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Society through the ages

Family and kinship

c. 1000 BCE onwards	Gotra rules: Each gotra was named after a Vedic seer; members of the same gotra could not marry.
c. 500 BCE – 200 CE	Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras: From c. 500 BCE social norms were compiled in Sanskrit texts, the Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras; the Manusmriti was compiled between c. 200 BCE and 200 CE. NCERT notes that real social relations were more complicated.

Villages, guilds and work

Sangam age	Groups in the Tamil village: Sangam texts name large landowners (vellalar), ploughmen (uzhavar) and slaves (adimai).
Early historic period	Guilds (shrenis): Guilds of craft producers and merchants probably procured raw materials, regulated production and marketed the finished goods.
13th–17th centuries	Jati and shreni continue: The jati and shreni system for arts, crafts and trade continued.
Mughal period	Raiyat: the peasant: Indo-Persian sources most often called a peasant raiyat; the Ain-i Akbari recorded how the state arranged cultivation and revenue.

Questioning inequality

Twelfth century	Basavanna and the Virashaivas: Basavanna’s vachanas questioned empty ritual; his followers were known as Virashaivas.
1772–1833	Rammohun Roy and the Brahmo Sabha: Raja Rammohun Roy founded the Brahmo Sabha (later the Brahmo Samaj) in Calcutta, believing unjust practices had to be done away with.
1829	Sati banned: After Rammohun Roy’s campaign, sati was banned in 1829.
1840	The Paramhans Mandali: Founded in Bombay to work for the abolition of caste.
1856	Widow remarriage made legal: Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar used the ancient texts to argue that widows could remarry; a law of 1856 permitted it.
1873	Jyotirao Phule and Gulamgiri: Phule’s Satyashodhak Samaj propagated caste equality; in 1873 he wrote Gulamgiri, meaning slavery.
1875	The Arya Samaj: Founded by Dayanand Saraswati to reform Hinduism.
Late 19th – early 20th century	Schools for girls: The Arya Samaj in Punjab and Jyotirao Phule in Maharashtra set up schools for girls; Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain started schools for Muslim girls in Patna and Calcutta.
1927	Ambedkar: “We are also human beings”: In 1927 Ambedkar said Hindu society should be reorganised on two principles — equality and absence of casteism.
	Periyar and the Self Respect Movement: Convinced that the untouchables had to fight for their dignity, E. V. Ramaswamy Naicker (Periyar) founded the Self Respect Movement.
1929	The Child Marriage Restraint Act: No man below 18 and no woman below 16 could marry; the limits were later raised to 21 and 18.

Equality in the Republic

Constitution of India	Untouchability abolished: Untouchability is abolished under the Right to Equality, which also forbids discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste or sex.
73rd amendment	One-third of panchayat seats for women: Under the 73rd amendment, one third of the positions in all panchayat institutions are reserved for women.

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Years are from YugMap’s records; dates marked c. are approximate. Printed from yugmap.com.