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Influence of gandhi on todays india
Essay about caste system in simple words
The influence of the caste system of India
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Gandhi is a hero for the 1 percent. While many consider the great leader to be more than human, many others will claim that he crippled the Hindu people. The cast system and the opportunity for the lower castes would have dramatically changed if Gandhi would have helped a person named Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. The Caste system is crippling the Hindu people by forcing them into a rigid and outdated way of thinking, corrupting the government and country as a whole, authorizes discrimination on all levels and does not sanction improvement of ones’ life.
Everyone born into a traditional Hindu family is automatically adopted into the the Caste system. Normally the child receives the same caste as his or her father. Although this isn’t always the case. It wouldn’t be uncommon for a child so receive the cast of his or her mother if she has a higher caste. There is no room for choice, once a Brahmin always a Brahmin. There have been many who have tried to change their name in order to get out of their caste and move to another. Because of the culture it is very hard to go unnoticed. These people usually, once found, are killed or at least severely punished. Most just take what
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The idea of manual labor is yet to be recognized in the minds of certain classes of people. The higher caste Hindu people are still reluctant to perform tasks that involve manual labor. Isn’t that just an excuse in order not to receive bad karma? To blame it all on some old outdated script that quite honestly they most likely have never seen before is simply put unfair. It reminds me of the Pharisees Christ spoke of in the bible. “with their mouth they speak my name, but their hearts are far from me.” Similarly, I feel that of course not all Brahmin are bad and not all Dalits are good but in a general sense the cast system could be a very convenient vehicle for discrimination throughout all castes up and
Mohandas Gandhi was a non-violent promoter for Indian independence.He was married young at 13,and went to London to go to law school.Gandhi got his degree there and was on his way to being a lawyer.He went to his first case,but couldn't even speak. Gandhi then got invited to South Africa from a businessman. Gandhi’s luck their was no good either.European racism came to him,after he got kicked off of a train,because he was “colored” and was holding a first class ticket.When Gandhi fought back because of it,was arrested and was sent to jail.After this, he became know as as a leader.Gandhi returned to India in 1896,and he was disgusted by it.British wanted them to wear their clothes,copy their manners,accept their standards of beauty,but Gandhi refused.Gandhi wanted people to live free of all class and wealth.Gandhi tried so hard and was more successful then any other man in India.They won independence in 1947. Gandhi’s non-violent movement worked because,Gandhi used clever planning, mass appeal, conviction, and compassion to win independence for India.
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.
Usually, the Patels employe Dalits for the odd seasonal works. They worked and earned under-wages from Patels’ farm lands. But the wages were too stopped after Teeha’s fight with Patels in this village. Moti and Heera Khana’s were considering as a social respectable persons of Dalits. They brought a few persons from the village and ex-communicated Moti and Heera. It is what the social discrimination. Dalits claimed the rights, but excommunicated. Is this justice? Is caste a flaw?
The first contradiction of the Caste System arose when Siddhartha left the priestly class of Brahmins to join the shramanas. As a Brahmin, Siddhartha would not have even wanted, much less be permitted, to join the lower ascetics. Siddhartha’s father granted permission for his son to join a lower class, an unlikely scenario in the strict norms established by the Indian Caste System. The father told Siddhartha, “‘you will go off into the forest and become a shramana. If you find happiness in the forest, come back and teach me happiness. If it’s disappointment you find, then come back and we shall again make sacrifices to the gods together. Now go and kiss your mother, and tell her where you’re going’” (Hesse 10). A man who had spent hundreds of lifetimes building up good karma did not want to throw it away by joining the ranks of those who were now paying for their previous lives of sin and corruption. When Siddhartha began his life as a shramana, “he wore only a loincloth and an unstitched, earth-colored shawl. He ate only once a day and never cooked food…t...
Gandhi was a well knowledgeable and unique person who found hope in struggles that he never thought would shape who he was. Gandhi was born in a Hindu family, and even though he was the youngest he made a huge impact on others (“Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi” pg 3). He had his older brother who helped him with his education when his father passed away (“Mohandas Gandhi”). Gandhi was very religious even when he was little his brothers tried to make him eat meat (it wasn’t bad to eat meat in Hinduism when you are little), but he refused (“Mohandas Gandhi”). Gandhi respected his religion and was a respectful towards others.
