UPSC – CSE Prelims 2022
ART & CULTURE – LANGUAGES IN INDIA
1. According to Kautilya’s Arthashastra, which of the following are correct?
- A person could be a salve as a result of a judicial punishment.
- If a female slave bore her master a son, she was legally free.
- 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?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Ans: b
- According to Kautilya’s Arthashastra, a person could become a slave as a result of war or debt, but not as a juidicial punishment. Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.
- If a female slave bore her master a son, she was legally free.
- This clause provided a way for female slaves to gain their freedom.
- By bearing a child for her master, the slave woman was released from her bondage, which illustrates an aspect of the social and familial customs surrounding slavery in ancient India. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
- 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.
- This indicates that the son of the female slave and the master had the same rights and status as the children born to the master’s legal wife, ensuring the child’s integration into the master’s family line and inheritance rights. Hence, statement 3 is correct.