Guptas - Society - Caste System, Position of Women - SELF STUDY HISTORY

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Guptas: Society- Caste System,

Position Of Women
selfstudyhistory
Posted on August 19, 2020  0
Guptas: Society- Caste system,

Position of women
The information about social life during the period can be

obtained from various sources like Faxian account, coins
and seals and other literatures of that period. The structure
of the society was undergoing a change in both positive
and negative way during the Gupta period.
selfstudyhistory.com
Most of the legal texts of the period took the
Dharmashastra of Manu as their basis and elaborated
upon it. A number of such works were written during this
period, the best know being those of Yajnavalkya,
Narada, Brihaspati and Katyayana.
Varna system
The society was divided into four varnas (Brahmana,

Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudra), with each varna performing
the set of functions prescribed for it and enjoying whatever
rights were given to it.
This was the ideal social order and the state was
expected to preserve it.
file:///C/Users/mijrh/OneDrive/Documents/Guptas_ Society- Caste system, Position of women – SELF STUDY HISTORY.html[11-11-2021 12:21:54]
This means that when even a small state emerged in

some corner of the country, the King of that state was
expected to recognize this as the ideal social order.
The supremacy of the brahmanas was increasing.
The Guptas who were originally vaisyas came to be
looked upon as kshatriyas by the brahmanas.
The brahmanas represented the Gupta kings as
possessing the attributes of gods.
All this helped to legitimise the position of the
Gupta princes, who became great supporters of
the brahmanical order.
They were getting large-scale land grants not only
from the rulers and officials but from other people also.
The land was given along with administrative rights
and tax exemptions.
Thus, a new class of brahmana landlords was
created.
Land was given not only to individual brahmanas but
also some times incited big groups of brahmanas to
come and settle in remote areas.
Thus, the number of brahmana settlements
variously called Brahmadiyas, Agraharas and
so on started increasing and they started spreading,
among other things, the idea of a varna-divided
social order.
The Brahmanas came to he recognized as the
purest and therefore the highest varna.
Since they were associated with Sanskritic learning
and performed priestly functions, they came to be
closely connected with royal power.
Even when the rulers were supporters of Buddhism,
Jainism or a particular religious sect, they
continued to patronize brahmanas particularly those
of high learning. This remained one of the major
reasons for the economic prosperity and prestige of
the brahmanas.
However, varna order was not an ideal order:
Ideally although there were four varnas, these were
various groups who were kept out of this scheme and
whose varna identity could never be determined. They
were the antyajas or untouchables
They were considered impure, even their touch was
considered impure and their physical presence in
areas where higher varnas lived and moved was not
allowed.
The Chandalas. the Charmakaras and similar
groups were considered impure and outcastes.

Number of untouchables especially chandalas
increased enormously. They lived outside the
village and dealt in unclean jobs such as scavenging
or butchery.
Thus in the brahmanical order of society, the
condition of a number of social groups remained
miserable throughout.
Secondly, it was assumed that the varnas would
perform their duties; in reality, they may not have done
so.
These suggest that real society was different from
the ideal society and this was also recognized by
the brahmana writers of the Dharmasastras.
They therefore tried to determine the status of
various castes or jatis in society by giving
fictitious explanations of their origins. They
suggested that various jatis or groups originated
through varna-samkara or inter-marriages
between various varnas.
The Dharmasastras also speak of apadharma or
conduct to be followed during periods of distress.
This means that the varnas take to professions
and duties not assigned to them when they
found it necessary to do so.
In matters of profession also the Dharmasastras
thus recognized that the real society was
different from their ideal society.
The position of woman of higher varnas was low.
Although we hear of personalities like the Vakataka
queen Prabhavatigupta who wielded considerable
power, not all women were so privileged.
The brahmana texts set down norms which women
were expected to follow and women were expected, in
the family, to function mainly as an ideal wife and ideal
mother.
In many Brahmana texts, women were even
considered, for various reasons, to be of the same
category as the Sudras.
Although brahmanas were given land grants regularly,
we do not come across evidence of land being given to
Brahmana women.
The position of shudras improved in this period.
They were now permitted to listen to the Ramayana,
the Mahabharata and the Puranas.
They could also worship new god called Krishna.
They were also allowed to perform certain domestic

