Raja Vikramaditya had a well structured administrative system to rule Malwa efficiently. In the earlier years of his rule Vikramaditya faced some challenges from enemies and internal opponents but he dealt with them with skill. The external enemies were put to sword by Vikramaditya. The main trouble makers were Shaka invaders. Vikramaditya secured Malwa from them by eliminating their menace totally. That is where he displayed examplary courage, valour and battle skills.
In the initial phase the administration was also not in good shape as the kingdom had undergone some unpleasant episodes involving the queen, Bhartrihari and his pre-occupation with his queen, followed by some scandals and other distractors. Even Prince Vikramaditya got affected by incidents that happened within his family. When the kingdom appeared secure, prosperous and peaceful everyone began to take things easy. The officials became lax. Raja Bhartrihari indulged in merry making. Prince Vikramaditya went on hunting trips more often. That is how degeneration took place.
It took Vikramaditya some time to set the house in order and secure his kingdom. The social structure of that period was primarily caste based. There were four broad categories of castes classified according to professions. The lowest in the caste order was shudra. The people of this caste were mainly menial service providers but they were not looked down upon unlike the later period when they became untouchables.
Similarly life was ordered in four ashrams parts of around 25 year periods. The first celibacy period was meant for life of discipline, frugal living, learning words and skills. The second period was for marital life, raising a family and leading domestic years besides earning livelihood. The third part supposed to be dedicated to living in natural surroundings, gradually winding up family life and paying attention to spiritual matters.
The last part of the life was meant to renounce the mundane life, leave family to dwell in the forest to make penance and meditate to earn some credit for the after life. It is believed that during that era the people lived long generally to full one hundred years. Hence the life was divided into four 25 year spans.
The last part of the ascetic life was also meant to remove old people from the society to create space for young generation. Thus, old people were protected from the emotional hurt generally caused by the contempt that young generation naturally shows for the outdated generations and their thinking. The problems of generation gap was in this way cleverly disallowed any space.
Generally the women folk were respected in the society and family set ups. There was no ban on the education of females. One man-one woman was the prevailing marital norm although there was no ban on polygamy. The rich people took more wives than one taking advantage of this window. The man with one wife was viewed with respect in the society. The man with more wives was not openly run down but considered to be lax in moral values and hence less respectable, a man of no principles.
The general norm of marriage was of the arranged type. The families of the eligible young folks looked for the suitable matches. The families got together and the marriages were fixed mostly between the families. The would be groom or bride had little say or they just did not bother trusting their families to work out what was best for them. The marriage ceremony was conducted according to rites prescribed by Vedas. This kind of marriage was the most common in the society and was considered most acceptable and proper.
These informations are contained in a contemporary book written under the title ‘Amarkosha’.
The royals used to marry their daughters by organising swayamwara in which all the prospective grooms were invited to win some contest determined by bride’s family or fulfil the condition set. In some cases the princess would make her own choice at her fancy from the assembled princes.
Gandharva or secret marriages were also in the vogue. It was a native kind of love affair and love marriage acceptable to the society. A boy or girl would fall in love secretly in a natural way and establish physical relationship which could be legitimatised later by gandharva marriage.
A rogue-marriage system was also in practice. A person of means could fancy a girl and without her or her parent’s approval kidnap or forcibly abduct her, rape her and then marry her as penance making. It meant nothing to the girl as she even after marriage would be treated as a slave maid. The marriage was only meant to technically beat the social censure. Such marriages never received any respect for the man or the woman. Most of the people termed them as ‘monster marriages’.
As housewives the women were respected as deities of home. At home she was the master whose thoughts and views were respected by her man. The woman as a mother drew additional respect. For the young ones their mother was angel or a goddess. For a man his woman was more adorable as the mother of his children. He would consider her his pride and Laxmi of the house.
Before Vikramaditya the tradition was for a widow to immolate herself on the funeral pyre of her husband. He made it optional. A woman opting to live as a widow after the death of her husband was no more an abomindable act. The society was supposed to accord her due respect to her as a human being, her widowhood being merely a misfortune of her life. In his own way Vikramaditya tried to be a man of the reformist mindset and not just a blind follower of traditions. Thus, the society during his period was relatively free of monstrous social injustices.
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