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Q50 (IAS/2022) History & Culture › Ancient India › Mauryan empire polity Official Key

According to Kautilya’s Arthashastra, which of the following are correct? 1. A person could be a slave as a result of a judicial punishment. 2. If a female slave bore her master a son, she was legally free. 3. If a son born to a female slave was fathered by her master, the son was entitled to the legal status of the master’s son. Which of the statements given above are correct?

Result
Your answer: —  ·  Correct: B
Explanation

The correct answer is Option 2 (2 and 3 only) based on the legal framework of labor and bondage detailed in Kautilya’s Arthashastra.

  • Statement 1: While Kautilya mentions various ways a person could become a dasa (slave), such as being captured in war or voluntarily selling oneself, formal judicial punishment typically resulted in temporary penal servitude or fines rather than permanent slavery. However, the core focus of the Arthashastra regarding manumission lies in the protections offered to the family unit.
  • Statement 2: Kautilya explicitly states that if a female slave bore a child to her master, both the mother and the child were to be recognized as free. The mother gained her freedom immediately upon the birth of the son.
  • Statement 3: Furthermore, the Arthashastra mandates that a son fathered by the master with a female slave was entitled to the legal status of the master's son, including rights to inheritance.

Thus, statements 2 and 3 represent the progressive legal protections provided to enslaved women and their offspring under Kautilyan law.

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Q. According to Kautilya’s Arthashastra, which of the following are correct? 1. A person could be a slave as a result of a judicial punishm…
At a glance
Origin: Mostly Current Affairs Fairness: Low / Borderline fairness Books / CA: 0/10 · 3.3/10

This is a 'Bouncer' for generalists but a classic 'History Optional' crossover. While NCERTs mention Arthashastra as a source, they do not detail its specific legal codes (Dasakalpa). The question tests the specific nuance that Indian slavery (unlike Western chattel slavery) was often temporary, regulated, and allowed for manumission (freedom).

How this question is built

This question can be broken into the following sub-statements. Tap a statement sentence to jump into its detailed analysis.

Statement 1
According to Kautilya's Arthashastra, could a person become a slave as a result of judicial punishment?
Origin: Weak / unclear Fairness: Borderline / guessy
Indirect textbook clues
THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART I, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 2: Kings, Farmers and Towns > 3.1 Finding out about the Mauryas > p. 32
Strength: 5/5
“Historians have used a variety of sources to reconstruct the history of the Mauryan Empire. These include archaeological finds, especially sculpture. Also valuable are contemporary works, such as the account of Megasthenes (a Greek ambassador to the court of Chandragupta Maurya), which survives in fragments. Another source that is often used is the Arthashastra, parts of which were probably composed by Kautilya or Chanakya, traditionally believed to be the minister of Chandragupta. Besides, the Mauryas are mentioned in later Buddhist, Jaina and Puranic literature, as well as in Sanskrit literary works. While these are useful, the inscriptions of Asoka (c.”
Why relevant

Identifies the Arthashastra as a contemporary/specialized source used to reconstruct Mauryan legal and administrative practice, implying it contains rules on punishments and social status.

How to extend

A student could consult the Arthashastra (or summaries) expecting it to list judicial punishments and check whether enslavement is prescribed.

History , class XI (Tamilnadu state board 2024 ed.) > Chapter 2: Early India: The Chalcolithic, Megalithic, Iron Age and Vedic Cultures > Social Organization > p. 29
Strength: 4/5
“varna was denied this privilege and the Gayatri mantra could not be recited by the Sudras. Women were also denied upanayana and Gayatri mantra. The king asserted his authority over the three varnas. The Aitreya Brahmana refers to the Brahmana as the seeker of support and he could be removed by king from his position. Certain craft groups managed to attain higher status. For example, the Rathakaras, the chariot makers, had the right to wear the sacred thread. Vaisya referred to the common people. They were involved in agriculture, cattle breeding and artisans. Later they became traders. Vaisyas paid tax to the kings.”
Why relevant

Notes the king's asserted authority to remove a Brahmana from position, showing royal power to impose punitive social/legal sanctions.

How to extend

Combine this with the Arthashastra's role as a text on statecraft to infer the state could impose status-changing penalties; then check specific Arthashastra passages on punishments.

THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART I, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 3: Kinship, Caste and Class > Draupadi's question > p. 68
Strength: 3/5
“Draupadi is supposed to have asked Yudhisthira whether he had lost himself before staking her. Two contrary opinions were expressed in response to this question. One, that even if Yudhisthira had lost himself earlier, his wife remained under his control, so he could stake her. Two, that an unfree man (as Yudhisthira was when he had lost himself) could not stake another person. The matter remained unresolved; ultimately, Dhritarashtra restored to the Pandavas and Draupadi their personal freedom. Ü Do you think that this episode suggests that wives could be treated as the property of their husbands?”
Why relevant

Describes an episode where a person becomes 'unfree' (loss of freedom) through gambling, indicating social recognition of changed personal status (free → unfree) as a result of legal/extra-legal actions.

How to extend

Use this example to argue that ancient norms accepted transitions into unfreedom, so a reader could look for judicial analogues in legal texts like the Arthashastra.

THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART I, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 3: Kinship, Caste and Class > The wealthy Shudra > p. 70
Strength: 3/5
“Kachchana replied: "What if a Shudra were wealthy … would another Shudra …or a Kshatriya or a Brahmana or a Vaishya … speak politely to him?" Avantiputta replied that if a Shudra had wealth or corn or gold or silver, he could have as his obedient servant another Shudra to get up earlier than he, to go to rest later, to carry out his orders, to speak politely; or he could even have a Kshatriya or a Brahmana or a Vaishya as his obedient servant. Kachchana asked: "This being so, are not these four varnas exactly the same?" Avantiputta conceded that there was no difference amongst the varnas on this count.”
Why relevant

Discusses servitude relations where even members of varnas could have 'obedient servants', pointing to accepted social practices of subordination or servitude.

How to extend

A student might treat this as evidence that servitude existed broadly and then examine the Arthashastra for legal mechanisms (including punishment) that could create such servitude.

Statement 2
According to Kautilya's Arthashastra, was a female slave who bore her master a son legally freed?
Origin: Web / Current Affairs Fairness: CA heavy Web-answerable

Web source
Presence: 5/5
"When a child is begotten on a female slave by her master, both the child and its mother shall at once"
Why this source?
  • Directly addresses the situation of a child begotten on a female slave by her master.
  • States that ‘‘both the child and its mother shall at once...’’ indicating an immediate change in legal status upon the birth.
Web source
Presence: 4/5
"Violation (of the chastity) of nurses, female cooks, or female servants of the class of joint cultivators[[5]](https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/kautilya-arthashastra/d/doc366096.html#note-e-128856 "See the note on “Ardhasitika,” Chapter XI, Book III.") or of any other description shall at once earn their liberty for them."
Why this source?
  • States that certain actions (e.g., violation of chastity) ‘‘shall at once earn their liberty for them,’’ supporting the pattern of immediate liberation in comparable circumstances.
  • Corroborates the phrasing ‘‘at once’’ as indicating immediate granting of liberty in the text's rules concerning female servants.

THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART I, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 2: Kings, Farmers and Towns > 3.1 Finding out about the Mauryas > p. 32
Strength: 5/5
“Historians have used a variety of sources to reconstruct the history of the Mauryan Empire. These include archaeological finds, especially sculpture. Also valuable are contemporary works, such as the account of Megasthenes (a Greek ambassador to the court of Chandragupta Maurya), which survives in fragments. Another source that is often used is the Arthashastra, parts of which were probably composed by Kautilya or Chanakya, traditionally believed to be the minister of Chandragupta. Besides, the Mauryas are mentioned in later Buddhist, Jaina and Puranic literature, as well as in Sanskrit literary works. While these are useful, the inscriptions of Asoka (c.”
Why relevant

Explicitly identifies the Arthashastra as a legal/administrative text attributed to Kautilya, indicating it is an appropriate source for rules about slavery and legal status.

How to extend

A student could consult the Arthashastra itself (knowing it is the right primary text) to look for chapters on slaves, lineage, and emancipation to confirm any rule.

THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART I, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 2: Kings, Farmers and Towns > Capturing elephants for the army > p. 35
Strength: 4/5
“The Arthashastra lays down minute details of administrative and military organisation. This is what it says about how to capture elephants: Guards of elephant forests, assisted by those who rear elephants, those who enchain the legs of elephants, those who guard the boundaries, those who live in forests, as well as by those who nurse elephants, shall, with the help of five or seven female elephants to help in tethering wild ones, trace the whereabouts of herds of elephants by following the course of urine and dung left by elephants. According to Greek sources, the Mauryan ruler had a standing army of 600,000 foot-soldiers, 30,000 cavalry and 9,000 elephants.”
Why relevant

Shows the Arthashastra contains detailed prescriptive rules about many social and administrative matters, suggesting it may include specific regulations about slaves and their children.