rites which naturally brought fee to the priests.
All these can be attributed to a change in the economic
status of the Shudras.
The Varna system did not always function smoothly.
The Shanti Parva of the Mahabharata, which may
be assigned to the Gupta period, contains at least nine
verses which stress the need of combination of the
brahmanas and the kshatriyas; these may indicate some
kind of concerted opposition from the vaishyas and
shudras.
The Anushashana Parva of the Mahabharata
represents the shudras as destroyer of the king.
Caste proliferation:
The castes proliferated into numerous sub-castes as a result

of following factors.
On the one hand a large number of foreigners had been
assimilated into the Indian society, and each group of
foreigners was considered a kind of Hindu caste.
Since the foreigners mainly came as conquerors
they were given the status of the kshatriya in
society. The Hunas, who appeared in India towards
the close of the fifth century, ultimately came to be
recognized as one of the thirty-six clans of the
Rajputs. Even now some Rajputs bear the title
Huns.
They given the semi-kshatriya status (vratya
Kshatriaya) because they could not be considered
to be of pure Kshatriaya origin
The other reason for the increase in the number of
castes was the absorption of many tribal peoples into
brahmanical society by way of land grants.
To the ruling chiefs of the tribes was ascribed a
respectable origin. But most of the rest of the tribal
people were given a low origin, and every tribe
now became a kind of caste in Hindu society.
Various jatis or groups also originated through varna-
samkara or inter-marriages between various varnas.
It has been suggested that transfers of lands or land
revenues gave rise to a new caste, that of the
kayasthas (scribes) who undermined the monopoly of
the brahmanas as scribes.
Untouchability:
The practice of untouchability became more intense

than in the earlier period.
The chandalas appeared in society as early as the fifth
century B.C.
Penance was provided to remove the sin arising out of
touching a chandala. F
By the fifth century A.D. their number had become so
enormous and their disabilities so glaring that it
attracted the attention of Fa-hien.
He informs us that the chandalas lived outside the
village and dealt in meat and flesh.
He also inform that whenever chandalas entered the
towns or market places they would strike a piece of
wood to announce their arrival, so that the others
might not touch them and get polluted.
In South India, the notion of untouchability seems to have
emerged in the late Sangam period.
A work called the Acharakkovai refers to water
touched by a pulaiya being considered defiled and unfit
for consumption by higher caste people, and states that
even glancing at a pulaiya was polluting.
The Tamil epics also allude to the practice of
untouchability.
In the Manimekalai, Brahmanas are exhorted not to
touch Aputtiran, the son of a Brahmana woman and
Shudra male, lest they be polluted.
Note:
Faxian:
The main aim of pilgrims such as Faxian was to
provide pious Buddhists in China with an
opportunity to visualize places and events
connected with the Buddha’s life. It is therefore
not surprising that references to mundane details
concerning the lifestyle of Indians are few and
cursory.
He presents an idyllic and idealized picture of Indian
society in the 5th century.
He describes a happy and contented people enjoying a
life of peace and prosperity.
They did not have to register their households or appear
before magistrates.
Farmers who worked on royal land had to give a
certain portion of their produce to the king.
The joint family system, which became an essential feature

of Hindu caste-society, was prevalent at the time.
The position of women
While inscriptions give glimmers of information about

