Fa Xian,a Chinese pilgrim to India, travelled between 405 and 411 CE.

His book: A record of

Buddhist kingdoms’ main aim was to help Chinese pious Buddhists visualise places related
to life of the Buddha in India. He wanted to take back texts on monastic rules back to China.
Chinese Buddhists of the time regarded India as the ‘western heaven’, the holy land of the
Buddha. Mundane details of Indian society are therefore few and far between. Indian
society is presented as idyllic and idealised, with people enjoying peace and prosperity.
Farmers working on royal land gave part of their produce to the king.

Sanskrit texts give detailed insights into Gupta society. Kalidasa’s Shakuntala is discussed
by Thapar in arguing that social flexibility existed. The local fisherman who had caught and
eaten the fish with the ring in its stomach is taunted for being a thief who deserved
execution. When the king gives him money, the fisherman uses it to appease his tormentors,
and takes an officer to a wine shop. Them sitting and drinking wine together, Thapar says, is
indicative of social intermingling of castes that normative texts deny. Banabhatta’s
Harshacharitarefers to poor people in villages garnering grain left in the camp of king after
soldiers had moved away. It also describes king’s elephants trampling on hovels of the poor.
Now rendered homeless, the poor pelted clods of earth at soldiers.

There are many sources on royal women. They are visible on coins and seals. King and
queen type of coins were issued, e.g. depicting Chandragupta and his wife Kumaradevi.
Coins of Samudragupta, Kumaragupta I and Chandragupta II have women on their reverse.
3 oval sealings of Chandragupta II’s wife, Druvaswamini, have been found on the reverse of
Basarh (ancient Vaishali) with a seated lion and inscription. Their matrimonial alliances
were an important part of politics. This is indicated by mention of queens in Gupta
inscriptions like Allahabad prashasti. Vakataka genealogies mention no queens, but their
inscriptions mention the political clout of Prabhavati Gupta, who made land grants. The
Kevala-Narsimha temple at Ramtek in Nagpur district revealed a fragmentary inscription
on its construction in the posthumous memory of Prabhavati Gupta.

Many indicators of polygyny in society exist. Kamasutra (a sex manual) suggests polygyny
was prevalent even among the non-royal elite. It also talks of the comfortable, if not
luxurious, lifestyle of the urban dweller (nagaraka), whose moods were harmonized with
conducive poetry, painting and recitals of music. Varahadeva’s Ghatochkacha cave
inscription mentions a person named ‘Soma’, who took Brahman and Kshatriya wives. He
obtained son, ‘Ravi’ from his Kshatriya wife and sons learned in the Vedas from his
Brahman wives.
Dharmashastra texts include Yajnavalkya, Narada, Brihaspati and Katyayana Smritis. They
throw light on household and gender relations. Dharmashastras reflect a tendency towards
lowering age of marriage for girls, some texts recommending pre-puberty marriage. The
disparity between practice and theory, though, is important here.

The status of women is discussed in the Kamasutra. It is a complex treatise on kama

(pleasure), consisting 7 sections: general practices and precepts, heterosexual intercourse,
obtaining bride, duties of wife, extramarital relations, courtesans, and formulae for sexual
success. This is not surprising, since the art of love was essential to the modern, civilised life
then visualised. Progeny, fame and social approval was obtained by men marrying virgins.
Women of lower varnas were considered at par with prostitutes and remarried widows,
while arranged marriages were suitable for females by parents/guardians. It also suggests
courtship between mature bride and groom, and marriage from mutual love. It talks of the
good wife serving her husband diligently, keeping the house in order, managing household
finances efficiently, attending social functions with her husband’s permission, obeying in-
laws, worshipping at the household shrine, leading a restrained life in her husband’s
absence,gardening, weaving and nursing pets, and looking upon her co-wife as
sister/mother, depending on their ages.

Dramas and education for women are discussed by Vatsyayana, who mentions princesses
and other elite women learned in the shastras. Lists of 64 branches of knowledge they must
be aware of include riddles, reciting from books, completing poetic verses, and knowledge
of poetic metres and lexicons. Sanskrit drama mentions marriage b/w elite groups. It also
says that royal women must be well-versed in reading, writing, instrumental music, singing,
dance and poetry.

Ganikas(courtesans) are mentioned in the Kamasutra and in Sanskrit kavya literature.

Indeed, Vasantasena’s Mrichhakatikam has a courtesan as the heroine of the drama.
Admired for her beauty, wit and other accomplishments, she lived in large, furnished
houses and was the female counterpart of the nagaraka of Kamasutra. She had to be
“modest and demure in the extreme”,acc. to Shonaleeka Kaul, as opposed to the kulastri
(wife). She had to be trained in the art of making love. She was contrasted with the low
economic status of veshyas (common prostitutes), devoid of glamour and wealth, and living
in overcrowded brothels. But she could never hope to attain social respectability, since she
offered sexual favours for money.

