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The Caste or varna-ashrama has been among the most misunderstood, misused and also the most criticised elements of Hinduism, also known by its original name Sanatan Dharma (which literally translates as ?eternal righteousness?). Unlike the modern incarnation of the caste system, the original objective behind the caste structure was born out of the concept of unity in diversity and respect for your fellow man. We must all look to antiquity to study the evolution in the caste structure and its process of degeneration. Caste, that is said to be one of the defining features of the Hindu religion and social order, has no sanction in the Vedas (the paramount Hindu scriptures). Ancient Hindu society was based upon a system of social diversification according to spiritual development, not by birth right, but by an individuals karma (positive actions/ethics). This eventually morphed into a system of hereditary castes and over the course of many centuries degenerated as a result of exploitation by a small number of priests, foreign invaders and also other socio-economic elements and factors of society.

Caste has been exploited against the Hindus (who currently constitute 83% of the Indian population) and Indians in general, for the last two centuries by the British Empire, christian missionaries, secular historians, communists and fundamentalist muslims. Highlighting the faults of a system is also a very effective way to discredit it, many Indians are made to feel guilty about caste and this only adds towards the sense of inferiority that quite a few Indians really feel about their very own culture. Caste is normally portrayed as the ultimate form of discrimination and has also been called ?legalised slavery? within the media, but social inequities and discrimination continue to persist in theoretically Egalitarian Western Societies, the American Indians and Australian Aborigines being prime examples.

This information site is in no way trying to justify the blatant abuse and discminiation that is prevelant in the modern caste syatem, rather it is a collection of intriguing and relevant  information and facts. Caste has enabled Hindu civilization to weather over a thousand years of constant invasions and had the effect of making Indian society strong and cohesive for much of her history. Caste served a purpose, performed specific functions, and met the needs that were suitable for certain times in history. India?s caste norms used to have a rationale; but the norms have become outlived these days. Caste has never been a stagnant institution and is undergoing changes and reforms under the impact of modernization. The Caste system in India must undergo reforms on a national level so that unjustified discrimination and abuse is eliminated.

Origins of the caste system in India.

We can?t discuss the caste system in India without mentioning varna. Varna refers to organisation of Hindu society into four classes as theorised by the Brahmins (priestly caste) and their sacred texts. It is important not to confuse this four fold division with jati (caste), which are the the significantly finer divisions and groups within each varna. The four varnas, or chatur varna, are mentioned in ancient texts in the following (stratified) order, from top to bottom.

The Brahmins: priests, scholars, sages, educators The Kshatriya: kings, rulers and warriors The Vaisyas: cattle herder?s, business people and merchants. The Shudras: laborers, artisans and service providers. The Vedas state that the primal man ? Purush ? destroyed himself to create a human society. The different Varnas have sprung from the specific parts of his being. The Brahmins were made from his head, the Kshatriyas from his arms, the Vaisyas from his torso and also the Shudras from his legs. Other religious Hindu theory claims that the Varnas were created in much the same way but from the body of Lord Brahma, who is the creator of the worlds and the first deity within the Hindu holy trinity ( followed by Lord Vishnu and lastly Lord Shiva).

The first three of the varnas are regarded as Arya (noble), and therefore allowed to participate in Vedic (orthodox Hindu) rituals from which the Shudra varna is excluded.

Hindu physics and metaphysical theory claims that all things, animate and inanimate, inherently have three qualities in varying proportions and ratios. Sattva attributes include wisdom, intelligence, honesty, goodness as well as other positive qualities. Rajas attributes include qualities like passion, pride, valour and also other related passionate qualities. Tamas attributes include a dull personality and low intelligence along with other undesirable and negative qualities. Men and women with individual ratios of those inherent qualities were thought to be suited to different types of work.

According to this theory the Brahmins have Sattvic qualities and temperaments. The Kshatriyas Rajastic qualities and temperaments. And also the Shudras inherent Tamastic qualities and temperaments.

The lowest rungs of the Shudra varna were the known as ?untouchables,? For instance the Dalit along with the Chandal communities, who traditionally dealt with the disposal of dead bodies and are described as dirty and polluted. There was a belief that one?s Karma from past births, resulted in one?s condition in this birth.