royal and elite households, Kamasutra and Dharmashastra
texts such as the Narada, Brihaspati, and Katyayana
Smritis throw light on household and gender relations at a
more general level.
The position improved in certain aspects:
Royal women are visible on coins and seals:
Queens are depicted on the ‘king and queen type’
of coins, such as those depicting Chandragupta I
and his wife Kumaradevi.
Queens also appear on the reverse of certain coins.
A queen sitting on a couch, with a flower in her
right hand appears on the reverse of coins of
Kumaragupta I and Chandragupta II.
A standing female figure holding a fly whisk in
her right hand, appears on the reverse of the
ashvamedha type coins of Samudragupta and
Kumaragupta I. As the queen was supposed to
fan and bathe the horse in the ashvamedha
sacrifice, this may represent a queen.
Matrimonial alliances were an important part of the
politics of the time.
This is indicated by the mention of queens in Gupta
inscriptions such as the Allahabad prashasti of
Samudragupta and the Bhitari pillar inscription
of Skandagupta.
Vakataka inscriptions reveal the exercise of
political power by queen Prabhavatigupta during the
reigns of three consecutive Vakataka rulers.
Gift giving by women:
Some royal women took the initiative in gift-
giving.
Prabhavatigupta made grants in her own right.
The Masoda plates of Pravarasena II records a grant
made at the request of an unnamed chief queen.
An inscription found on the walls of the Kevala-
Narasimha temple in Ramtek (Nagpur district)
records the construction of this temple (given
the name Prabhavatisvamin) in memory of the
deceased queen Prabhavatigupta by her
daughter.
Like Shudras, women were also allowed to listen to the

Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranaa, and
advised to worship Krishna.
They could also take part in rituals along with her
husband.
Stri-dhana:
The law books reflect an increase in the scope of
stri-dhana. The Katyayana Smriti lists the
various types of stri-dhana as follows:
Adhyagni stri-dhana: given to women at the time
of marriage before the nuptial fire.
Adhyavahanika stri-dhana: which a woman
obtains when being taken in a procession from her
father’s house to the groom’s house.
Pritidatta stri-dhana: which is given out of
affection to a woman by her father-in-law or
mother-in-law and that which is received by her at
the time of performing obeisance at the feet of
elders.
Shulka (bride’s fee): which is obtained as the price
of household vessels, beasts of burden, milch cows,
ornaments, and slaves.
Anvadheya (subsequent gift): which is obtained
after marriage from members of her husband’s
family and from the family of her father’s kinsmen.
Saudayika: which is obtained by a married woman
in her husband’s or father’s house or an unmarried
girl from her parents or brothers.
Women education:
Vatsyayana refers to princesses and other elite
women learned in the shastras, and lists 64
branches of knowledge that should be learnt by
women.
These include
solving riddles,
reciting from books,
completing poetic verses, and
knowledge of poetic metres and lexicons.
Sanskrit drama suggests that women associated
with the royal court may have been well versed in
reading, writing, instrumental music, singing,
dance, and poetry.
The free representation of females in art suggest that
there was no purdah system in the society.
However, overall the status of women continued to
decline in Gupta period.
The main reason for the subordination of women was

