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A Christian Response to Nietzsche s The Genealogy of Morals

by Caleb Colley, M.L.A.


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A major debate in apologetics centers around the origins of morality. Those of u
s at Apologetics Press have argued that the very existence of morality proves th
e existence of God (see Jackson, 1995). On the other hand, Friedrich Nietzsche w
as a German philosopher of the late 19th century who challenged the foundations o
f Christianity and traditional morality (Wicks, 2010). It is important for Christ
ians to understand Nietzsche s perspective, as it still is regularly taught as an
important critique of religion (e.g., Solomon, 2008, pp. 177-182).
He wrote The Genealogy of Morals in 15 days (2003 reprint). This work developed
some of the ideas he introduced in previous works (see The Perspectives of Nietzs
che, n.d.). A statement of Nietzsche s nihilist thesis is repeated in the last line
of the work: I said at the beginning man will wish Nothingness rather than not wis
h at all (p. 118). Nietzsche concluded that animals and men share the fundamental
ability to exert their will, and that such a willingness is the primary functio
n of both animals and men (2006, p. 355; see Cavalier, n.d.). This article will
explicate Nietzsche s position concerning the origins of morality, showing how the
y conflict with Christianity. Then, areas of Christian agreement with Nietzsche
will be noted. Finally, his assessment will be critiqued from a Christian standp
oint.
NIETZSCHE S POSITION
Nietzsche made clear from the outset his goal to assess the relative value of va
lues. He believed such an assessment is possible via a study of the origins of m
orality itself: [F]or this purpose a knowledge is necessary of the conditions and
circumstances out of which these values grew, and under which they experienced
their evolution and their distortion (morality as a result, as a symptom, as a m
ask...as disease, as a misunderstanding; but also morality as a cause, as a reme
dy, as a stimulant, as a fetter, as a drug) (p. 5, parenthetical item in orig.).
Nietzsche attached value to that which affirms life rather than anything life-de
nying. No one has, up to the present, exhibited the faintest doubt or hesitation
in judging the good man to be of a higher value than the evil man, of a higher value
with regard specifically to human progress, utility, and prosperity generally,
not forgetting the future (p. 6). Nietzsche made clear his conviction, that human
morality prevents man from reaching the maximum potentiality of the power and sp
lendour of the human species (p. 6). In this way, Nietzsche introduced the possib
ility that morality may be the danger of dangers (p. 6). That which is of value is
that which is beneficial to the race in a physical way, not that which is good by
any moral standard (see p. 10). Nietzsche emphatically asked, Under what conditi
ons did Man invent for himself those judgments of values, Good and Evil ? And what in
trinsic value do they possess in themselves? Have they up to the present hindere
d or advanced human well-being? (p. 3, emp. added).
As a practical example of his general value system, Nietzsche accepted the worthl
essness of pity (p. 5). For Nietzsche, to feel pity is to do two things: (1) assu
me a status elevated above the one being pitied, and (2) share the concern of an
other. Since neither of these things specifically promotes the strength of human
life and the development of the species, Nietzsche rejected pity (see p. 5).
Nietzsche accounted for the development of morality in a physical world controll
ed by nature (developing according to natural selection). Essentially, Nietzsche
believed that good and evil, as concepts, were brought into being by weaker ind
ividuals who developed a clever method of placing guilt a sense of indebtedness upon
stronger individuals. This was the method used by the weak to make themselves e
qual to those superior in power.
For Nietzsche, the ancient Hebrews embodied this approach. It was the Jews who, i
n opposition to the aristocratic equation (good = aristocratic = happy = loved b
y the gods), dared with a terrifying logic to suggest the contrary equation, and
indeed to maintain with the teeth of the most profound hatred (the hatred of we
akness) (p. 17, parenthetical items in orig.). It is possible for the weak to hat
e and eventually overcome the strong in some cases, as evinced by the children o
f Israel escaping Egyptian slavery (see p. 17). [I]t was, in fact, with the Jews
that the revolt of the slaves begins in the sphere of morals; that revolt which
has behind it a history of two millennia, and which at the present day has only
moved out of our sight, because it has achieved victory (p. 17).
Similarly, Nietzsche thought that Christians are guilty of perverting the natura
l order, because Christianity sprung forth from Judaism. This Jesus of Nazareth,
the incarnate gospel of love, this Redeemer bringing salvation and victory to the
poor, the sick, the sinful was he not really temptation in its most sinister and i
rresistible form, temptation to take the tortuous paths to those very Jewish val
ues and those very Jewish ideals? (p. 18). On Nietzsche s view, only through Christ
has Israel really obtained the final goal of its sublime revenge, of a far-seein
g, burrowing revenge, both acting and calculating with slowness so that all the en
emies of Israel could nibble without suspicion at this very bait (p. 18). Christ br
ought what Nietzsche called the dangerous revolt of the slaves in morals to the wh
ole world (p. 19; cf. p. 21). Nietzsche illustrated his position in a historical
fashion:
The symbol of this fight, written in a writing which has remained worthy of peru
sal throughout the course of history up to the present time, is called Rome again
st Judaea, Judaea against Rome. Hitherto there has been no greater event than tha
t fight, the putting of that question, that deadly antagonism. Rome found in the
Jew the incarnation of the unnatural, as though it were its diametrically oppos
ed monstrosity, and in Rome the Jew was held to be convicted of hatred of the wh
ole human race: and rightly so, in so far as it is right to link the well-being
and future of the human race to the unconditional mastery of the aristocratic va
lues, of the Roman values (p. 31).
The analogy of Rome versus Judea served Nietzsche because Rome was the very esse
nce of strength and aristocracy.
Nietzsche thought that part of the reason why the weak won at various times such
a magnificent victory is the strong people s inability to take seriously for any l
ength of time their enemies, their disasters, their misdeeds (p. 21). The weak, o
n the other hand, busy themselves creating an enemy, in order that they may fulf
ill their goal of loving their enemies. Weak people call themselves good and con
sider their enemies evil (p. 21). And when the lambs say among themselves, Those b
irds of prey are evil, and he who is as far removed from being a bird of prey, w
ho is rather its opposite, a lamb, is he not good? (p. 25). According to Nietzsche,
the lambs assessment is wrong because their standard of good and evil is imaginar
y. They should, according to Nietzsche, respect and emulate the strong because o
nly this way may excellence in the human race be advanced. To accuse the stronge
r of wrongdoing is to reject the natural order of human development, and to atte
mpt to prevent the advent of the superman.
