Kula
Topic: Society in Early India: Kinship, Varna-Jati, Women · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 3 "Kinship, Caste and Class - Early Societies"
Meaning
Kula is the Sanskrit word for family. Early Sanskrit texts use it together with two other words: jnati, the wider network of relatives, and vamsha, the lineage, or line of descent from an ancestor. These three words help historians study kinship (family relationships) in early India. In Class 9 NCERT, the kula is the smallest unit of Vedic society. Families formed a grama (village), villages formed a visha, and these together made up the jana (the people) ruled by a raja.
Example
The Mahabharata tells of a quarrel within one family over land and power. The Kauravas and the Pandavas were cousins from the same Kuru lineage.
Don't confuse with
- Vamsha: the line of descent stretching back over many generations, while kula is the family itself.
- Jnati: the wider network of relatives beyond one's own family.