The Partiarch - How He Developed

I hope you do not find my account of the old tribes and their patriarchs very dull. I told you in my last letter that everything in those days belonged to the whole tribe and not to each member separately. Even the patriarch had nothing special to himself. As a member of the tribe, he could only have a share like any other member. But he was the organizer and he was supposed to look after the goods and property of the tribe. As his power increased, he began to think that these goods and property were really his own and not the tribe's. Or rather he thought that he himself, being the leader of the tribe, represented the tribe. So we see how the idea of owning things for oneself began. Today we are always thinking and talking of this thing being 'mine' or 'yours'. But, as I have told you, the men and women of the first tribes did not think in this way. Everything then belonged to the tribe.

The old patriarch, however, began to think that he was the tribe, and so he looked upon most of the things belonging to the tribe as his own.

When the patriarch died, all the members of the tribe gathered together and chose another person to be their leader or patriarch. But usually the family of the patriarch knew more about the work of organization than the others. As they were always with the patriarch, they used to help him in his work and so they got to know about it. It so happened therefore that when an old patriarch died, the members of the tribe chose someone else from the same family.

So we find that the patriarch's family became different from the others and the tribe always chose its leaders from this family. Now the patriarch had a great deal of power. Naturally, he wanted his own son or brother to succeed him as patriarch and he tried his best to bring this about. So he trained his son or brother or some other near relative so thathe might succeed him. He even told the tribe that a certain person whom he had selected and trained must become patriarch after him. Perhaps to begin with, the members of the tribe did not like being told so, but they soon got used to it and always did what the patriarch wanted them to do. There was practically no election or choosing of a new patriarch. The old man had already decided who was to be his successor and 'this man succeeded.

So we see that the office of the patriarch became hereditary, that is, it remained in the same family and went from father to son or some other relative. The patriarch now was quite sure that the property and things belonging to the tribe were really his own. Even when he died they remained in his family. We see how the idea of anything belonging to 'me' or 'you' started.

There was no such idea to begin with. People all worked together for the tribe and not for themselves. If they produced a lot of food or other things, everybody in the tribe got his share. There were no rich or poor in the tribe. They were all sharers in the property of the tribe. But as soon as the patriarch started grabbing at the things belonging to the tribe and calling them his own, we begin to get rich people and poor people.

I shall have something more to say about this in my next letter.

Source:  http://indiragandhi.in/en/philosophy/letters/2