Nietzsche located as the ultimate rejection of human growth and progress, and mo
st obvious promotion of morality, the ascetic ideal. This ideal, according to Ni
etzsche, has no meaning (p. 71; cf. Wimbush and Valantasis, 1998). [P]olitical supe
riority always resolves itself into the idea of psychological superiority, in th
ose cases where the highest caste is at the same time the priestly caste, and in
accordance with its general characteristics confers on itself the privilege of
a title which alludes specifically to its priestly function (p. 15). It is at thi
s point that there develops a good and a bad, in a sense which has ceased to be merel
y social (p. 15). Nietzsche explained how ascetics construe their philosophy as a
ffirming life (p. 86), but maintained that the ascetic life actually is life-den
ying. [I]t can fairly be stated that it is on the soil of this essentially danger
ous form of human society, the sacerdotal [priestly or relating to asceticism CC]
form, that man really becomes for the first time an interesting animal, that it
is in this form that the soul of man has in a higher sense attained depths and b
ecome evil (p. 16). Man is interesting, according to Nietzsche, because he is abl
e to deny himself (see p. 16), and become self-destructive (see p. 87).
For Nietzsche, the ultimate glorification of suffering came in the concoction of
the notion of sin :
Imagine man, suffering from himself, some way or other but at any rate physiolog
ically, perhaps like an animal shut up in a cage, not clear as to the why and th
e wherefore!... [L]o and behold, he gets a hint from...the ascetic priest, his f
irst hint on the cause of his trouble: he must search for it in himself, in his gu
iltiness, in a piece of the past, he must understand his very suffering as a sta
te of punishment.... The sick man has been turned into the sinner (p. 102).
As Nietzsche developed his concept of guilt as it relates to the faultiness of t
he ascetic ideal, he turned to the origin of a specific, traditionally accepted
moral virtue, namely justice. [P]unishment developed as a retaliation absolutely
independently of any preliminary hypothesis of the freedom or determination of t
he will (p. 39). According to Nietzsche, the cardinal moral idea of ought originates
from the very material idea of owe (p. 39). There was no abstract moral ideal of j
ustice (let alone a divinely ordained standard of justice), but only a sense of
retaliation based on debt:
Throughout the longest period of human history punishment was never based on the
responsibility of the evil-doer for his action, and was consequently not based
on the hypothesis that only the guilty should be punished; on the contrary, punish
ment was inflicted in those days for the same reason that parents punish their c
hildren even nowadays, out of anger at an injury that they have suffered, an ang
er which vents itself mechanically on the author of the injury but this anger is k
ept in bounds and modified through the idea that every injury has somewhere or o
ther its equivalent price, and can really be paid off, even though it be by mean
s of pain to the author (p. 39).
This relationship between creditor and ower, according to Nietzsche, is the origin
of traditional justice. The justice Nietzsche would prefer consists of the stro
ng imposing their will upon the weak (see p. 47). This accords with the Darwinia
n principle of the survival of the fittest (cf. Thompson, n.d.).
Nietzsche expands his idea that Christian morality requires destruction: The two
opposing values, good and bad, good and evil, have fought a dreadful, thousand-year
fight in the world (2003, p. 31). Nietzsche also misrepresents Thomas Aquinas as
suggesting that the saved will glory in the destruction of those who will be con
demned (p. 29; cf. Aquinas, pp. 93-94).
POINTS OF AGREEMENT
Before critiquing Nietzsche, it is essential to note several points from The Gen
ealogy with which the Christian would agree. First, the ascetic ideal may be abu
sed and may not be the highest ideal (however, the ascetic ideal does not necess
arily imply nihilism or a glorification of suffering). Second, there is little d
ebate concerning Nietzsche s historical point that up to his time, the ascetic idea
l dominated all philosophy, because Truth was fixed as Being, as God, as the Sup
reme Court of Appeal (p. 111). Third, Nietzsche is wholly correct in his minor obs
ervation that science is not without presupposition (p. 110).
POINTS OF DISAGREEMENT
There are many levels on which Nietzsche s critique of the Christian conception of
the origins of morality (as far as it goes in The Genealogy) fails. Such proble
ms may be summarized in three general objections. First, Nietzsche was wrong to
base his moral philosophy solely upon a rejection of the supernatural, and espec
ially a supernatural origin of morality. Only in such an atheistic framework can
Nietzsche s ideals succeed, because they presuppose that humanity may continue to
evolve until a superman emerges as the result of many natural selections. Howev
er, Nietzsche merely assumed the naturalist perspective in The Genealogy, withou
t offering justification.
For Nietzsche, God is imaginary, and heaven is a phantasmagoria (2003, p. 28). Thi
s conviction was influenced largely by Darwinism (see p. 6). If, however, it can
be proven that God exists (and it can; see Warren and Flew, 1977), and if there
is a spiritual realm that is superior to the merely natural realm, then Christi
anity immediately becomes superior to Nietzsche s naturalism, because Christianity s
central focus is helping man to prepare for a greater, immortal existence after
earthly life ends. Furthermore, one wonders why Nietzsche feels it is his right
to critique Christianity, if Christianity is merely an authentic, natural resul
t of evolution. Perhaps Nietzsche senses that something like Christian morality
could not exist if there is no God.
Perhaps the naturalistic feature of Nietzsche s critique explains why Nazis used s
ome of his principles in developing their ideology, which had as its goal the pr
eservation of a superior race (see Santaniello, 1994 pp. 144ff.). The Nazi goal
was a secular, humanistic objective that required the validity of atheism as a p
hilosophical ground. Nietzsche ironically rejected antisemitism in his own day,
at least partially due to his assessment of Nazism itself as a slave revolt (see S
antaniello, p. 138). Nietzsche s frustration with ancient Jewry conflicts with his
sympathy for modern Jewry in such a way as to make the philosophy in The Geneal
ogy inconsistent, not to mention unappealing to anyone wishing to avoid racism.