The Hindu Caste system characterized individuals by their born occupation and skin color (Varna). The caste system was also focused on Hinduism and the belief of reincarnation. Hindus believe they are born again into a different person after death. This reincarnation depends on the good and bad deeds that the individual performed during their current life. Reincarnation ends when the person reached perfection and paradise, known as Nirvana. The caste system directly reflected the Hindu religion. If a person born into high class was to perform negative actions, then their next life would mirror those actions. The highest class in the caste system was the Brahmins, or priests. These priests and religious teachers were the most powerful citizens because they ruled over religion. The next class system is the rulers and soldiers called Kshatriyas. After the Kshatriyas, were the Vaishays (merchants and traders). Finally, the caste system contained the Shudras (laborers and workers). Outside of the caste systems was a group called the Untouchables (Achuta). The untouchables were outcasts in society and were n...
One of the major Hindu beliefs that Buddhism rejects is the Caste System, or “jati” in Sanskrit (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317). The caste system is the social structure of Hinduism. It starts with the Brahmins, who are the priests and scholars, followed by the Kshatriya or warrior class. Next is the Vaishya, merchant class, and lastly the Shudras, the lowest caste designated to perform the impure and foul jobs the upper castes would never do. (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317) The rules of the caste system are specific. Inter-marriages between castes are heavily discouraged and one can never change their caste during their current lifetime. Each caste has its own cosmic duties to fulfill, and not doing so could be detrimental to the world or an individuals karma. These distinct duties are referred to as one’s Dharma. (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317) The Laws of Manu state “Better to do one’s own dharma badly than another caste’s dharma well” (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317). Through saṃsāra, the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, hopefully every soul will eventua...
The first thing that the Hindus follow to insure that you grow up to be productive (if you are in the upper three castes) is having specific stages of life. In other words throughout our life we have different responsibilities and duties which are spelled out by the Holy Scriptures. The four stages are student, “family man”, forest dweller and ascetic. The first stage of student requires you to go to school (if you were a male) and be initiated with the Upanayana ceremony. If a kid was at the top of the caste system and was preparing to be a priest he needs to get trained and before he gets trained he must have a Upanayana ceremony because without these he won’t know what he is talking about and won’t know and won’t have any credibility when he becomes a priest. It isn’t enough just to get an education and a little plaque on your wall, you must have lived a celibate life and you must be provided for by your family. This is a way of getting them to think a certain way since according to Hindu laws believe all members of a certain caste are supposed to do the same thing in the same way. The next stage of “family man” is also one that gets you not only to act a certain way but think a certain way. In this stage a man is supposed to get a wife, get a family, and repay his debts to everything that helped him including society. If you can do thes...
Throughout the history of the world there have been many ways that a civilization has justified their social class. A social class as defined by the dictionary states that a social class is a division of a society based on social and economic status. Religion is one of the many factors that lies on the heart of a civilization when justifying a social class. One of the world’s elite and well followed religion is Hinduism. Hinduism is one of the oldest religion in the world. The oldest religions has one of the oldest social classes which is called the caste system. The caste system has affected the lives of millions of people around the world from the ancient times to the modern and changing world in India and other Hindu nations today. A Caste system is a social structure that is determined by
In Hinduism, people are born into their respective caste, determined by parentage. The four main castes are: Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaishyas (common people), or Shudras(servants). Each caste has its own duties to attend to, and each is expected to do so without regard to personal thought or choice. If duties are not attended to in the way befitting one’s caste, it is thought that the individual would suffer from bad karma. If an individual responds to situations in a way befitting of their caste, they are likewise rewarded with good karma. This insinuates an easy way to manipulate people into behaving in ways that they might not otherwise behave.
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...
...Because of Gandhi’s power, his flaw, and his catastrophe, one would say that Gandhi fits the model of a Greek tragic hero. Gandhi’s power was his heightened goodness, proven by his innumerable civil disobedience acts, where he continued to fight even while he was regularly jailed. His flaw was his tolerance and acceptance of everyone which led to his catastrophic assassination by Nathuram Godse. Gandhi’s teachings of nonviolence and peace still live on today, as they have inspired many other human rights leaders, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela. Gandhi’s teachings are responsible for the successes of civil rights movements in other countries. He not only helped free India from British rule, but also gave people new thoughts about violence and imperialism around the world. Even today, India continues to live and remember the tutelage of Gandhi.
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...
Divided into four major social categories, the caste system categorizes Hindus, who act accordingly to their caste, into Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Sudra. Another class, the “untouchables,” is considered outside of the system. These five different classes of society define each person greatly. Castes are unchangeable and rarely intermarry. This social division is yet another example of how religion disbands organizations of people.
Gandhi is motivated by religious means; he believes that everyone is equal in God’s eyes. He gets involved in several movements for equality, and he stresses non-violence very strongly. The Indians are very mad because British rule continues to limit their rights. They are supposed to all get fingerprinted, and their marriage laws are invalid. Gandhi’s followers vow to fight their oppressors to the death, but he discourages them from violence.