Page 201 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Social Stratification

Notes came to her. The children were hers and remained with her. The physiological role of the male in
reproduction must have escaped the notice completely. But even when his function was understood,
sex-relations were so irregular that it was difficult to find out the father. The primitive mother did
not bother to inquire into the paternity of the child. The child belonged to her and she did not
belong to her husband but to her mother, brother and the clan at large. The brother was nearer
and dearer to her than the husband. The husband many times lived with his mother and visited
his wife occasionally.
The status of woman in mother-family was strong and independent. However, there was no
concept of matriarchy or patriarchy in the modern sense of the term.
Thus, at the hunting stage the mother woman dispensed the food and nursed and reared children,
kept the hut or home in order, gathered food, cooked, cleaned and made the clothing and the
boots. She did almost all the work except the actual capture of the animal. In return for exposing
himself to the risk of life, the male rested magnificently. When the tribe moved, men carried their
weapons, women carried everything else. The woman was almost equal of man in stature,
endurance, resourcefulness, courage. She was not an ornament or a sexual toy. She was robust,
able to perform arduous work for long hours.
There was no institution of marriage in the modem sense of the term. The savages acted instinctively
or automatically and not rationally. As pointed out by Sumner, all the women of a group had
relations with all the men. There were indiscriminate relations between men and women. The
restrictions regarding sex were yet to come. The relations between father-daughter, brother sister
were also prevalent. The historian Prof. Rajwade refers to similar kinds of relations between
people of the Vedic age as mentioned in the Vedas and other Indian treatises.
Cattle Breeding

The next stage is cattle-breeding. There is no antagonism between the various stages of human
civilization like hunting, cattle-breeding, agriculture. On the other hand there is an inter–dependence
and a necessary connection between them.
Cattle-raising and agriculture are the chief characteristics of Neolithic age. However, cattle-raising
evolved out of hunting life itself. While hunting, primitive man captured some animals but it was
not just capturing but taming them that became more important. The first step was not only to
tame animals but domesticate them and learn to breed more animals. In the older Neolithic period
of the shell heaps dogs were the first animals that were domesticated. (After wards in late neolithic
period of polished stone, the goat, the sheep, pigs and oxen were domesticated).
The dogs probably had long been following the hunters’ camps as scavengers devouring food that
was thrown away. When it was found that dogs were useful as watch-dogs men fed them and
domesticated them. In late Neolithic period of polished stone, the goat, the sheep, pig and ox were
domesticated.
Men realized the advantages of saving some animals instead of killing them. The increased number
of cattle ensured the supply of meat for a longer time and many people left hunting and devoted
themselves to driving the cattle herds from one place to another. Nomadism was thus the natural
result of cattle-raising and was its inseparable companion. With more experience man also
discovered that he could get milk, butter and cheese and took to diary farming.
With the primitive man, the flock of animals was more of a reserve than wealth. Cattle raising
caused many migrations because animals soon exhausted the pastures and had to be moved to
new pastures. During the dry season, the herds had to be brought down to the banks of rivers,
streams or lakes. In the rainy season they were to be brought to plateaux far from the stream, This
gave them sufficient opportunity to understand the secrets of animal world.
The nomadic life was not a simple life but a very hard life like the military life. The tribe was
always organized like an army. The march of the caravan and the operations of loading and

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