Second, Nietzsche was wrong when he disallowed that there is any strength other
than brute, physical power. Inherent in this rejection is a contempt for that ear
thly life in faith, in love, in hope (2003, p. 28). Nietzsche is forced to deny that
ere is any good at all in the ascetic ideal. For example, Nietzsche denies that
strength is involved in grace.
The justice which began with the maxim, Everything can be paid off, everything mu
st be paid off, ends with connivance at the escape of those who cannot pay to esc
ape it ends, like every good things on earth, by destroying itself. The self-destruc
tion of Justice! We know the pretty name it calls itself Grace! It remains, as is
obvious, the privilege of the strongest, better still, their super-law (p. 47).
In response, consider the sacrifice of Christ on the cross as the primary expres
sion of grace in the religious context. Christ showed a great deal of spiritual
and psychological (not to mention physical) strength as he willingly accepted de
ath by crucifixion (Luke 22:39-23:47). Christianity does not exalt weakness in i
tself, but neither does it exalt physical strength in itself. Rather, the human
being is to care for his body in order to use it in religious service, recognizi
ng that spiritual strength is more important than bodily strength (1 Timothy 4:8
; cf. John 6:27; Matthew 6:19-34). The New Testament calls for us not to be supe
rmen, but humble servants who will receive glorification in the life to come (Ma
tthew 16:26-27; 25:31-40; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Pity, considered in the cont
ext of compassion, is laudable and not a sign of weakness (see Matthew 18:23-35;
20:34; Mark 1:41; cf. Jonah 4:11).
Third, Nietzsche was wrong in his conviction that Christianity is responsible fo
r atrocities. While some have evoked the name of Christ as they have carried out
sinful actions, a careful study of the Bible reveals that righteous living is n
ever responsible for unjust destruction (see Butt, 2009, cf. Colley, 2010). Furt
hermore, for all of Nietzsche s criticism, expression of ascetic ideals frequently
has been characterized by features of stoicism, and many ascetics who style the
mselves Christian have been peaceful (Hardman, 1921, pp. 33-34,186ff.). Would Ni
etzsche have ascetics assert themselves in the name of fitness, or retreat in pe
acefulness in order to absolve religion of the charge of vicious wrongdoing?
CONCLUSION
Nietzsche s naturalist account of the origins of morality turns the biblical accou
nt on its head, and may seem plausible on first reading. However, further study
reveals that it is based upon false assumptions. Nietzsche thinks the biblical G
od is god of the sick, God as a spider, God as spirit...among the most corrupt co
ncepts of the divine the world has ever accepted (1990, p. 140). Christians must
be prepared to answer such charges, while wishing that Nietzsche had taken more
care to examine the contours of God s nature and of the goodness He prescribes, an
d to conform his life and philosophical work to them.

Sin embargo, Nietzsche va ms all en su crtica al darwinismo. Para l es un error evid


ente de Darwin el suponer que en la lucha por la existencia vence siempre el ms fue
rte:
Nada me sorprende tanto, al alzar una mirada sobre los grandes destinos de los ho
mbres, como encontrarme delante de m lo contrario de lo que hoy ven Darwin y su e
scuela, o de lo que quieren ver: la seleccin a favor de los ms fuertes, de los mej
or logrados, el progreso de la especie. Precisamente es lo contrario lo que se t
oca con la mano: la supresin de los casos felices, la inutilizacin de los tipos me
jor logrados, el inevitable gravitar de los tipos medios y hasta de los tipos in
feriores a la medida. [1]
Nietzsche considera que no hay una progresin desde el ms dbil hacia el ms fuerte; po
r el contrario, para l es evidente que los ms dbiles triunfan sobre los ms fuertes:
los ms fuertes y los ms afortunados no son mucho cuando tienen en contra suyo los i
nstintos del rebao, la pusilanimidad de los dbiles y la preponderancia del nmero [2]
Las palabras de Nietzsche estn claramente influenciadas por su sensacin de que est
rodeado de una humanidad que aun no est preparada para su filosofa, para el asumir
la muerte de Dios como un reto a vivir con la frente en alto, creando los propios
valores, y dejando de depender de valores externos, trascendentes e inexistente
s. Nietzsche ve a su alrededor que es el cristianismo y su instinto de rebao el que
ha triunfado. La humanidad ha seguido una ruta de auto-degeneracin, y no de cons
tante superacin, no de constante evolucin (como propone Darwin).
A mi juicio, esta crtica al darwinismo est condicionada por una mala comprensin de
lo que en el darwinismo se entenda por la victoria y supervivencia del ms fuerte.
El ms fuerte en el darwinismo es simplemente aquel que progresa fisiolgicamente so
bre el que no lo hace. Para Nietzsche el fuerte y el dbil estn siendo entendidos m
ucho ms all de las disposiciones biolgicas. l entiende al fuerte y al dbil de acuerdo
a las categoras de su filosofa. Lo dbil no es entendido por Nietzsche como lo que
tiene poca capacidad para sobrevivir biolgicamente, sino como lo que tiene poca c
apacidad para ser un espritu libre, para tomar las riendas de la existencia, para
comprender que ella carece de esencias trascendentales. La sensacin que a m me qu
eda de esta crtica nietzscheana al darwinismo es que en ella no hay una verdadera
referencia al darwinismo. La crtica sirve para comprender qu es lo que Nietzsche
quiere decir, pero pareciera estar jugando otro juego de lenguaje que el que juega
el darwinismo. Nietzsche habla de fuerza en el sentido de las fuerzas emocional
es o espirituales, el darwinismo habla de fuerza en el sentido de fuerzas fisiolg
icas formadas naturalmente. Esto se hace evidente cuando Nietzsche acusa a Darwi
n de olvidar que la verdadera fuerza del ser humano radica ms en el espritu que en
la fisiologa[3]. Los espritus libres no requieren de fuerza fisiolgica para supera
rse, requieren de fuerza espiritual. Aqu es evidente que Nietzsche se posa en un
campo totalmente diferente de aquel sobre el que est posado el darwinismo. El pro
greso en el darwinismo no se entiende en el mismo sentido que en Nietzsche. En e
ste ltimo progreso se est entendiendo como una evolucin que tiene que ver ms con la a
tonoma y la liberacin que con la supervivencia.
