Hinduism is one of many major religions in the world. Originating on the India subcontinent, it is thought to be one of the oldest religions still practiced in the 21st century. Close to 80 percent of India’s population are still practicing Hindus (Gold 2016). The religion has composed its very own philosophy’s, rituals, and beliefs that date all the way back to the 16th century. One of their philosophies has provided a pattern for Hindu society for over 2,000 years (Nielsen 1993): the caste system. Using the term “caste” to characterize social groups, particularly among the Hindu culture, was first used in the 16th century. The term was used to divide individuals into socially ranked occupational categories in effort to preserve social distance. These groups then carried out mutual exclusion among themselves in matters involving marriage and even to the degree of restricting what food they can consume (Madan 2010). An individual’s placement in the caste system is thought to be a direct reflection of karma from past lives. Karma means, “an action”; however, it’s most common definition is, “an …show more content…
There are four castes, derived from the hymn of Rigveda, also called varnas: Brahmin, kshatriyas, vaisyas, shudras (Nielsen 1993, pg. 104). The highest class is the Brahmin, referring to the hymn as the mouth of Purusha, are the highest class. People who fall into this class have certain occupations such as priests, or intellectual leaders. They have had to have reached full enlightenment to be born into this class. The next class is the Kshatriyas, the protectors of society – warriors, military, police, or politicians. Following is vaisyas. Their occupational status is generally characterized as the producers: craftsmen, farmers, artisans, mechanics. The lower in the class system people are placed the worse the type of lifestyle is expected. Shudras are the unskilled laboring class and menial
Thousands of years ago, Indian society developed into a complex system based on different classes. This system is known as the Caste System. It separated Indians into different castes based on what class they were born into. As thousands of years went by, this system grew larger and became further complex (Wadley 189). This system caused frustration for the Indian citizens because they were receiving inequality.
The caste system had a very huge impact on ancient Hinduism, as well as the belief of rebirth and karma. Without those convictions, Hinduism would not have been what it was. The caste system told the people what responsibility they had based on the caste they were born into. The idea of good karma leading to reincarnation or rebirth into a better caste was used to keep people in line while also telling them how to live.
There are four main castes and one in which they consider to be the outcastes. The four main castes are the Brahmin, the next is the Kshatriya, the third is the Vaishya, and the fourth is the Shudra. The outcastes are in the group called Dalits. Each caste has a purpose in life, the Brahmin are considered to be the priestly caste in which they are teach the Veda, and are to “sacrifice for others and receive alms” (Institutes of Vishnu 5-10, pg. 44). The Kshatriya is considered the warriors or the ruler caste, they have constant practice in battles, and they are to protect the world from harm. The Vaishya are to be the merchants and the farmers, they tend to the cattle, they, “engage in farming, keeps cows, trades, lends money at interest, and grows seeds” (Institutes of Vishnu 5-10, pg. 44). The Shudra are the manual laborers who according to the Institutes of Vishnu under the Four Castes, are to serve the twice born men who are to sacrifice and to study the Veda, the Shudra also engage in all the different duties of craftsmanship (5-10, pg.44). In case of a crisis, each caste is allowed to follow the occupation of the caste that is below them in rank. The duties in which all four of these castes, whatever gender or stage of life, are to follow and hav...
...mans, Khastriyas, and the Vaishyas are the upper class. Nobody under them gets any recognition. The Shudras and the Untouchables are the lower class. They mainly don’t exist in society. Hindu’s have some sacred objects such as cows and the Gangas River. The Gangas River is believed to wash away all evil.
In India, the religion of Hinduism in particular, provides two sources of support in regards to the social structure of the era. These sources are the Vedas and the Upanishads. According to The Rig Veda when Purusha’s body was divided “his mouth became the brāhman; his two arms were made into the rajanya; his two thighs the vaishyas; from his two feet the shūdra was born (Reilly, 92).” By splitting up the body in this way, there was a justification for the creation of the varna or caste system. The highest class or Brahmin’s were the priest class, who were also known as the most pure. In this role, they were the connecting figures between Purusha and his people, which is reflective of them being his mouth. The next upper division class was the Ksatriya or warrior/leader class. In the class, the role was to do the fighting which was reflective of them being Purusha’s arms. The artisan/farmer or middle class was known as the vaisyas. In this class, members represented the role of the thighs of Purusha, who were responsible for doing the brunt or tougher jobs in society. The nethermost social class was the sudra, who were serfs and servants. They represented the feet of Pursha, which is reflective of their status as the lowest class. Along with the Vedas, the Upanishads served as a written guideline for the varna. These works urged the concept of doin...
We are lucky, today, that the majority of the world’s nations are democracies. This has only been the case in very recent times. For the greater part of human history, society has subscribed to the belief that birth is the most important determinant of one’s future. In Elizabethan England, this was especially true. Those born into the nobility enjoyed a lifetime of privilege, while those born outside of their ranks mainly existed to serve them. A century later, the British encountered an even stricter form of this belief when they conquered India. The Hindu caste system, which dictated one’s future based on birth just as British society did, was deemed even by the English to be excessively restrictive. After gaining control of the Subcontinent, the conquerors attempted to supplant the caste system with the semblance of a meritocracy. The new subjects of the Empire, instead of embracing this imposition of a foreign culture’s values, responded with general unrest and discontent, showing that no society, no matter how unfair or prejudiced, tolerates interference well. Shakespeare’s King Lear demonstrates the same concept: that any violation of society’s conception of the natural order brings chaos, and that the only way to restore harmony is to conform to the expectations of that society.
