformed and became the present Sarada script of Kashmir. Then the Gurumukhii, Nagrii, and Nauṋgala scripts came into, being. The present-day scripts came into being within the last 1000 or 1200 years. SOCIAL STRUCTURE (16) A solid social structure, a social system, did not exist then. Society was yet to evolve one. Even the present Sanatana social system was not yet fully developed. (17) The Aryans were living in huts built on hillocks, and there was a lady in each group named “Gośt́hii Mátá.” People would introduce themselves with the name of that lady. Later on, this matrilinear order got changed into a patrilinear order, as explained in the book The Human Society Part Two. (18) According to the matrilinear order the motherʼs name was asked, and according to the patrilinear order the fatherʼs name was asked. Property in the matrilinear order was inherited from the motherʼs side, and in the patrilinear order from the fatherʼs side. (19) In the patrilinear order, introductions were made according to the hillock a man was living on. In the Vaedika language one name for a hillock is “gotra.” So “gotra” came to mean the inhabitants of a particular hillock. People used to introduce themselves using the name of the headman of their particular hillock: for instance, if one introduced oneself as belonging to Kashyapa Gotra, he or she meant that Kashyapa was the headman of the particular hillock he or she belonged to. The same with Bharadvaja Gotra, whose leader was Bharadvaja. Hence in the Mahábhárata period, the gotra system was used, especially around Delhi and in North-west India. But in South and in West India (Bengal), the matrilinear order alone was used. Of course today also, in some parts of Kerala, Bengal and Assam, this system is still there. (20) The portions of India wherein the matrilinear system was prevalent during the Mahábhárata period were known as “Pramiila Rajya.” This means “The Reign of Women.” In some portions of India there was patrilinear order, while there was matrilinear order in other portions; i.e., there was no fixed order. (21) Even in the patrilinear order, a solid social structure had not come about. Children would introduce themselves by the name of their motherʼs current husband, regardless of who their actual father was. This system was not considered to be bad, then. Such children were known as “niyoga putra,” and the fathers were known as “niyoga pati”. (Legally married fathers were of course also in existence.) Today this system may be considered to be bad, but then it was not considered to be so. As the social system changes, so changes the mentality of man. For instance, the married husband of Kunti was Pandu, but the Pandavas were not the sons of Pandu. (22) But the influence of the matrilinear order was there also. One of the names of Arjuna is Kaonteya, which means “the son of Kunti” – so people were known by their motherʼs name also. (23) The Pandavas, when introducing themselves, would say that they were the sons of Pandu though Pandu was not their actual father. But since he was married to Kunti, they would say he was their father. Take another instance – the mother of Karna was Kunti, but his father was someone named Suda. People did not condemn Kunti due to this. Karna was accepted by society as niyoga putra. This niyoga putra system formally disappeared from Indian Hindu society some seven or eight hundred years ago, but it disappeared actually, only two hundred years ago at most. It was not considered to be bad in the Mahábhárata period. The social order is dynamic. It will change gradually. That which is considered to be bad today may not be so tomorrow. This is the law of society. (24) Draopadii had five husbands, which was not considered to be bad, as in the Mongolian race of Northern India there was polyandry. Even today, in Tibet and in Laddakh, India, this system is prevalent. It was not considered to be bad then. For instance, with the Aryans, one husband could have five or six wives. Even today, in Hindu society, that is found in some measure or the other. (25) Hence, in the Mahábhárata age, there was no solid social system. Only the Mongolians, known as Pisháca in old Saḿskrta, had the system of one wife and many husbands. But among Aryans one man might have many wives. In East India (Bengal) and in South India, there was the matrilinear order. With the Aryans, there was a blending of matrilinear order and patrilinear order: there was a social relationship with the mother, but the social order was patrilinear or patriarchal. (26) As a result of this, in the Post-Buddhist era, i.e., later Hinduism (Brahminism), because of the clash among the matrilinear and patrilinear systems, a resultant came into being which is the present social system. In the post-Buddhistic era, Manu framed a social system, the Sanatana social system, which blended the two previous systems together. This means that Manu was one hundred percent influenced by the social system in the Mahábhárata period. But Manu accepted the Aryan social system, and avoided the social system of the Mongolians, South Indians and East Indians as much as possible. Because of this avoidance, a perfect system could not be made. 1 October 1967, Ranchi -- Source: The Social Structure and Other Features of the Age Published in: Discourses on the Mahábhárata Release: Electronic edition version 9.0.19