their complete dependence on men for their livelihood.
Women were denied any right to property except
for stridhana in the form of jewellery, garments,
and similar other presents made to the bride on the
occasion of her marriage.
The women of higher orders didn’t have access to
independent sources of livelihood in pre-Gupta and
Gupta times.
The fact that women of the two lower varnas were
free to earn their livelihood gave then considerable
freedom, which was denied to women of the upper
varnas.
excepting elite women, they were not entitled to
formal education.
Marriage:
Dharmashastra literature of this period reflects a
tendency towards lowering the age of marriage for
girls.
Some texts recommend that girls be married
before puberty.
The Kamasutra of Vatsyayana seems to support this
idea in one place, but his general discussion of
courtship and conjugal relations presupposes a
mature bride and groom.
The Kamasutra states that progeny, fame, and
social approval are obtained by a man who
marries a virgin of the same varna according to
religious rites.
It forbids sexual relations with women
belonging to higher varnas and with married
women.
However, it has no problem with sexual
relations purely for pleasure with women
belonging to certain lower varnas, placing them
on par with relations with prostitutes and
remarried widows.
Vatsyayana talks of marriages arranged by
parents or guardians, which result in one of the
various types of marriage mentioned in the
shastras as Brahma, Prajapatya, Arsha, or
Daiva.
He also refers to girls selecting their groom and
marriages based on mutual love.
The dramas of this age mention such
marriages within elite groups.
Polygyny:
The polygynous alliances of kings are well known.
The Kamasutra suggests that polygyny was also
prevalent among sections of the non-royal elite.
The member of higher varnas came to acquire more
and more land which made them more polygamous
and more property minded. In a patriarchal setup
they began to treat women as items of property.
Duties of wife:
Kamasutra:
According to the Kamasutra, a good wife serves
her husband diligently, keeps the house clean
and well-decorated, and manages the servants
and household finances efficiently.
She is dutiful and submissive.
She waits on her husband, attends social and
other occasions only with his permission,
entertains his friends, and serves her in-laws
and obeys their orders.
She grows different sorts of plants and trees in
the garden.
She has knowledge of agriculture, cattle
rearing, spinning, and weaving, and knows how
to take care of her husband’s pets.
If she has a co-wife, she is supposed to look
upon her as a sister or mother, depending on
their relative age.
Katyayana Smriti:
The Katyayana Smriti states that a wife must
always live with her husband, be devoted to
him, and worship the domestic fire.
She must attend on her husband while he is
alive and be chaste after his death.
Courtesans and prostitutes:
The Kamasutra and Sanskrit kavya literature refer
to courtesans known as ganikas.
In some instances, the heroine of a drama is a
ganika, the most celebrated being Vasantasena
in the Mrichchhakatikam.
Texts display an ambivalent attitude towards the
ganika.
On the one hand, she is admired and celebrated
for her beauty, wit, and other accomplishments.
On the other hand, the fact that her sexual
favours could be bought by anyone for money
meant that she could never hope to attain social
respectability.
There are also textual references to the ordinary
prostitute, whose life was devoid of the glamour
and wealth associated with the ganika.
Adultery:
The Kamasutra deals in a pragmatic, matter-of-fact
way with sexual relations between men and married
women.
However, Dharmashastra texts considered adultery
by women as an upapataka (lesser sin), for which
penances were prescribed.
Some texts held penance to be unnecessary and
asserted that an adulterous woman regained her
purity after her menstrual period.
The Narada Smriti states that if a woman was found
to have committed adultery, her head should be
shaved, she should lie on a low bed, be given poor
food and clothes, and should devote herself to
removing the sweepings from her husband’s house.
A great deal hinged on the social status of the
individuals involved.
For instance, if a woman committed adultery
with a Shudra or a lowcaste man, the Smritis
suggest that her husband abandon her.
A virtuous wife, on the other hand, was to be
cherished.
The Narada Smriti states that a man is liable to
pay one-third of his estate or a fine for deserting
such a wife.
Widow:
Sati:
The patriarchal attitude of treating women as
items of property prevailed so much so that a
women was expected to follow her husband to
the next world.
First example of the immolation of widow after
death of her husband appears in Gupta times in
A.D. 510 in an inscription at Eran in Madhya
Pradesh.
The Brihaspati Smriti also offers that she burn
herself on her husband’s funeral pyre.
Widow remarriage:
Most of Dharmashastra texts advocate that a
widow lead a celibate and austere life.
Widow remarriage seems to have been
considered with disfavor.
However, some post-Gupta law-books held that

a woman cam remarry if her husband is dead,
destroyed, impotent, has become a renouncer or
has been excommunicated.
That it did, however, happen is suggested by the
Amarakosha, which gives synonyms for a
punarbhu (remarried widow), her husband, and
for a dvija who has a punarbhu as his principal
wife.
Katyayana:
He discusses the inheritance rights of the
son of a remarried widow.
He also deals with the property rights of a
son born of a woman who has left her
impotent husband.
He mentions widows who took lovers.
Labour and Slavery
Forms of labour:
The texts mention hired labour used in farming,
watching fields, harvesting, tending cattle, craft
production, and household work.
Payment of wages:
The Brihaspati and Narada Smritis lay down rates and
rules for the payment of wages in cash or kind.
Payment in kind could take the form of a share of the
item, such as grain, milk, or domesticated animals.
The Narada Smriti states that the employer must pay
wages to the worker at a fixed time as per agreement, at
the beginning, middle, or end of the work. If wages had
not been fixed in advance, the worker was entitled to
1/10th of the profit.
The Brihaspati Smriti states that the servant of a farmer
was entitled to 1/5th of the crop along with food and
clothing or to only 1/3rd of the crop.
Of course, these are all prescriptions, not
descriptions of prevailing practice.
Forced labour (vishti) and Slavery:
Forced labour (vishti) became more common than
before in this period.
The fact that it is mentioned along with taxes in land
grant inscriptions suggests that it was considered a
source of income for the state, a sort of tax payed by
the people.
The fact that most of the inscriptions referring to vishti
come from the Madhya Pradesh and Kathiawar regions

