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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

Social norms for women in the Dharmasastra and Arthasastra tradition were framed in accordance with the Varnashrama tradition. Evaluate critically.

  • UPSC 2013
  • Mauryan Empire

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The Dharmashastra and Arthashastra traditions codified social life through Varnashrama dharma — the fusion of varna and ashrama — but this framework was built around the twice-born male, leaving women structurally outside its categories. Evaluating the claim requires two moves: testing how far prescriptions for women actually track Varnashrama logic, and then weighing that against…

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What the full answer covers

  • The Varnashrama Framework and Where Women Stood Within It
  • Dharmashastra and Arthashastra Norms That Track the Varnashrama Logic
  • The Critical Counter-Evidence
  • Internal Contradictions Within the Same Texts
  • Chronology, Prescription versus Practice, and Epigraphic Evidence
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