La sensacin que me queda de la crtica que hace Nietzsche es de un escupitajo que c
ree haberse direccionado en una direccin determinada pero que en realidad no roza
siquiera a aquello que quera humillar. Aun as, la crtica vale para entender cmo Nie
tzsche est en una dimensin muy, muy distinta a en la que est el darwinismo, por lo
que las comparaciones en este respecto no podran ser hechas; no porque haya contr
adiccin, sino porque no se refieren a la misma cosa: Nietzsche no se da cuenta de
eso, l cree estar asestando un golpe en lo profundo del darwinismo (y probableme
nte este tambin crey que estaba siendo golpeado).

What Did Friedrich Nietzsche Take from Charles Darwin?


Posted on December 26, 2009 by Santi Tafarella
Answer: A lot. Most specifically, contingency (chance), and the implications of
contingency upon meaning.
Prior to Charles Darwin there were a lot of 19th century people who believed tha
t evolution must have occurred in some form, but they thought about evolution in
theistic, deistic, or Platonic terms. In other words, evolution had occurred, b
ut it was guided by telos (some sort of purpose).
But here s the kicker.
Friedrich Nietzsche saw that Charles Darwin had landed upon a mechanism, natural
selection, that accounted for evolution absent purpose. And Nietzsche saw that
the metaphysical consequences of this discovery could not be more profound. Darw
in, by putting an evolutionary mechanism in place of telos had irretrievably se
t human beings into the realm of the contingent. Darwin had divorced life and by e
xtension, humankind from metaphysics and wedded it to history. Thus human morality
was no more grounded in some transcendent purpose than any other natural phenom
enon. Instead of tracing morality to heaven, Nietzsche traced it to earth to the h
istorically contingent (hence Nietzsche s On the Geneology of Morals ). Here s how o
ne of Nietzsche s seminal biographers, R.J. Hollingdale, put it in his now classic
, and still much read and praised biography, Nietzsche: The Man and His Philosop
hy (Cambridge, 1965, rev. 1999, 72-73):
Darwin had shown that the higher animals and man could have evolved in just the
way they did entirely by fortuitous variations in individuals. Natural selection
was for Nietzsche essentially evolution freed from every metaphysical implicati
on: before Darwin s simple but fundamental discovery it had been difficult to deny
that the world seemed to be following some course laid down by a directing agen
cy; after it, the necessity for such a directing agency disappeared, and what se
emed to be order could be explained as random change. The total nature of the wor
ld, Nietzsche wrote in Die frohliche Wissenschaft, is . . . to all eternity chaos (
FW 109), and this thought, basic to his philosophy, arose directly from his inte
rpretation of Darwin.
The implications of this were enormous. Hollingdale again (73):
Nothing that existed in the phenomenal world could have come from outside : if the
universe were intelligible, it must be intelligible from within. Part of that in
telligibility had been expounded by Darwin: the divine attributes of man had in re
ality descended to him from the animals. Man was in touch with no beyond , and was
no different from any other creature. But, as God had been the meaning of the u
niverse, so man had been the meaning of the earth. Now God and man, as hitherto
understood, no longer existed. The universe and the earth were without meaning.
The sense that meaning had evaporated was what seemed to escape those who welcom
ed Darwin as a benefactor of mankind. Nietzsche considered that evolution presen
ted a correct picture of the world, but that it was a disastrous picture. His ph
ilosophy was an attempt to produce a new world-picture which took Darwinism into
account but was not nullified by it.
And where did Nietzsche, in the light of Darwin, go to produce his new world-pict
ure ? Answer: pre-Socratic Greece. Nietzsche saw in pre-Socratic Greece a period i
n history comparable to the post-Darwinian late 19th century. Pre-Socratic Greec
e was a time prior to the Platonic idea of telos (just as the late 19th century
was a time after the collapse of Platonic telos ). As Hollingdale puts it (74):
Philosophy from Plato onwards had been founded upon suppositions that were no lo
nger valid, and to find philosophers who had faced their problems without presup
positions one had to go back to Heraclitus, Pythagoras, and Socrates.
And what did Nietzsche find there? Survival of the fittest and cruelty (74-75):
Not only did Nietzsche discover the nature of his dilemma among the Greeks, he a
lso discovered the key to its solution. Long before he had formulated the theory
of the will to power he had discovered that the driving force behind the cultur
e of Hellas had been contest, agon, the striving to surpass. . . . The Greeks we
re cruel, savage, and predatory; yet they had become the most humane people of a
ntiquity, the inventors of philosophy, science and tragedy, the first and finest
European nation.
In short, concludes Hollingdale, it was Darwin, and his leading of Nietzsche to
antique Greece, that led to mature Nietzschean philosophy (78):
Darwin and the Greeks, then, and not Wagner and Schopenhauer, were the starting-
point of Nietzsche s philosophy; and the reason his early works represent a false
start is that he sought to interpret the Darwinian problem and the evidence of a
ncient Greece in the light of Wagnerian aesthetics and Schopenhaueran metaphysic
s. Not until he had put both behind him did he enter into his own proper field.
And what Nietzsche also put behind him, in his attempt to work out the consequen
ces of Darwin s discovery, was slave morality (Christianity) and democracy. As Thoma
s Nagel, in his essay on Nietzsche in his recent excellent collection of essays,
puts it (37-38):
The conflict of perspectives and competing wills that is the true reality is obs
cured and flattened out by the social imposition of a common standpoint, in lang
uage, thought, morality, and politics, which presents itself as simply or cosmic
ally true by concealing its true sources. The inquiry into the geneology of thes
e ruling ideas is therefore a vital part of their unmasking. The proposed geneol
ogy of Christian morality, as the expression not of universal love but of the sl
ave revolt of the base against the noble, motivated by fear, hatred, and envy, i
s Nietzsche s most famous thesis, expounded in Beyond Good and Evil and On the Gen
eology of Morals. . . . He regarded modern morality, which speaks with the voice
of the community or even of humanity as a whole, as particularly dangerous, bec
ause it requires suppression of the cruelty and recklessness that distinguishes
the strong individual. The height of self-realization cannot be reached by someo
ne who is too concerned with the reactions of others, or his effects on them. Th
ere is a fundamental conflict between the pursuit of individual creativity and p
erfection and the claims of the general welfare.
