Family and society in the Vedic period
On the occasion of Guru Pūrṇimā, our thoughts may turn to the venerable lineages of successive teachers and students in India (गुरु-शिष्य-परम्परा). As we will see, the need to record and preserve genealogical details of family and pedagogical lineages was already recognized in India in the earliest times. Indeed, this is very likely a continuation of the concerns of proto-Indo-European people. For many ancient peoples, family would perhaps be the main source of personal identity, and the basis of all religious life.
Vedic texts provide indirect information about the family and society of their period. In the Rig Veda, the names of the authors provide firm information about their family identity, linking them with their ancestors, at least in the patrilineal line. In the older Upaniṣads, many scenes of family and intellectual life are vividly depicted. Teachings conveyed in these texts may be embedded in conversations between husband and wife, between father and son, between teacher and student, or in debates between prominent thinkers. In an earlier article, I discussed the institution of marriage in the Rig Veda. In this article, I will briefly review some further facts about family and society in Vedic times.
Some scholars have suggested that, across the world, invention of patronymic surnames, and perhaps even the very institution of family itself…
