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INDIA’S CASTES. Castes were the central feature of people's identities in ancient India. But the caste system is not completely dead in India today. There are different theories about the establishment of the caste system. There are religious theories and there are historical theories.
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Castes were the central feature of people's identities in ancient India. But the caste system is not completely dead in India today.
There are different theories about the establishment of the caste system. There are religious theories and there are historical theories.
According to a story in the Rig Veda, a Hindu religious text, the original human, Purush, destroyed himself to create all of the rest of human society. The different Varnas (castes) were created from different parts of his body.
The Brahmans were created from his head; the Kshatrias from his hands; the Vaishias from his thighs and the Sudras from his feet. The caste system’s hierarchy is determined by the descending order of the different organs from which humans were created.
The social historical theory explains the caste system beginning with the arrival of the Aryans in India. The fair skinned Aryans arrived in India from south Europe and north Asia.
Before the Aryans arrived, other ethnic communities lived in India. Among them were Negro, Mongoloid, Austroloid, and Dravidian (Mediterrean.)
The Aryans who conquered and took control over parts of north India subdued the locals and made them their servants.
The Aryans disregarded the local cultures, and at the same time pushed the local people southwards or towards the jungles and mountains in north India.
In order to secure their status the Aryans established sets of social and religious rules which allowed only them to be the priests, warriors and the businessmen of the society.
The dominant Aryans gave themselves and their allies special rights and privileges that other ethnic groups were denied.
People assigned to different castes could not eat together, be educated together, marry, or even travel together on public transportation.
The most powerful caste was the Brahmans- the priests and political leaders.
Beneath these were the Kshatriya, or warriors, also Aryans who made their careers in the military.
Beneath them were the Vaishyas, or traders and landowners, who were als members of Aryan society.
The lowest of the castes was the shudras - the servants and farmhands from the native tribes and conquered societies. They did not own their own their own land, but were forced to work for others.
Beneath all castes was the group known as the “Untouchables” - delegated the worst jobs, like cleaning up the gutters, collecting garbage, cleaning up human waste, and burying the dead.
The untouchables call themselves Dalit, meaning “depressed.”
Until the late 1980s they were called Harijan, meaning “children of God.” This title was given to them by Mahatma Gandhi who fought for Indian society to accept untouchables as equals.
Legally the government has banned the caste system, but in reality it allows discrimination of the lower classes.
The untouchablity feature of Indian society is seen by many as one of the strongest racist phenomenon in the world.
The untouchables have few rights in society. In various parts of India they are treated in different ways, but in most regions the attitude towards the untouchables is still harsh and strict.
Some Indians have become more flexible in their caste system customs. In general the urban people in India are less strict about the caste system than the rural.
In cities one can see different caste people mingling with each other, while in some rural areas there is still discrimination based on castes.
In modern India new tensions are created because of “positive discrimination” policies. The high caste communities feel discriminated by government policies which reserve positions and jobs for the lower classes.
According to government policy, 15% of the government jobs and 15% of the students admitted to universities must be from lower castes.
Sometimes in order to fill the quota, candidates from the lower classes are accepted even though they are not qualified.
Still, the lower classes are about 50% of India's population, but only 27% of government jobs are reserved for them.
Most of the communities who were low in the caste hierarchy remain low in the social order even today.
And communities who were high in the social hierarchy remain so…