How to extend

Use the pattern that Arthashastra gives minute procedural rules to search its sections for precise legal provisions on the status of children born to slaves.

Rajiv Ahir. A Brief History of Modern India (2019 ed.). SPECTRUM. > Chapter 4: India on the Eve of British Conquest > Menace of Slavery > p. 78
Strength: 4/5
“European travellers and administrators, who came in the 17th century, reported the widespread prevalence of slaves in India. It is believed that some people were compelled to sell their offspring due to economic distress, famines, natural calamities and extreme poverty. Generally higher classes of Rajputs, Khatris and Kayasthas kept women slave for domestic work. However, the status of slaves in India was better than that in Europe. Slaves, were usually treated as hereditary servants rather than as menials. Marriages took place among the slaves, and the offspring coming out of such wedlock were considered free citizens. The advent of Europeans heightened the slavery and slave trade in India.”
Why relevant

States that in historical Indian practice offspring of slave marriages were often considered free citizens, providing a general social precedent relevant to the legal status of children born to slaves.

How to extend

Combine this general precedent with a targeted reading of Arthashastra to see if its rules align with or differ from broader social practice regarding the freedom of slave-born children.

THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART II, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 5: Through the Eyes of Travellers > Slaves, Sati and Labourers > p. 135
Strength: 3/5
“It appears from Ibn Battuta's account that there was considerable differentiation among slaves. Some female slaves in the service of the Sultan were experts in music and dance, and Ibn Battuta enjoyed their performance at the wedding of the Sultan's sister. Female slaves were also employed by the Sultan to keep a watch on his nobles. Slaves were generally used for domestic labour, and Ibn Battuta found their services particularly indispensable for carrying women and men on palanquins or dola. The price of slaves, particularly female slaves required for domestic labour, was very low, and most families who could afford to do so kept at least one or two of them.”
Why relevant

Describes differentiation among slaves and roles of female slaves, implying complexity in slave status that might be reflected in legal texts about when and how slaves (or their children) could gain freedom.

How to extend

A student could infer that because female slaves had varied roles, legal codes like the Arthashastra might specify conditions (such as bearing a master's child) affecting legal status and then check those passages.

THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART I, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 3: Kinship, Caste and Class > 4.1 Gendered access to property > p. 68
Strength: 3/5
“Consider first a critical episode in the Mahabharata. During the course of the long-drawn rivalry between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, Duryodhana invited Yudhisthira to a game of dice. The latter, who was deceived by his rival, staked his gold, elephants, chariots, slaves, army, treasury, kingdom, the property of his subjects, his brothers and finally himself and lost all. Then he staked their common wife Draupadi and lost her too. Issues of ownership, foregrounded in stories such as this one (Source 11), also figure in the Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras. According to the Manusmriti, the paternal estate was to be divided equally amongst sons after the death of the parents, with a special share for the eldest.”
Why relevant

Mentions Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras addressing ownership and inheritance, indicating other classical legal texts discuss familial and property status which can be compared with Arthashastra's prescriptions.

How to extend

Compare Arthashastra passages with Dharmashastra/Manusmriti-type rules on lineage and inheritance to assess whether bearing a master's son could confer freedom or rights.

Statement 3
According to Kautilya's Arthashastra, if a son born to a female slave was fathered by her master, was that son entitled to the legal status of the master's son?
Origin: Weak / unclear Fairness: Borderline / guessy
Indirect textbook clues
THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART I, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 3: Kinship, Caste and Class > Answer in 100-150 words > p. 80
Strength: 4/5
“I bow respectfully to teacher Drona … I hold the feet of our preceptor Kripa … (and) the chief of the Kurus, the great Bhishma. I bow respectfully to the old king (Dhritarashtra). I greet and ask after the health of his son Duryodhana and his younger brother ... Also greet all the young Kuru warriors who are our brothers, sons and grandsons … Greet above all him, who is to us like father and mother, the wise Vidura (born of a slave woman) ... I bow to the elderly ladies who are known as our mothers. To those who are our wives you say this, "I hope they are well-protected"… Our daughters-inlaw born of good families and mothers of children greet on my behalf.”
Why relevant

Mentions Vidura as 'born of a slave woman' within Kuru genealogical discourse, showing classical texts note children born to slave women in elite households.

How to extend

A student could check Arthashastra passages on kinship/household membership to see whether such offspring were treated as legitimate heirs or as distinct social categories.

THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART I, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 3: Kinship, Caste and Class > 4.1 Gendered access to property > p. 68
Strength: 4/5
“Consider first a critical episode in the Mahabharata. During the course of the long-drawn rivalry between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, Duryodhana invited Yudhisthira to a game of dice. The latter, who was deceived by his rival, staked his gold, elephants, chariots, slaves, army, treasury, kingdom, the property of his subjects, his brothers and finally himself and lost all. Then he staked their common wife Draupadi and lost her too. Issues of ownership, foregrounded in stories such as this one (Source 11), also figure in the Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras. According to the Manusmriti, the paternal estate was to be divided equally amongst sons after the death of the parents, with a special share for the eldest.”
Why relevant

Cites Manusmriti rules about division of paternal estate among sons, illustrating that classical Dharmashastra texts set formal inheritance rules for sons.

How to extend

Compare Manusmriti's clear inheritance rules with Arthashastra's legal sections to infer whether legitimacy criteria (birth status, mother's condition) affected entitlement.

THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART I, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 3: Kinship, Caste and Class > A Story of Bodhisattva from the Matanga Jataka > p. 67
Strength: 3/5
“In protest, he went and lay down at the door of her father's house. On the seventh day they brought out the girl and gave her to him. She carried the starving Matanga back to the chandala settlement. Once he returned home, he decided to renounce the world. After attaining spiritual powers, he returned to Banaras and married her. A son named Mandavya Kumara was born to them. He learnt the three Vedas as he grew up and began to provide food to 16,000 Brahmanas every day. One day, Matanga, dressed in rags, with a clay alms bowl in his hand, arrived at his son's doorstep and begged for food.”
Why relevant

The Matanga Jataka story shows narratives where children born to low-status parents (e.g., chandala or slave backgrounds) could be integrated and given high status, indicating social mobility motifs exist in sources.

How to extend

Use this pattern to ask whether Arthashastra allows legal elevation of a slave-born child (paternal recognition) or treats them separately under law.

History , class XI (Tamilnadu state board 2024 ed.) > Chapter 10: Advent of Arabs and Turks > Iltutmish (1211-1236) > p. 140
Strength: 3/5
“He diplomatically saved India by refusing to support the Khwarizmi Shah Jalaluddin of Central Asia against the Mongol ruler Chengiz Khan. Had he supported Jalaluddin, the Mongols would have overrun India with ease. Since the dynastic traditions of the 'slave regime' were weak, succession to the throne was not smooth after Iltutmish's death. The monarch was succeeded by a son, a daughter (Sultana Razia), another son, and a grandson, all within ten years, and finally by his youngest son Sultan Nasir al-Din Mahmud II (1246-66). Iltutmish's descendants fought long but in vain with their father's military slaves who had been appointed as governors of vast territories and generals of large armies.”
Why relevant

Discusses 'slave regime' dynastic weakness and succession problems, implying that legitimacy and succession norms were contested where slavery and rulership intersected.

How to extend

A student might examine Arthashastra's treatment of succession and legitimacy in regimes with slaves to see if paternal paternity grants succession rights.

Themes in world history, History Class XI (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 2: An Empire Across Three Continents > Gender, Literacy, Culture > p. 44
Strength: 2/5
“One of the more modern features of Roman society was the widespread prevalence of the nuclear family. Adult sons did not live with their families, and it was exceptional for adult brothers to share a common household. On the other hand, slaves were included in the family as the Romans understood this. By the late Republic (the first century BCE), the typical form of marriage was one where the wife did not transfer to her husband's authority but retained full rights in the property of her natal family. While the woman's dowry went to the husband for the duration of the marriage, the woman remained a primary heir of her father and became an independent property owner on her father's death.”
Why relevant

Notes that in Roman society slaves could be 'included in the family' legally/practically, offering a cross-cultural example where slave-origin children sometimes had family status.

How to extend

As a comparative hint, a student could investigate whether Arthashastra aligns with or differs from such cross-cultural practices regarding slave-born offspring's legal status.

