Beyond the four varnas: Integration

The Brahmanical varna order was an ideal, not a description of all of society. The subcontinent has always been home to communities whose social practices were shaped by entirely different traditions. When these groups appear in Sanskrit texts, they are often described as odd, uncivilised, or even animal-like — a clear sign that the authors were looking at them from outside, judging them by Brahmanical standards.

Forest-dwellers and pastoralists

Some of the people who fell outside the varna framework were forest-dwellers, for whom hunting and gathering remained the main means of subsistence. The category nishada — the group to which the Mahabharata's Ekalavya is supposed to have belonged — is an example of such a community. Others who were viewed with suspicion included nomadic pastoralists. Because they moved with their herds, they could not be easily fitted into the settled agricultural world that the shastras took for granted.

The mlechchha label

Sometimes, people who spoke non-Sanskritic languages were labelled mlechchhas and looked down upon. The term carried a strong sense of cultural and linguistic otherness. Yet this was not a world of complete separation. There was also a sharing of ideas and beliefs between Brahmanical society and these groups. The nature of these relations is visible in some of the stories preserved in the Mahabharata.

The case of the merchants

Sanskrit texts and inscriptions used the term vanik to designate merchants. The shastras defined trade as an occupation for Vaishyas. But real life was more complex. In the play Mrichchhakatika (written by Shudraka around the fourth century CE), the hero Charudatta is described as both a Brahmana and a sarthavaha (a merchant). A fifth-century inscription records two brothers who made a donation for the construction of a temple as kshatriya-vaniks — that is, Kshatriyas who were also merchants. These examples show that occupational identities could cut across varna boundaries in practice, even when the shastras insisted on a fixed link.

A tiger-like husband: the story of Bhima and Hidimba

A story from the Adi Parvan of the Mahabharata illustrates how Brahmanical texts imagined relations with non-Brahmanical peoples. The Pandavas had fled into the forest and fallen asleep, with only Bhima keeping watch. A man-eating rakshasa caught their scent and sent his sister Hidimba to capture them. Instead, she fell in love with Bhima, transformed herself into a lovely maiden, and proposed to him. He refused. The rakshasa arrived and challenged Bhima to a wrestling match. Bhima killed him.

The noise woke the others. Hidimba introduced herself and declared her love for Bhima. She told Kunti: "I have forsaken my friends, my dharma and my kin; and good lady, chosen your tiger-like son for my man … whether you think me a fool, or your devoted servant, let me join you, great lady, with your son as my husband." Yudhisthira agreed to the marriage on condition that Bhima would spend the day with Hidimba but return every night. The couple roamed the world during the day. In time, Hidimba gave birth to a rakshasa boy named Ghatotkacha. Then mother and son left the Pandavas, and Ghatotkacha promised to return whenever the Pandavas needed him. …