words) on the following: . This is what a famous historian of Indian literature, Maurice Winternitz, wrote about the Mahabharata: “just because the Mahabharata represents more of an entire literature … and contains so much and so many kinds of things, … (it) gives(s) us an insight into the most profound depths of the soul of the Indian folk.” Discuss. . Discuss whether the Mahabharata could have been the work of a single author.
. How important were gender differences in early societies? Give reasons for your answer. .
Discuss the evidence that suggests that Brahmanical prescriptions about kinship and marriage were not universally followed.