Pattern takeaway: UPSC uses ancient texts to highlight 'Civilizational Complexity'. They want you to know that ancient India had codified laws for social mobility (e.g., a slave becoming free), countering the narrative of a stagnant, rigid society.
How you should have studied
  1. [THE VERDICT]: Bouncer. Source: Advanced texts like Upinder Singh or R.S. Sharma (Ancient India), specifically the chapter on Mauryan Society/Economy.
  2. [THE CONCEPTUAL TRIGGER]: The 'Megasthenes vs. Kautilya' Debate. Megasthenes claimed 'There is no slavery in India'; Kautilya's Arthashastra has a whole chapter regulating it. This contradiction is the syllabus node.
  3. [THE HORIZONTAL EXPANSION]: Memorize Kautilya's slave types: (1) Dhvajahrita (captured in war), (2) Udara-dasa (born in house), (3) Dandapranita (enslaved by court decree). Crucial Rule: An 'Arya' (minor) cannot be enslaved permanently. Slaves had rights to property and could buy their freedom.
  4. [THE STRATEGIC METACOGNITION]: Do not read the entire Arthashastra. Focus on 'Social Rights' in ancient texts. Whenever a text (Manusmriti/Arthashastra) is cited, UPSC asks about the rights of the marginalized (Women, Slaves, Shudras). If the text offers a 'humane' legal exit (like manumission), it is usually the correct answer.
Concept hooks from this question
📌 Adjacent topic to master
S1
👉 Arthashastra as a legal-administrative source for Mauryan governance
💡 The insight

Arthashastra is the principal text for reconstructing Mauryan legal and administrative practices.

High-yield for UPSC: understanding Arthashastra helps answer questions on ancient Indian statecraft, law, and administration; it connects to other primary sources like Megasthenes and Ashokan inscriptions and enables comparative questions on legal systems and governance.

📚 Reading List :
  • THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART I, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 2: Kings, Farmers and Towns > 3.1 Finding out about the Mauryas > p. 32
🔗 Anchor: "According to Kautilya's Arthashastra, could a person become a slave as a result ..."
📌 Adjacent topic to master
S1
👉 Forms of unfreedom: judicial punishment versus personal enslavement
💡 The insight

Ancient Indian material treats loss of personal freedom (unfreedom) in diverse contexts including litigation, stakes, and punishment.

Important for UPSC: distinguishing legal/judicial penalties from social forms of servitude clarifies questions on slavery, caste, and rights in ancient India; useful for essays and prelims/GS papers on social history and legal evolution.

📚 Reading List :
  • THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART I, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 3: Kinship, Caste and Class > Draupadi's question > p. 68
  • THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART I, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 3: Kinship, Caste and Class > The wealthy Shudra > p. 70
🔗 Anchor: "According to Kautilya's Arthashastra, could a person become a slave as a result ..."
📌 Adjacent topic to master
S1
👉 Varna, wealth and the social basis of servitude
💡 The insight

Varna position and wealth affected one's ability to hold obedient servants and the exercise of personal authority over others.

Relevant for UPSC: links social hierarchy, economic status, and bondage; aids answers on social organization, kinship, and class in ancient India and supports multi-disciplinary questions across history and society topics.

📚 Reading List :
  • THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART I, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 3: Kinship, Caste and Class > The wealthy Shudra > p. 70
  • History , class XI (Tamilnadu state board 2024 ed.) > Chapter 2: Early India: The Chalcolithic, Megalithic, Iron Age and Vedic Cultures > Social Organization > p. 29
🔗 Anchor: "According to Kautilya's Arthashastra, could a person become a slave as a result ..."
📌 Adjacent topic to master
S2
👉 Arthashastra as a source for Mauryan administrative and legal practices
💡 The insight

Arthashastra is a principal text used to reconstruct Mauryan administration and law, making it essential when asking about legal rules attributed to Kautilya.

High-yield for UPSC: questions often require identifying primary texts that inform statecraft, law and administration in ancient India; mastering this links to Mauryan polity, primary-source analysis and comparative legal traditions. Enables answering source-based and context questions about governance and legal prescriptions.

📚 Reading List :
  • THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART I, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 2: Kings, Farmers and Towns > 3.1 Finding out about the Mauryas > p. 32
  • THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART I, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 2: Kings, Farmers and Towns > Capturing elephants for the army > p. 35
🔗 Anchor: "According to Kautilya's Arthashastra, was a female slave who bore her master a s..."
📌 Adjacent topic to master
S2
👉 Status of slaves and the legal/social standing of their children
💡 The insight

Pre-modern Indian contexts treated slave status and the position of children born to slaves as distinct legal/social issues relevant to questions about emancipation and inheritance.

Important for UPSC essays and mains answers on social structures: understanding nuances of slavery, heredity, and freedom in Indian history helps answer questions on social hierarchy, labour systems and continuity/change across periods. Connects to social history, legal history and demographic topics.