For this reason, Nietzsche was not a democrat. Already at the time of writing Th
e Birth of Tragedy, he defended slavery as a condition of the possibility of gre
at cultural achievement by the few, as in ancient Athens. And he defended its mo
dern counterpart, the economic oppression of the masses, for the same reason. He
opposed shortening the workday from twelve hours to eleven when it was proposed
in Basel, he approved of child labor, and he opposed the educational groups for
workers. When in 1871 he heard the false rumor that the Paris communards had pi
llaged the Louvre, he called it the worst day of my life. Equality meant nothing t
o him; he believed it would inevitably push everything down to the lowest common
denominator, that of the democratic herd animal. Life, he insisted, is tragic; it
is necessary to choose between justice and aesthetic perfection. And in his lat
est writings he expressed fantasies of annihilation, with degenerates being got ri
d of to make room for the highest type of man.
So Charles Darwin s survival of the fittest brought Nietzsche to antique Greece (p
rior to democracy), and thence to his notion of the lone and cruel Ubermensch, t
he highest type of man , the creative supremacist triumphant over the degenerate ma
sses. Though Nietzsche might and I emphasize might here have regarded the Nazis as
(in Nagel s phrasing) an extreme manifestation of the herd instinct (39), it s hardly
surprising that the aesthetic loving and scientistic Nazis found in him and in Cha
rles Darwin key pieces to the puzzle of their intellectual justification for being
.

What is the Indian caste system and how does it work?


It didn't develop in one shot and evolved over time by merging many different so
cial groups. The caste system is not a well-defined entity, but an amorphous gro
uping of people with different origins that all got mixed over time. Indian varn
a system is also very similar to the Confucianist system of grouping occupations
into 4 groups [Four occupations] - scholars, farmers, artisans and traders and
systems elsewhere the world.
Humans, like many other mammals, live in various social groups. We often build a
web of relationship known as the Kinship. Initially we were all in small bands
or tribes & we were not in close contact with other groups. As we kept coming to
gether to form more complex societies, some wanted to organize & formalize the g
roup.
Band - Bands are the smallest units. It is an informal group of a few dozen peop
le who work together. It might not have a leader.
Clan - This is a slightly more matured group with a belief in a common origin &
descent. In India, this roughly translates to Gotra. For instance, my family bel
ieves that we are descent of the 3 saints of Viswamitra-Ahamarshana-Koushika. Su
ch clans were in most ancient human societies. The clans formed a strong kinship
& bonding among themselves. Also, most clans thought of others in the clan as b
rothers/sisters & thus would not marry within the clan. The Khaps in Haryana tak
e to this the extreme & can even give death sentences to those who marry within
the clan.
Tribe - Mulitiple clans can come together to form a tribe & tribes can often be
quite well structured. They can have their own leaders & build common cultural p
ractices. In many ancient societies, people married within the same tribe. In sh
ort, you marry out of a clan and within a tribe. In India, this roughly correspo
nds to Jati.
Nations - Tribes formed even bigger groups named the nation. For instance, in th
e Battle of the Ten Kings the tribal groups formed the nation of Bharatas that w
on over the confederation of 10 tribes in north India. Thus, we call our nation
Bharat.
Division of labour - As we started forming civilizations, we also found it quite
useful to divide work. Thus, some would produce milk, some would farm, others w
ould weave etc. Like in other civilizations, India had this division of labor to
o. These divisions then got superimposed over the much older clan & tribal divis
ions.
Some of the tribes/jatis are as big as most nations. For instance, the peasant c
aste of Jats numbers about 83 million people - a little bigger than Germany & Mo
ngolia combined. Other castes like Yadavs, Minas and Rajputs also have millions
of people have built a formidable political force.
Building Social Hierarchies
Almost all societies eventually turned into building hierarchies in a pyramid sy
stem. The tribes had no ranking system before this & somehow people felt that th
ere needs to be a rank. Such rankings are somewhat present in our mind always.
For instance, if you ask a kid to rank the professions of plumber, soldier, doct
or and shopkeeper in terms of attractiveness/usefulness, he/she might instinctiv
ely say doctor > soldier > shopkeeper > plumber. We have some universal notions
of the relative worth of different professions & this bias reflected in the soci
al hierarchy.
Around 3500 years ago, the various tribes that were creating the Rig Veda was gr
appling with a way to organize all the different systems - since there were 100s
of tribal groups & occupation groups. Rig Veda did it this way.
Brahmins (with all the different clans who were in priest related occupations)
Kshatriyas (the warriors)
Vaishyas (merchants)
Shudras (workers)
Such a pyramid organization was not unique to the Rig Vedis. Plenty of societies
around the world had stratified their society. Europe had Estates of the realm.
Egypt had 8 levels with more fine grained.
Japan also had 8.
Mesopotamia had 6.
While north India had a more formalized social stratification systems, south Ind
ia didn't get as formalized. It turned out to be quite binary - brahmins and non
-brahmins. Only recently many jatis like Reddys, Thevars and Lingayats started g
rappling with where they fit into the varna system.
In short, there was no single system and people often made up the rules on the g
o. Many also used obscure texts like a 2000 year old Manu Smriti [that is hardly
read by anybody] to define their position in the outdated hierarchy.
Dealing with the "outsiders"
Now, the question is what to do with those who were not part of their civilizati
on. Almost every civilization thought of people outside their own culture/civili
zation as inferior and almost inhuman. Romans called the Germans, Scandinavians
and others as "barbarians".