may suggest that this practice was more prevalent in
these areas.
References to slaves are found in the contemporary
Dharmashastras (Law Books).
Narada mentions fifteen types of slaves. This
enumeration is greater than that in the Arthashastra and
Manu Smriti, but basically consists of elaborations or
sub-divisions of already known types. These include:
The prisoners of war,
debt bondsmen,
voluntary enslavement, and
born of a slave woman were all considered slaves.
Slave as property:
Slaves could be handed down to descendants of their
erstwhile owners along with other items of property.
Slaves are generally mentioned as domestic servants or
personal attendants.
A child born of a woman slave in a master’s house was
considered his slave as well.
The Narada Smriti asserts that a slave can be pledged
or mortgaged, and that the master could hire out his
services to another.
The Narada Smriti prescribes the amputation of the foot of
a person found guilty of abducting a slave woman.
Manumission of slaves:
The Narada Smriti discusses the manumission of slaves
—a slave born in the house, bought, obtained, or
inherited could be freed only when the master desired
to do so.
The ceremony of manumission is described—the
master was supposed to remove a jar of water from the
shoulder of the slave and break it. He was then
supposed to sprinkle some parched grain and flowers
over his head and say three times: ‘You are no longer a
dasa.’
Other aspects of social life
Another aspect of social life was that there existed great

difference between the ways of life of the rich city-
dwellers and people living in villages.
Prosperous town dwellers seem to have lived in comfort
and ease.
The ideal city-dweller was the nagaraka, i.e. the
urbanite who, because of his affluence, lived a life of
pleasure and refined culture.

The Kamasutra of Vatsyayana, describes the life of
a well-to-do citizen as one devoted to the pleasures and
refinements of life.
Of course it would be wrong to presume that all classes of
people who lived in cities could afford this way of life.
Gambling, animal fights, athletics and gymnastics were an
important part of sporting events.
Amusements of various kinds in which the general
public participated were essential to the various
festivals, whether religious or secular.
Dance performances and music concerts were held mainly
in the homes of the wealthy and the discerning.
Chess is said to have originated in this period, where its
early form in the 6th century was known as caturanga,
which translates as “four divisions of the military” –
infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariotry – represented by
the pieces that would evolve into the modern pawn, knight,
rook, and bishop, respectively.
Contrary to Fa-Hien’s statement that vegetarianism was
customary in India, meat was commonly eaten.
Drinking of wine and the chewing of betel-leaf was a
regular practice.
The joint family system, which became an essential feature
of Hindu caste-society, was prevalent at the time.
Thus, the society witnessed various changes during
Gupta’s time. But it can not be said to have progressed in
any substantial way. Some of the developments like
strengthening of varna and caste system, worsened
condition of untouchables, increased divide between rich
and poor and declining position of women puts the
question mark on the view that saw Gupta period as golden
age.
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Guptas: Society- Caste System,

Posted on August 19, 2020  0

Guptas: Society- Caste system,

The information about social life during the period can be

The society was divided into four varnas (Brahmana,

This means that when even a small state emerged in

groups were considered impure and outcastes.

They were also allowed to perform certain domestic

The castes proliferated into numerous sub-castes as a result

The practice of untouchability became more intense

The joint family system, which became an essential feature

The position of women

While inscriptions give glimmers of information about

Like Shudras, women were also allowed to listen to the

The main reason for the subordination of women was

However, some post-Gupta law-books held that

Labour and Slavery

come from the Madhya Pradesh and Kathiawar regions

Other aspects of social life

Another aspect of social life was that there existed great

pleasure and refined culture.

One blogger likes this.

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