Dharmashastras consider adultery by women an upapataka (lesser sin). Other texts say a
woman regains her purity after her period. Narada Smriti states that the adulteress should
be given poor food, clothing, and made to sweep husband’s house clean. The punishment for
the adulteress is dependent on the caste of the copulating man. Women decided their own
freedom, since some broke out of the mould of household chores, and became nuns. They
trained to be courtesans, or joined troupes of performers. Often, artisans, merchants and
small-scale landowners were the laity of Shramanic religions, perhaps due to the
precedence given to custom over norms, as evident in Narada Smriti.

The Dharmashastrasalso advocate a celibate and austere life for widows. The Brihaspati
Smriti offers the alternative of burning herself on her husband’s pyre—Madri does this for
Pandu in Mahabharata. The earliest indication of this sati is in the 510 CE inscription at
Eran. Widow remarriage was considered with disfavour, but Amarakosha gives synonyms
for remarried widows and their new husbands. Katyayana discusses the right of inheritance
for a widow’s son.

Property rights for women were limited, and varied acc. to caste, custom and region. Hints
of cross-cousin marriage are visible in elite regions in north India; later spread to other
groups desiring upward social mobility. This had important implications for inheritance by
women. Law-books reflect the scope for stri-dhana; Katyayana Smriti discusses its types:
i) Adhyagni stri-dhana: gift to the woman at time of marriage in front of the nuptial fire
ii) Adhyavahanika stri-dhana: gift when being taken in bridal procession from father’s to
groom’s house
iii) Shulka (bride-price): obtained for household vessels, beasts of burden, cows,
ornaments and slaves
iv) Pritidatta stri-dhana: given out of affection to woman by in-laws when she is paying
obeisance by touching their feet
v) Anvadheya stri-dhana: obtained after marriage from husband’s family/kinsmen’s
family
Other components of society included the Chandalas (take description from Vivekanand
Jha)
In South India, this notion emerged in the late Sangam period. In the Acharakkovai, it is
mentioned that the water touched by an untouchable was now polluted. Glancing at a
pulaiya was considered defiling. The Tamil epic Manimekalai urges Brahmanas not to touch
Apputtiran, the product of a Brahman-Shudhra varnasamkara. Fa Xian talks of clapper that
had to be sounded by untouchables that passed through the street to warn people of their
approach; upper-caste people setting eyes on them had to undergo ritual ablution. Xuan
Zang discusses butchers, fishermen, scavengers, executioners and theatrical performers
who lived outside the city and had marked houses so others could avoid them.

Hired labour was used in farming, watching fields, harvesting, tending cattle, craft
production, and household work. Laying down rates and rules for payment of wages in cash
and kind (share of produce) was important, as was paying wages at the fixed time, as per
agreement, for the employer. If wages were not pre-determined, then the worker could
claim 1/10th of the profit. Slaves also existed. The Narada Smriti lists 15 types of slaves,
including war captives, debtors, voluntary slaves, etc. They could be handed down to
descendants of their erstwhile owners along with other items of property. Generally, they
are mentioned as domestic servants or personal attendants. A child born of a woman slave
in her master’s house was also considered his slave. Slaves could be
mortgaged/pledged/hired out at the master’s will. However, amputation of foot is
suggested as punishment for abducting female slaves. There is also discussion of
manumission of slaves, but only when the master desired to free him/her. A proper ritual
had to be followed for manumission.

Judicial systems are evident in Narada and Katyayana Dharmashastras. The king appointed
judges, and was sometimes even present himself at the highest court of appeal. He was
assisted by judges, ministers, chief priest, brahmanas, representatives of certain
professions, and assessors. Evidence was based on documents, witnesses and/or
possession of incriminating objects. Ordeal to show proof was not permitted, but
prescribed. Katyayana accepts giving punishments on the basis of caste.
Mobility among jatis is evident from the 436 CE inscription at a Surya temple in western
India, and it is about a guild of silk-weavers there, who moved from Lata to Mandasor (MP).
Some of them adopted higher professions, e.g. archers, soldiers, bards, scholars. They also
financed the building of a temple to Surya.
Non-vegetarianism is also discussed. Contradictory to Fa Xian’s assessment of
vegetarianism in India, meat was commonly eaten among the elite. Flesh of ox is medically
prescribed to enhance vigour. Wine and chewing of paan (betel leaf) was popular.

Overall, society saw the advent of a Kali Age. The evils of this age are discussed in the epics
and Puranas. The pristine Krita was followed by a dramatic moral decline, with lessening of
one leg of dharma as one age passed into the next; kali age had dharma supported on 1 leg.
This idea reflects a “specific historical crisis occurring in post-300 BCE period”, acc. to U.
Singh. Acc. to the description of this age, people lied, didn’t adhere to their prescribed varna
order, mleccha kings ruled, lands were depopulated and devilised, women were unchaste,
famine, fraud and shortening life spans were characteristic of this period. All this suggests
the fragility of the social fabric and the vulnerability to chaos.