Throughout the world, societies marked the older natives as outcasts. Burakumin
[Japan], Baekjeong [Korea], Tanka people [China], Cagot [France], Al-Akhdam &
Yazidis [West Asia] Romani people [Gypsies of Europe], Aboriginal Australians &
Native Americans were all treated as "untouchables" and outcasts. A lot of it s
tem from them having a different practice, different color or due to the perceiv
ed inferiority of their civilizations. India's equivalent of this discriminated
people is the Dalits. Their fight for rights is similar to the other groups all
over the world.
The ancient Indians put the others into different buckets:
Mleccha - There were many types of "barbarians" from outside of the Indian subco
ntinent - You can click through some of these groups: Sakas, Huns, Yavanas, Ka
mbojas, Pahlavas, Bahlikas and Rishikas
Dasa - These were the outsiders within India, but were not a part of the rig ved
ic civilization. These groups also had a superior culture but were eventually su
bdued by the Vedic people.
These "outsiders" were often treated inhumanly & these were considered out of bo
unds for the Indian civilization. While the rest of the world eventually accepte
d many of their "barbarians" [like Italians becoming friendly with Germans and F
rench] in India the social classifications of the yore became set in stone.
The fight for equal rights for black people & native americans in the US is stil
l going on. In case of ancient Egypt & Mesopotamia, the civilizations themselves
ended.
Strength of the Tribes
In most parts of the world, tribal units generate the highest degree of passion.
For instance, Hitler and various German leaders before him worked hard for cent
uries to bring all the Germanic tribes together. Africa is rife with 100s of tri
bal warfare. Scotland almost split with the rest of UK as they value their ident
ity more than their nationstate. In the US, politics often happen at the level o
f races - Democrats often get the blacks, asians & hispanics, while Republicans
get sizable whites.
India too faces the strength of the tribes. Many tribes/jatis have a strong poli
tical identity & a pseudo warfare is constantly going on among many powerful jat
is.
How the Caste system became harmful
If we just say doctors > plumbers, it is somewhat harmful, but still tolerable.
However, if we combine that with clan blased work [for instance, some clans woul
d take up medicine and others would take up plumbing] it gets quite harmful. In
various parts of the world, the strata and guild formation existed somewhat sepa
rate. In India, these two got merged & that is the reason for all that harm. It
means that some will always be doctors & since doctors are considered superior,
they will always be a group who are born superior.
To prevent this, we need to both prevent clan based occupation selection and als
o understand the dignity of labor - every type of labor is good for the society.
Doctors are no more important than plumbers or farmers.
Summary
The Indian caste system is a complex amalgamation of many different social group
s. It includes clans called gotras, tribes & ethnicity called jatis and a define
d social hierarchy in Rig Veda called varnas.
None of these were unique to India and is present in most civilizations. What is
unique to India is how rigid these social classifications have become and how i
mmobile the different strata are.
While many educated Indians have little trouble understanding why the social str
atifications [varna] are outdated & harmful, they still have passions for their
tribe [jati] - as a tribe is a unit of culture. This is also true in many parts
of the world. For instance, while English, Welsh, Irish and Scots may live in th
e same nation of UK, there is still some strong identity between those individua
l tribes [we got some glimpse of it in the Scottish referendum process]. In the
same way, while Blacks, Whites, Asians and Hispanics may all be the citizens of
the US, each have their own culture and often marry within their group. You can
see such tribal/ethnic identities in Europe, Africa and Asia.
India is sort of many nations superimposed into one & the tribal passions that c
ome from being a particular caste can be quite high.

This answer is based on a classic historical investigation into Indian Culture,


penned by Maria Misra : Vishnu's crowded Temple, which deals, among other things
, quite extensively and deeply with this topic - that of caste divisions and the
ir modern interpretations.
This seminal piece of investigation belongs on every Indologist's book shelf, it
s downsides notwithsatnding! This is a book I am currently reading, and is a pa
ge turner, a stupendous, brutally blunt and searing analysis of Colonial Brutali
ty. Colonialism's problems are thought to be economic in nature...
Here is a work proves beyond all reasonable doubt that Casteism, Regionalism, Ne
potism and Corruption are all directly due to colonial policies - India as we k
now it today is a direct result of The British Rapists. Be it Casteism and its e
vils, or the fractured caste-ridden politics, or be it Hindu-Muslim Divide {Cove
red in Other Indian Works Extensively; peripherally mentioned here}- each and ev
ery thing of the Modern Day can be traced back to The British Raj...
This is a tale of how the British and The White Man destroyed everything in Indi
a - Industry, Agriculture, Culture, Arts, Societal Structure - everything. This
is a brutal no-holds barred account of the reality...
One that is not well known even in India, which believes Casteism to be an ancie
nt evil, little realising that the scenes we see today have their direct origin
in the horror of Colonialism...
This answer is not based on internet records, or websites, but on a deep reading
of more than 30 books on Indian History spanning Vedic times to the Modern Day
Kargil War. These books are based on authentic records, and provide crystal cle
ar proofs of their sometimes explosive content. IMO, there is no replacement for
books - provided they mention the source clearly in the Bibliography, and provi
de well-constructed end-notes with links to authentic official proofs. Most of t
he books I recommend pass these tests
This is not conjecture - other famous authors and investigators have dealt with
this quite extensively; for example -
Book Review: Becoming Indian by Pavan K Varma by Vishal Kale on reflectionsvvk
This book, Becoming Indian, proves with numbers taken from authentic colonial re
cords, how Indian Arts were summarily destroyed, with planning and forethought.
The records leave no room for any doubt whatsoever; the Britishers habit of meti
lculous recordkeeping has exposed them fully and finally.
CASTEISM
Coming to casteism, I point everyone to yet another resource, which also uses do
cumented and authentic records to raise the veil from the reality. This book is
Operation Red Lotus by Parag Tope -
Book Review : Operation Red Lotus by Vishal Kale on reflectionsvvk
I am giving these references at that start, since my claims are nothing short of
shocking to the uninitiated, Tejasvita Apte being a notable exception
Refer to the endnotes in this book above {Red Lotus}. There is a document sheet
from late 1700s India, a schooling record, maintained castewise by the East Indi
a Company. This shows a stunning reality : equal representation of all castes in
schools; this data snapshot is conclusive evidence that there is a lot more tha
n what meets the eyes.
