Social+India

Religious Rivalries and India’s Golden Age Link of MC: []

Social:
 * **The Era of Widespread Social Change **
 * o The rise of kings and increasing Brahman dominance were only two of the many social changes that occurred as full civilization took shape for the second time in Indian history
 * **The Caste System **
 * o New social groups, such as merchants and peasants, were added to India’s broad social categories called varnas and each was subdivided into occupational subgroups called jatis or castes
 * o Order of Caste System
 * § Brahman
 * § Warrior
 * § Merchant groups
 * § Peasant and artisan subgroups (bulk of population)
 * § Untouchables (divided into subgroups with sweepers looking down on manure handlers)
 * o A caste’s status determined the social groups in which its members were allowed to intermarry and whether they were permitted to read the Vedas (sacred texts)
 * **Enforcing Social Divisions **
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">When someone was born within a caste group, he or she could not change their casts status
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Over long periods of time, a caste group could collectively rise or fall in status
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">If someone were to refuse to accept his or her casts group that could lead to beatings or other forms of physical abuse; if the person would continue to violate caste laws he or she would be considered an outcast; this penalty meant certain death because no one, not even a member of his or her family could help them
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">High caste groups like Brahmans and warriors enjoyed a disproportionate share of wealth and power
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Dharma = the cast position and career determined by a person’s birth
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Transmigration = helped to explain why some were given the enviable dharma of a Brahman and why others were given the status of untouchable
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">The Family and the Changing Status of Women **
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Mahabharata and Ramayana were two Indian books that suggested that by the middle centuries of the last millennium the extended family was increasingly regarded as the ideal
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Those who could support such large households (which meant the higher caste groups) brought all the male members of a family and their wives and children under the same roof
 * § <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Limited privacy
 * § <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Could lead to family quarrels
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Most Indian families were nuclear families which were made up of parents and their children with maybe a widowed grandparent
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Women were seen as weak, passionate, frivolous, and fond of gossip and slander
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Female demons in the Ramayana were jealous and temptresses and vengeful lovers
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Within the family women remained subordinated to men
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Wives were instructed to be attentive to their husbands’ needs and ready to obey their every command
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Throughout both epics (Mahabharata and Ramayana), the fate of women was controlled by men
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">In some of the passages of the books, at some period women had greater freedom and opportunities for self expression then was true in the last centuries
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Women in the epics often were depicted as strong willed and cunning
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Women in this era made their mark as teachers, poets, musicians, and artists
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Women were also famed for their skill in the martial arts
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Imperial Patronage and Social Change (Ashoka) **
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Several social groups gained from Ashoka’s attempts to recast Indian society in a Buddhist mold
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Merchants and artisans supported Ashoka’s efforts
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Women also had good reasons to support the Buddhist alternative, their position within the family was strengthened under Buddhist law; in addition the mosaic life gave them opportunities for achievement and self expression as nuns, scholars, and artists
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Maiandra GD','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Women also had good reasons to support the Buddhist alternative, their position within the family was strengthened under Buddhist law; in addition the mosaic life gave them opportunities for achievement and self expression as nuns, scholars, and artists