This following quote taken from the Puranas illustrates this point:

?Now individuals whose conduct is excellent can anticipate to attain a pleasant birth, like that of a Brahmin, the Kshatriya, or the Vaishya. But people of evil conduct can expect to enter a foul womb, like that of a dog, a pig, or perhaps a Chandal?

Each Varna is comprised of many communities named jatis (castes). Each Varna is comprised of thousands of jatis (castes) and within each jati it is not uncommon to see sub jatis. Numerous jatis consists of millions of individuals and it also causes break up with the larger community into smaller sized communities. There are numerous jatis which originate from distinct parts of India and partake in exactly the same profession and hence get a popular name. By way of example the jatis that profess cloth washing are referred to as collectively as Dhobi, for non- Dhobis the Dhobis are one jati but within the Dhobi community which is spread over the whole of India they are not a single community and are comprised of many clans.

Lets take a closer have a look at the four divisions of society as well as the distinctive jatis (castes) that they?re comprised of.

Brahmin.

Conventional occupations: priests, scholars, intellectuals, philosophers, law makers, educators, scientists, historians.

Common castes: Vaidiki Brahmins, Sadhus, Aghori, Naga Sadhu, Jangid Brahmin, Bardai Brahmin.

Duties: The Brahmins were the priests, holy men and the keepers of knowledge. They were in charge of spiritual heritage in the group and were tasked with passing it on to the succeeding generations. They maintained the eternal truths discovered by them through study and meditation whilst there fellow man tended to the other needs of society. The brahmin was a man of intellect and holiness, he came from the head of Brahma.

Brahmins dedicate themselves to the study of the Vedas, which are the foundations of Hinduism. Brahmins have many sub jatis that each have there specialities, however three are compulsory ? studying the Vedas, performing Vedic rituals and practicing dharma (righteous duty and ethics). Different jatis of Brahmins would specialise in one of, or a combination of the following disciplines: spirituality, philosophy, yoga, religion, rituals, temples architecture and design, arts and culture, grammar, pronunciation, mantra, astrology, astronomy, logic, law, medicine, cosmology, physics, medicine, surgery, technologies, martial arts, military method and political theory. The Brahmin varna was prohibited from holding wealth and political power and lived off of the donations given to them by society.

Brahmins practice vegetarianism as they must maintain there satvic nature and temperament. There are however some groups of Brahmins such as the Jethi clan of Gujarat, who due to their specialisation (warrior monks) require meat in their diet

Many Brahmins can be seen wearing the janoi (or sacred thread) that is certainly a symbol of being twice born. This ritual is known as the Upanayana (twice born initiation). Brahmin sects, as with most other castes will belong to a particular gotra (lineage), a classification of patrilineal descent, which is specific for every household and indicates their origin and remote ancestors.

Kshatriya

Conventional occupations: Kings and princes, warriors, aristocrats and land owners.

Common castes: Rajput, Maratha, Chola, Meitei, Jatt, Khatri, Nihangs.

Duties: They were men of passion and valour. They were the kings, rulers and protectors of the race. They kept the peace and order inside the group and protected it from alien aggression. Theirs was a life of service and sacrifice; they came from the arms of Brahma.

A Kshatriya is an individual who can trace his lineage back to the original thirty six Kshatriya clans of ancient India. Like the Brahmins, many Kshatriyas are keenly aware of their lineages and gotra. They were tasked with protecting Hindu dharma. They were raised in the military tradition and stories of glorious ancestors. Since the medievel period the one group that epitomised the Kshatriya varna were the Rajput clans. Throughout Indian history there have been several ruling clans such as the Guptas and Mauryas that were of Vaisya stock. So even though is was possible for a group to attain political and military power, it was not possible to be given the status of a Kshatriya.

There is a legend that the Kshatriyas were all ,except the Ikshvakus, destroyed by Parasurama the sixth reincarnation of Vishnu (one of the holy Hindu trinity) as a punishment for their tyrannical rule and non adherence to dharma. In reality this legend is probably an analogy of the power struggle that took place between the Brahmin and kshatriya varnas. By the end with the Vedic era, the Brahmins were supreme, the kshatriya had fallen to second spot. The Manusmrati (a book of Hindu law) and most other dharmashastras (works on ethics) report a Brahmin victory, but in reality the Kshatriyas have ordinarily ranked first. Many of the Hindu deities (particularly Lord Krishna, and  Lord Rama) were both Kshatriyas.