This brings me to the current book - which examines in excruciating detail how t
he British created the entire modern caste edifice by their interventions, which
were not for purposes of good or benefit; the games they played led to a massiv
e upheaval in the entire structure of society as it existed. I cannot state in a
quora answer what has taken 4 chapters spanning 200+ pages, and innumerable rec
ords and historical documents. You have no choice but to read the book. I can on
ly give an excerpt, and try to summarise, as I have attempted to above.
This excerpt is taken from the Chapter Topical Gothic; a reference to its biblio
graphy shows a literally endless series of references : I stopped counting at 52
. {This is a habit with me - before I recommend a book, I always check its sourc
es}. These references are from the period 1794 - 2000+. We are talking about a d
etailed investigative paper here, not a newspaper article.
"The Casteization of Indian Society was not simply a by-product of of taxation p
olicy, or the machinations of wily brahmans' an enthusiasm for the application o
f science to government also drove the craze to order and classify society.
This data gathering was not merely a sign of idle curiosity, it was directly lin
ked to power.... The Army was issued caste handbooks... have detailed accounts o
f the physical, mental and moral capacities...other beneficiaries of the new cla
ssification were the members of the village councils or Panchayats, charged with
Tax Collection... membership of whom was determined by high caste status... "
It is a fact that before the British, the caste construct was fluid and intercha
ngeable, as exposed by Tajesvita Apte here on Quora. That is, howsoever much any
one may deny it, a simple truth. The British intervened with their coloured glas
ses, and created a system of differential treatment of various classes and cast
es, differential economic treatment and power-sharing, combined with labelling o
f some tribes as criminal {who could be imprisoned on suspicion alone}.
This led to a cascade impact, as a caste identity became the key to economic, po
litical and social status under the new dispensation. This is not conjecture; th
e books make it plain that this is a British Creation. Internet resources can be
found; but you will not find the corroborative evidence in the internet, which
can only be gleaned from a deep study of books. Please read the material above.
A Quora answer will take weeks to write; this is an extensive matter spanning ta
xation, agrarian policies, census rules and methods, religion, international pol
itics and economic planning in the 1700s and 1800s.
The one challenge to this is genetic studies, which look at inbreeding within ca
stes to jump to the conclusion that the British did not create caste. Well, The
British did not create caste; they only solidified it into the current form. The
presence of strong social groups is a known fact in India. The presence of a st
rong class of traders is also a known fact, for example, with thousand-year-old
trading empires along caste lines, as superbly analysed by Romila Thapar in her
book Early India in one entire detailed chapter.
The only point that the pre-colonial castre construct was far more fluid, and no
n-determinative in nature..
Please read the books for more. I cannot state more on Quora, or on my blog; whi
ch I why, despite having read these books for some time, I have not placed it on
my 3-year-old blog. Interested parties can visit my blogger site Reflections or
my quora blog reflectionsvvk where I have reviewed more than a hundred books, i
ncluding around 56 on Indian History, Economics and Current Affairs...
cc Balaji Viswanathan
A humble request: there is no substitute to books and reading. I am a techie, a
person in telecom whose lifeblood is the internet. But for some things, you cann
ot beat books.
LATE EDIT :
For a complete analysis spanning socio-economic and political aspects, read this
blog post : Casteism - A Fresh and Objective Analysis by Vishal Kale on reflect
ionsvvk

Cast System - Material Diversity, Spiritual Equality


Caste system is probably among the most talked about and most misunderstood curr
ent social controversies; misunderstood because it is based on a false premise c
aste determination by birth. .
The Social Body Discrimination or Cooperation?
Interestingly, the original Vedic scriptures don t consider birth the basis of cas
teism discrimination in modern Hinduism as the criterion of social classificatio
n. The Bhagavad-gita (4.13) declares that this social division, known as varnash
rama, was based on qualities and activities (guna-karma). The Rig Veda (10.90.12
) compares society to the human body. The brahmanas (thinkers and teachers) are
compared to the head, the kshatriyas (governors and protectors) to the arms, vai
shyas (producers and traders) to the belly and shudras (workers and general assi
stants) to the feet. In our body, one part may be positioned higher than the oth
er, but that is just to facilitate its optimum contribution to the body. Ultimat
ely all parts need nourishment and are necessary for proper bodily functioning.
If any part is neglected or malfunctions, the whole body suffers. Similarly, in
the social body, brahmanas (determined by qualities, not birth) are higher in th
e social hierarchy, but that is just to ensure optimum social utilization of the
ir intellectual abilities. Ultimately, every class is valued for its contributio
n to society. If any class is exploited or is lethargic, the entire society is a
dversely affected. Importantly, these four social classes, known as varnas, are
not discriminatory man-made divisions. Essentially they are four human types fou
nd in every human society. Most people exhibit qualities that reflect an overlap
ping of these categories, but one occupational inclination eventually predominat
es. Interestingly, we find similar divisions in a modern MNC researchers, manage
rs, financers and workers. This division is not discriminatory, but fair, becaus
e people are classified not forcibly, but as per their abilities.
Intriguingly the Greek philosopher Plato in his The Republic echoes this princip
le. Though he mentions three classes instead of four philosopher-kings, warriors
(called as auxiliaries), and merchants and workers together as one, his basis f
or classification is the same natural propensities. He compares rulers to gold,
auxiliaries to silver, and those in the third class to brass and iron.
Engaging people as per their psychophysical natures has several benefits:
1. Provided individual job satisfaction and security
In Vedic times, experienced elders would identify the natural inclination of a c
hild and train him accordingly, thus empowering him to excel in his vocation and
thus become emotionally satisfied and economically secure.
2. Avoided needless competition and maximized social productivity
When people are trained according to their natures, all members of society teach
ers, administrators, traders, artisans pursue their respective professions witho
ut having to compete with each other and contribute constructively to society.
