The Mahabharata: a Brahminical Struggle for Power

In India, during the late Vedic Period which lasted from 1000 to 500 B.C, an ancient form of Hinduism flourished. As it possessed no official superior work of literature, such as the Bible or the Koran, Hinduism became one of the most tolerant religions due to its lack of binding documentation. A life committed to Hinduism was spent constantly maintaining the socio-economic order in an attempt to achieve universal stability, which was something highly valued in this tolerant religion. “Thus Indian society has always been concerned with stability rather than with progress...” (Early India).Hinduism’s central requirement was to fulfill the duties of a person’s caste, or class, which largely affected the daily life of anyone living in ancient India. At the top of the social pyramid

The Indian society adopted a class or caste system from the Indus Valley people. Just like the Indus society had priest rulers, the Indian society has the high class Indian Brahmins, which are seen as the priestly class. Trade was a very big part of the Indus Valley society, everything that they did, everything that they made was to ensure that they were able to create and trade more effectively. The class system during the Indus Valley civilization is extremely similar to the class system seen in Pakistan and India today. There were farmers, who grew crops, mustard, sesame, grapes, dates, melons, and khan. There were traders, these people were extremely good at what they did, and this is one of the reasons why the Indus Valley Civilization was able to prosper for so long. There were craftsmen, these people made things for people to use in everyday life. Just like today, they would be people that would make things and other people who would buy them. This contributed to the stability of the Indus civilization. Just like most ancient civilizations, priests played an important part in ruling the civilization. They were seen as the closest to God, and that is why they were given such authority and power. For people who follow religions, the religious leaders are very important because they are seen as all knowing & are respected by the people of the religious community.

The caste system has been extremely stable in India for over two thousand years. It is only since the more modern, independent state of India was formed that the system has come under any scrutiny at all. It is presently outlawed, but many of the practices, attitudes and traditions remain ingrained in Hindu society (University of Wyoming, 1997).

In Vedic India, the elites were the ones that maintained all of the power, they controlled the social structure. They controlled the government, created laws, and most importantly they had the power of faith and culture. The elites were made up of the class known as Brahmins which are the priest class. In order to maintain high status, the Brahmins made it peoples duty to forbid any one to marry someone outside of their cast in order to prevent what they consider

As in China, another dominant developing classical civilization, India, (300 B.C.-A.D. 500) focused greatly on philosophy and religious progress. Implanted within Indian divine belief systems, social status dictated all. The caste system, provided order and stability in India. Based out of Hinduism, the caste system clearly determined social status between five different divisions. The top of the caste were Brahmins (priests), followed by the Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaisyas (merchants), underneath merchants were Shudras (peasants and laborers), and the lowest rank were Pariahs (untouchables). Hinduism and Buddhism, the two dominating religions in India share many of the same concepts, as well as some distinct differences. These two religions

Although the caste system was a social structure, it helped stabilize India’s political foundation. Based on the citizen’s profession, the caste defined their social standing. This system contained 5 main levels; the Brahmans were the priest, highest of the caste, they ruled and ordered by telling the lower castes what to do, helping to govern the region with their significant knowledge of their religion. Next came the Kshatriya who were the

The Indian civilization has achieved complexity and sophistication in its culture through the intertwining of the Harappan and Aryan cultures. The Harappan society was based off a trade and alliance system that has maintained it in a cohesive environment, while the Aryans were a pastoral group that eventually came to settle down within these lands. From root of the mingling of these cultures, Brahmanism was established as the religion and has affected much of the social and political aspects of the Indian civilization. As a response to Brahmanism, Buddhism ventured outward from these practices and established a more collaborative environment that has influenced various regions of Asia.