Vaisya.

Traditional occupations: traders ,farmers, business people, bankers, money lenders, musicians, artisans and craftsmen.

Typical castes: Vania, Lohana, Agrawal, Arora.

Duties: The Vaisya was the merchant who created wealth, he was a man of want and need. He was born from the legs of Brahma.

The Vaisyas were land-owners, money-lenders and influential traders and are typically credited for the development of capitalist ideologies and the business class in India. Indian traders had been widely credited for the spread of Indian culture to regions as far as southeast asia.

There was even a ruling clan, the Guptas, who were of Vaisya stock. The time of the Guptas is also known as the Golden age of India when arts, sciences and culture flourished.

Shudra.

Traditional occupations: laborers, unskilled workers

Common castes: mochi, kumbhar, lohar, suthar,

Duties: The shudra was engaged in providing labour and services. On this group of working men depended the welfare of the entire community, its industries and its prosperity. This labourer class was psychologically a group of undefined aptitudes, men of mechanical temperament and represented the regular man. They came from the legs and feet of Brahma.

Untouchables.

Traditional occupations: street sweepers, toilet cleaners, executioners, butchers, funeral workers.

This class doesn?t receive any mention in the ancient Hindu cannon, which suggests that it was ?unofficially? added in later on. As a result of guidelines of purity and hygiene, this class of people (belonging to the lowest rung of the shudra varna) had been shunned by the common population and prohibited from entering temples and participating in religious rites.

Widespread discrimination of the ?untouchable? castes remains an issue even in modern India.

Caste vs class.

The caste structure in India has at numerous times been compared to the feudal class structure of Europe, this comparison is however very misleading. The original intention was to distribute distinctive powers, privileges and responsibilities evenly over the varnas.

Dr Subhramanium Swamy makes the following observation:

?Caste system was originally not developed as mutually antagonistic groupings. It was not even connected to birth. It truly is one of retrogression that caste has been connected to birth. The sages in their discussions on why caste method really should be designed had said that you?ll find four sources of power in society ? information, wealth, weapons and land and therefore all these should not be in any one hands. Actually one ought to be inside the hands of 1 person. For that reason if you are a pursuer of knowledge, a teacher of expertise you must have no wealth, weapons or land. Society ought to provide you with donations so that you could reside ? that is how our preachers, sannysis, religious preceptors and so on. They lived in society and taught persons but donations came from the public. Should you had been the owner of weapons then you had been the King but you can not make policy ? for policy you had to go to people of expertise ? identical issue with wealth and land.?

Within the case of the Vaisyas, they had been allowed to amass wealth but not political power. They were also prohibited from teaching the Vedas and creating policy. The caste system has more of a linear structure instead of a hierarchical pyramid structure. Although India was traditionally ruled by Kshatriya kings it was in no way a monarchy. The Kshatriyas had no power to create laws and policy, only to enforce it, in this way the traditional kingdoms were essentially like republics.

These varna rules also had the effect of eliminating competition between the varnas as their individual duties were very well prescribed.

Pros vs cons of the caste system.

Pros

Allowed groups to sustain lineage and traditions. Till modern times allowed India to become one of the richest nations on earth (attested to by the sheer number of invasions she had endured). Made traditional society very cohesive. Allowed for the development of many occupational specialties. Every single caste offered it members a sense of community as well as a system of mutual welfare. Allowed people, even today to be self organizing, even right now a new village might be setup within a incredibly short amount of time with every member being aware of their role and function. Adjustments of habits and religious practices could allow you to raise your position and varna over the course of a couple of generations.

Cons

Through the medieval period the caste system became rigid and tyrannical. Over the 1000 year period of foreign invasion the common man retreated into their individual castes and ?clannish? behaviours became ingrained into the psyche. In many situations an individual did not have any option as to what profession he wanted. In modern times the lower castes are heavily discriminated against

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