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Caste System Caste System The term "castes" is used to describe the complex system of social divisions that pervades life in India. Caste is an ancient hereditary system that developed alongside and became intertwined with Hinduism. Caste determines whom a person can marry, specifies what kind of work he can do, and even controls what he can eat or touch. Since the great majority of Indians are Hindu, the caste system has played an enormous role in the history of India, and it continues to exert tremendous influence on modern Indian culture and politics. "Caste" is not an Indian word; it comes from the Portuguese word casta, which means "lineage" or "race." It was first used by Portuguese colonists in the 16th century to describe the unfamiliar social system they encountered among the Indian people. Later English colonists adopted the term from the Portuguese. The English use of "caste" encompasses two separate but related concepts in Indian culture: varna and jati. The combination of vama and jail created a rigid system that resulted in extraordinary cultural stability in India over thousands of years, but which has also stifled social mobility. All Hindus are divided among four vama and a fifth group, known as the untouchables. The four vamas are: the Brahmans, the traditional priest class; the Kshatriya, the warrior class; the Vaishya, the workers; and the Sudra, whose role is to serve the three higher classes. Below the Sudra are the untouchables, who are supposedly unclean from birth and are therefore assigned jobs that would "pollute" the higher classes. These include working with dead animals or cleaning sewage. (To promote social equality, Mohandas Gandhi, the 20th century Indian nationalist leader, renamed the untouchable caste the Harijans, "children of God." The term "untouchable" is still commonly used, however). The untouchables are thought to have been added to the system as newly conquered tribal groups were added to Hindu society at the lowest rungs. Another explanation is that they developed in response to the religious needs of the higher castes as Hindu religious practices became more restrictive. Strict religious interpretation dictates that members of the higher castes avoid contact with many aspects of daily life, like dead animals, human waste, or menstrual blood. The untouchable caste may have been created out of the Sudra caste in order to provide workers who could take care of these "polluting" aspects of life. At some point, this concept of ritual pollution extended to the workers themselves, so they were literally "untouchable." Strict Brahmans, for example, will avoid touching anything that has come in contact with a member of the Chamarjati, the untouchable group responsible for dealing with dead animals. The caste system in India is inextricably linked to the beliefs of Hindu religion. One of the tenets of Hinduism is reincarnation--the belief in the rebirth of a person's soul into another life form after death. The life a person is reincarnated into is determined by his or her karma; a person with good karmamay be reborn as a higher caste human, while a person with bad karma might be reborn as a lower caste human. Hinduism teaches that since a person's fate is determined by his past life, his fate is justified. A good Hindu, therefore, accepts his position in life; by accepting his position willingly, he can improve his karma and thereby hope for a better incarnation in the next life. The social implication of this belief system has been a remarkable stability--or rigidity--in Indian culture. Since being a good Hindu means accepting one's position in life, Hindus have been reluctant to challenge restrictions imposed on them by the caste system. The system has kept a large part of the Indian population in a condition of servitude, since the Sudras and Untouchables have been reluctant to challenge their positions. The higher castes have not questioned the system because they benefit from it and because, according to their beliefs, the lower castes deserve their status because of actions in past lives. Challenges to the caste system in India have primarily come from the influence of non-Hindu faiths. Islam, Christianity, and Jainism all espouse a more egalitarian message that runs counter to caste practices. Of those faiths, Islam has been the most significant, as it has held a large number of adherents in India for well over a thousand years. Some lower-caste Indians have elevated their social status by converting to these non-Hindu faiths, although this has generally meant separation from their traditional family groups. The majority of Indians have remained within the Hindu faith, and the caste system has continued to exert a profound influence on their lives. "caste system." World Geography: Understanding a Changing World. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. Aryans Non-Aryans BRAHMINS priests KSHATRIYAS warriors VAISYAS \\... herders, farmers, merchants, craftspeople Source-. Guide to the Essentials of World History, Prentice Hall, 1999 (adapted) How is Hinduism. different from other faiths? Hinduism has no founder, single teacher nor any prophets. Hinduism is not a Single Religion. Hinduism is the practices of a variety of different religious groups which come Out of India. Hinduism is the world's third most popular religionr with around 750 million followers, The religion of Hinduism originated in Northern Tndia, near the river Indus, about 4000 years ago and is the world's oldest existing religion. Hinduism is practiced by more than 80% of India's population. Who is the founder of Hinduism? Hinduism has no founder, it developed out of Brahminism, Hinduism is the oldest religion, it may date to prehistoric times. What is the symbol of Hinduism? Aum is the main symbol of Hlndulsm. It is the sound heard in deepest, meditation and Issaid to be the name most suited for God, Where does the name Hindu come from? The word "Hindu" comes from the name of the river Indus, which flows 1800 miles from Tibet through Kashmir and Pakistan to the sea. Jÿ _ ÿ ÿ ,ÿ-ÿj, ÿ, .ÿ-.=1ÿ - .ÿ--ÿ---ÿ" .. _ . ÿ-mlÿTÿ,- What do Hindus believe? For many Hindus, religion is a matter of practice rather than of beliefs. It's more what you do, than what you believe, Hindus believe in a universal soul or God cal!ed. Brahman. Brahman Lakes on many forms that some Hindus w.orship as gods or.:. " : goddesses in their own right, Hi.ndus believe that there is a part Of Brahman in' everyone and this is called ttie Atman, ° :.. Hindus believe in reincarnation - a belief that the soul is eternal and lives many lifetimes, in one body after another. The soul is sometimes born in a human body, sometimes in an animal body and sometimes in a plant body etc.. Hindus believe,. thai; all forms of life contain a soul, and all souls have the chance to experience life in different forms. Samsara means going through the cycle of repeated births and deaths (reincarnation). Hindus believe that existence of this cycle is governed by Karma ....... What is Karma? Hindus believe that the soul passes through a cycle of successive ![yes and its next incarnation is always dependent on how the previous life was lived. (Similar to Bu_ddhist beliefs) Karma is the cause of our particular destiny. Misfortunes in our present life are the result of acts that we have committed in the past. In the same way, our actions in our present lives wilt determine our fate in the lives that follow. Hindus therefore aim to live in a way that will cause each of their lives to be better than the life before. _ ......... What is MokskÿS The spiritual goal of a Hindu is to become one with Brahma, This freedom is referred to as moksha. Until moksha is achieved, a Hindu believes that he/she will be repeatedly reincarnated in order that he/she may work towards self-realization of the truth (the truth being that only Brahman existst nothing else). "'"a'' °' .... For many Hinÿÿgoÿl fe (purusharthas); 1 MolMm - the reteasefoffÿe soul (ÿ:tTrrae-)-£E£_m the cycle of rebirth. _. The individuaÿlf(Atman) unites with Brahmanÿ'ÿ'&lTe-uÿu!' l nere are dÿys to [vtoksha. 2ÿ'" " . .--- --ÿ i !.
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