The caste system is a “complex system of social divisions that pervades life in India” (The Mauryan and Gupta Empires of India). The Hindu people are spread out among four different varnas and there is also a fifth group of Hindu’s called the untouchables. The four different varnas are called the Brahmins, the Kshatriya, the Vaishya and the Sudra. These four castes all have different labels to describe them. The Brahmins are the traditional priest class, the Kshatriya group is the warrior class, the Vaishya’s are the workers and the Sudras serve the three higher classes. The lowest of the low is the untouchables. It is said that they are dirty and poor from birth and they are assigned jobs to benefit the higher varnas. Each varna is divided into jati which are kinship groups with similar roles within the community and Hindu’s traditionally marry within their own

After the Vedic age in India was followed by a period when holy texts called Brahmana’s were written, laws and government for the people to follow. It appears from these texts that the role of the spiritual class had become more noticeable in this era. The impartial rules had been declared and were being firmly observed. The saints in the royal courts and outside continued to be the councils of dharma. The king was only the protector of dharma and not head of any religion. Before one could become a king, his anointing by the

The Empire was mainly populated with Muslims who practiced Islam and Hinduism. They handled religious and heterogeneous people much more peacefully than the Ottoman Empire. Over a thousand languages were spoken and many different religions were allowed to be worshipped. The Varne system was implemented by the Brahman to keep peace. This Varne system separated Hindus into categories of social rank from the highest rank, “Brahmans” to the lowest, “Untouchables”. The Dharma is a belief that Hindus lived by and believed they needed to fulfill their life duties to move up in the social class chain. Also, during the Mughal Empire Buddhist believed to follow “the four truths” which were about the reality of suffering. Allowing religious and linguistic diversity made it very hard to maintain and rule a dynasty. By having all these diversrse cultures under the Emperor’s leadership brought concern about rioting or the army turning against him. Akbar was one step ahead though and gave individual jobs for each part of his government and army. Each part of the army had someone watching over them called a Mansabdari to prevent a revolt against the Empire. The individual jobs monitored the financial, household, religious, judicial, and army divisions of the Empires. The Mughal was very interested in the arts and sciences, but also focused on expanding territory across India. Akbar built a very strong army,

Cultural value is an integral factor in the Ramayana that significantly contributed to the Indian civilization hegemony. This is because the Ramayana has traveled through civilizations within the Indian culture as well as origin. Moreover, its influence has been felt by everyone, not only those living in India, but also those living in all of South-East Asia. Precisely, the Ramayana has passionately carved out its building structures in accordance with the Hindu religion, in addition to its diverse culture. For example, the existence of Ramayana Valmiki’s epic story is because of the Great Indian heritage and values. Furthermore, even in today’s Indian society, the fundamental

This sort of intermingling led to the Indian warrior epic “Bhagavad-Gita” expanding the warrior ethos to a loftier plane - from the war against one’s neighbor to an internal struggle to reach one’s better nature as Arunja, the Gita’s hero, battles against enemies whose names can be translated as greed, sloth, and selfishness – all moral weaknesses that must be overcome.

What are the four major castes? What implications does the caste system have for everyday life? How does the caste system relate to Hindu ideas of spiritual life? “The four major castes of Hindu society are; seers ( brahmins ), administrators ( kshatriyas ), artisans or farmers ( vaishyas ), and followers or servants ( shudras)”( Smith 56). Smith writes, religious leaders, teachers, artists, and philosophers are members of the first caste, brahmins, khatriyas, the second caste, first known as warriors are now managers. The tillers of the land, the makers of bricks, and the builders are part of the third caste, vaishyas. The fourth caste is made up of servants, those who will take care of the other castes’ needs (56)”. While I was working in India, summer of 2001 and there at the invitation of the richest family in India and staying at one of their compounds, some of my co-workers and I were playing snooker. A young boy walked into the room where we were playing. He stopped and talked to us for a few minutes before continuing to bed. Accompanied by a man of about twenty years old, the boy’s shudra, who had been the boy’s personal servant for ten or more years. The shudra’s purpose was to protect and serve his charge’s every need. Although there is inequality between castes, Smith denotes.“ within each caste, there is equality, opportunity, and social insurance ( 57)”. Although the text

            The internal divisions and complexes hierarchy of the Indian society served an important social function.  The system provided each individual with a clear identity and role and offered the benefits of group solidarity and support.  Certain interactions and behaviors were appropriate only between those of equal status. The system assured that the religious, political, and financial powers were all separated into four different social classes (Bulliet, et. 2011).

In this paper I will discuss specifically on the Classical Mahābhārata, taking it as representative literature of Ancient Bhāratavarṣa.