📚 Reading List :
  • Rajiv Ahir. A Brief History of Modern India (2019 ed.). SPECTRUM. > Chapter 4: India on the Eve of British Conquest > Menace of Slavery > p. 78
  • THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART II, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 5: Through the Eyes of Travellers > Slaves, Sati and Labourers > p. 135
🔗 Anchor: "According to Kautilya's Arthashastra, was a female slave who bore her master a s..."
📌 Adjacent topic to master
S2
👉 Gendered access to property in ancient India
💡 The insight

Legal and social rules governing women's access to property illuminate broader questions about the rights of mothers and children, including cases involving slave women.

Useful for UPSC: mastering gendered property norms aids answers on kinship, inheritance and women's legal status across texts like Manusmriti and inscriptions; links to polity, law, and social history questions and source-based interpretation.

📚 Reading List :
  • THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART I, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 3: Kinship, Caste and Class > 4.1 Gendered access to property > p. 68
  • THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART I, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 2: Kings, Farmers and Towns > 5.4 Land grants and new rural elites > p. 40
🔗 Anchor: "According to Kautilya's Arthashastra, was a female slave who bore her master a s..."
📌 Adjacent topic to master
S3
👉 Legitimacy and inheritance rights of slave-born children
💡 The insight

Concerns whether children born to slave women could claim paternal status, succession or property rights.

High-yield for questions on ancient kinship and property rules; connects legal/societal status to succession disputes and caste hierarchies. Mastering this helps answer questions comparing Dharmashastra prescriptions, social practice, and cases of mixed-origin offspring.

📚 Reading List :
  • THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART I, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 3: Kinship, Caste and Class > Answer in 100-150 words > p. 80
  • THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART I, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 3: Kinship, Caste and Class > 4.1 Gendered access to property > p. 68
  • THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART I, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 3: Kinship, Caste and Class > A Story of Bodhisattva from the Matanga Jataka > p. 67
🔗 Anchor: "According to Kautilya's Arthashastra, if a son born to a female slave was father..."
🌑 The Hidden Trap

The 'Arya' Protection Clause: Kautilya explicitly states that 'The selling or mortgaging by kinsmen of the life of a Shudra who is not a born slave, and has not attained majority, but is an Arya in birth, shall be punished.' Essentially, no Arya (free man) could be permanently enslaved—a massive distinction from Greek slavery.

⚡ Elimination Cheat Code

Use the 'Lineage Logic'. In a patriarchal ancient society, a son born of the Master's blood would rarely be left as a slave, as that would degrade the Master's own lineage. Therefore, if the Master fathers the child, the system naturally elevates the child (Statement 3) and the mother (Statement 2) to protect the family honor. Statements 2 and 3 are a logical pair.

🔗 Mains Connection

Link to GS2 (Constitution & Social Justice): Contrast Kautilyan 'regulated slavery' with Article 23 (Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour). Use this to show historical continuity of 'unfree labour' (Begar) vs. modern constitutional rights.

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SIMILAR QUESTIONS

NDA-I · 2016 · Q95 Relevance score: 0.80

Consider the following statements : 1. The Arthashastra is the first Indian text to define a State. 2. The main concerns of the Arthashastra are theoretical issues like the origins of the state. Which of the statements given above is/are correct ? '

CDS-II · 2021 · Q46 Relevance score: -0.90

Consider the following statements about Patanjali’s Mahabhashya : 1. It makes a mention of Kautilya. 2. It is a book on grammar and refers to historical personalities only incidentally. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

CDS-I · 2021 · Q63 Relevance score: -3.12

Which one of the following statements about the Act V of 1843 relating to Slavery in India is correct ?

IAS · 2021 · Q20 Relevance score: -3.44

With reference to the history of ancient India, which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. Mitakshara was the civil law for upper castes and Dayabhaga was the civil law for lower castes. 2. In the Mitakshara system, the sons can claim right to the property during the lifetime of the father, whereas in the Dayabhaga system, it is only after the death of the father that the sons can claim right to the property. 3. The Mitakshara system deals with the matters related to the property held by male members only of a family, whereas the Dayabhaga system deals with the matters related to the property held by both male and female members of a family. Select the correct answer using the code given below.

IAS · 2020 · Q62 Relevance score: -3.99

In the context of Indian history, the Rakhmabai case of 1884 revolved around 1. women's right to gain education 2. age of consent 3. restitution of conjugal rights Select the correct answer using the code given below :