The four main stages of life in Hinduism also take the caste system into account. The first stage is that of a student, being led by a teacher. T...
The Portuguese word casta means race, or breed, and Hindus have traditionally interpreted this as different levels of society, known as the caste system used in India (“India caste system”). The caste placements are commonly associated with a specific occupation, for example, a priest is a member of the Brahmin caste, and a merchant is a member of the Vaishya caste (“BBC - The caste system”). A Hindu is born into the caste that their parents are ‘members’ of, and as a member of that caste, they must marry in the caste, perform the expected occupation of that caste and eventually die as a member of said caste. The lowest caste of the system are the Dalit, or ‘untouchables’ as they are more commonly known. Members of this caste are also born into it, but because of their extreme conditions of living in poverty, they were too despicable to be considered a part of the caste system. These ‘untouchables’ were usually found begging on the streets and did not have a job that fell into the categories of the caste system, therefore were severely looked down upon by all othe...
Owing to India’s diversity, these identities are determined by caste, ancestry, socioeconomic class, religion, sexual orientation and geographic location, and play an important role in determining the social position of an individual (Anne, Callahan & Kang, 2011). Within this diversity, certain identities are privileged over others, due to social hierarchies and inequalities, whose roots are more than a thousand years old. These inequalities have marginalized groups and communities which is evident from their meagre participation in politics, access to health and education services and
These immigrants mixed with the native Dravidian speakers and allegedly established the highly contested Hindu caste system to place themselves at the top of a new found patriarchal organization. This division in society was so substantial that there is a statistically significant genetic difference between Indians of higher caster versus Indians of lower caste due to the lack of breeding between the many different castes (4). Numerous studies display that there exists a significant genetic contribution from Eurasian populations in the genetics of upper casts Indians (5). The extent to which the hierarchical caste system has influenced Indian genetics is a stepping stone to deciphering the thousand-year-old legacy of a second generation Indian
In each society, there are different types of rules and ideologies that are used in order to help govern its people. Within these communities, these rules create a social hierarchy developed through a ranked system based on either economic value or religious beliefs. A type of ranked system that most people are familiar with is the Caste System in India, which is a system of classification in a society based on birth. This complex social structure is most prevalent in India, where social hierarchy is in affiliation with Hinduism. It recognizes two concepts known as Varna and Jati. Varna is a word in Sanskrit meaning color and includes four main groups: the Brahmans, Kshtriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras. The fifth group, the most segregated caste in the system, is the Untouchables. Within each Varna contains an array of sub-caste called Jatis, which are also based on birth. The rules of the cases are governed through religious ideas of purity and pollution. These two socially constructed ideologies determine whether or not you were respected in the community. Caste assignments in India are predestined at birth rather than a personal choice. Individuals act and dress like those of their own caste in public, due to strict caste laws. Pressures of these rules tend to brainwash people into conforming into what society considers pure, as we’ll see in Kakar & Kakar’s reading. As human nature takes precedent, caste rules become less relevant. Indulging in one’s own desires or needs, especially during times of hardship, outweighs any types of rules that we’ll see in Freeman’s reading and the movie Distant Thunder. Though the caste system is such an intrinsic part of life, when faced with needs to survive, it becomes nothing more than just a...
Caste is not something immutable, unlike what was believed earlier. Indians of the pre-colonial period used economic power to indicate c...
One section of our society that has attracted the great attention of various scholars and activists during the last decade are the abased people who call themselves ‘Dalits’. The word ‘Dalit’ hails from Sanskrit language, meaning, suppressed, crushed, ground or broken to pieces. Gandhi Ji coined the word Harijans meaning ‘Children of God’ as a way of reverentially identifying the untouchables. The term ‘Scheduled Castes’ and Scheduled Tribes’ are the official terms used by Indian government documents to identify the untouchables and tribes. Earlier, a renowned Marathi social reformer Mahatma Jyotirao Phule used the term ‘Dalit’ to describe outcastes and untouchables as the oppressed and crushed victims of the Indian cast-ridden society. It is also believed that this usage was first devised by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. But the term got its prevalence in 1970’s when the supporters of Dalit Panther Movement of Maharashtra used this term ‘Dalit’ as a continuous reminder of their age-old suppression, representing both their state of social deprivation and people who are exploited. But, at present time, the term ‘Dalit’ stands for those people who, have been considered ‘outcaste’, because they are not deserving enough to be included in the fourfold classification of class structure. In the religious scripture ‘Manu Smriti’; the ‘Varna system’ of the society is provided. It is a four graded Varna system incorporating four kinds of people of the society borne out of the body of Lord Brahma, the supreme God. According to this mythology, Brahmin was born out of head, Kshatriya was born out of arms, Vaishya was born out of abdomen and Shudra was born out of feet. It focused on Shudra to live a life of servitude; because he was born out of feet. Th...
The Caste system is a big part of India’s traditions. In ancient times this system separated thousands of communities into groups called Jatis. The Caste System is followed only by the Hindu religion in India. There are four classes such as; Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. When the system was created it was meant for the people to climb higher in the economy. This goal was unable
The current manifestations of the caste system are now far more generalized across the Indian subcontinent than was the case in former times. Caste as we now recognize has been endangered, shaped and perpetuated by comparatively recent political and social developments. This is evident even i...