Nowadays, when certain professions engineering and medicine, for example are gla
morized, everyone chases after them. This leads to:
Students in those fields undergo intense, often maniac, competition. Even succes
sful students fear unemployment as too many candidates vie for too few jobs. Whe
n students are educated contrary to their natures, they are unable to develop th
e competence expected of their profession, leading to harm or even havoc. Most o
f us have heard of incompetent doctors prescribing wrong medicines. Dearth of ta
lent in other fields leads to decreased overall social productivity.
3. Satisfies everyone s material needs in an efficient and uncomplicated manner.
Communities whose members specialize in different fields can trade internally an
d become self-sufficient, thus avoiding the complications attendant with externa
l dependence.
Sir Sidney Low in his book, A Vision of India refutes the stereotyped portrayal
of varnashrama as an elitist, exclusivist social order:
There is no doubt that it (caste) is the main cause of the fundamental stability
and contentment by which Indian society has been braced for centuries against th
e shocks of politics and the cataclysms of Nature. It provides every man with hi
s place, his career, his occupations, his circle of friends. It makes him, at th
e outset, a member of a corporate body; it protects him through life from the ca
nker of social jealousy and unfulfilled aspirations; it ensures him companionshi
p and a sense of community with others in like case with himself. The caste orga
nization is to the Hindu his club, his trade union, his benefit society, his phi
lanthropic society.
How Did Varnashrama Avoid Exploitation?
1. All people irrespective of their social position were spiritually equal as se
rvitors of God.
The lower castes would serve the upper castes, but the upper castes would serve
God visibly. The brahmanas the socially most powerful class before whom even the
kings would bow down and offer handsome charity would prefer voluntary material
poverty to not be distracted from their absorption in devotional service to God
, studying and teaching of scriptures and performance of sacrifices. A well-know
n example is Chanakya Pandit, who was instrumental in installing Chandragupta Ma
urya as the monarch of Northern medieval India, lived in a simple hut. Similarly
the kings would understand and demonstrate that the kingdom belonged to God and
they were servitor-caretakers on his behalf. For example, as per time-honored t
raditions, many kings would personally sweep the streets in front of the process
ions carrying the Deities. When people would see, Our masters are as much servant
s as we are, albeit serving in a different role , they would unhesitatingly execut
e their role, decided according to their God-given talents. Envy and conflict ar
ises only when people see, I am being deprived and another is enjoying at my expe
nse.
2. The most powerful social classes had to be the most renounced.
It was imperative for the upper castes the brahmanas and kshatriyas to renounce
the world at around fifty and focus fully on self-realization. This not only ens
ured that they successfully achieved the spiritual goal of life, but also checke
d them from becoming exploitative.
Thus the seemingly discriminatory varnashrama system functions by enlightened co
operation. Throughout history, thinkers have tried various means to organize hum
an society to maximize individual and social satisfaction and growth. In our tim
es, the left attempted at least in principle to bring about social equality by f
iat. But the differences vis--vis attitudes and aptitudes among people are inesca
pable. The communist attempt at artificial equality failed as it choked the tale
nted by rewarding them no more than the mediocre. The right provided an open fie
ld for the resourceful, leading to industrial and economic growth and cutthroat
competition, untrammeled greed and exploitation of the needy by the wealthy. The
varnashrama system ingeniously reconciled and integrated the absolute spiritual
equality of all people with their relative material differences. Gerald Heard i
n his book Man, the Master calls varnashrama as organic democracy the rule of the p
eople who have organized themselves in a living and not a mechanical relationshi
p; where instead of all men being said to be equal, which is a lie, all men are
known to be of equal value, could we but find the position in which their potent
ial contribution could be released and their essential growth so pursued.
Mark Tully, the BBC correspondent in New Delhi, explains the superiority of varn
ashrama over the current seemingly equal social system in his book No Full Stops
in India, The alienation of many young people in the West and the loneliness of
the old show the suffering that egalitarianism inflicts on those who do not win,
the superficiality of an egalitarianism which in effect means equal opportuniti
es for all to win and then ignores the inevitable losers. For all that, the elit
e of India have become so spellbound by egalitarianism that they are unable to s
ee any good in the only institution which does provide a sense of identity and d
ignity to those who are robbed from birth of the opportunity to compete on an eq
ual footing caste.
Birth-Right Made It All Wrong
The caste-by-birth idea the bane of Hindu casteism is decidedly non-Vedic. The V
edic texts abound with examples of qualified people, even if low-born, being ele
vated to respectable places in society.
The Chandogya Upanishad narrates how Gautam rsi declared a maidservant s son, Saty
akama Jabali, to be a brahmana as the boy was unhesitatingly truthful the hallma
rk of a true brahmana.
Furthermore, Suta Gosvami, Kanaka, Kanchipurna, Tukaram, Thiruvalluvar, Sura das
a and Haridasa Thakura were all revered as saints, despite being low-born.
A famous Vedic aphorism reiterates: janamana jayate shudra samskarad bhaved dvij
ah veda-pathanat bhavet viprah brahma janatiti brahmana By birth everyone is a sh
udra, meaning everyone is unqualified. By spiritual initiation, one becomes a tw
ice-born, that is, one begins his spiritual life. By study of Vedic scriptures,
one becomes a learned scholar. By realization of the Absolute Truth alone does o
ne become a brahmana.
Plato adds an interesting dimension to his social classification: golden parents
will tend to have golden children, as silver parents will naturally have silver
children, and so on. Similarly, in varnashrama often the occupation of a person
would turn out to be the varna of his birth partially due to the childhood upbr
inging and training. So, a child born in a brahmana family would generally becom
e a qualified brahamana. Consequently the varna would normally be determined by
birth, but it could be retained only by behavior. So if a son of a brahmana did
not develop brahminical qualities, he would no longer be accepted as a brahmana,
but as a brahma-bandhu, unqualified relative of a brahmana. Conversely if the s
on of a shudra exhibited brahminical qualities, he would be accepted as a brahma
na. Plato also recommends this flexibility. If an iron parent has a golden child
, then, says Plato, we must acknowledge that a golden child born to an iron pare
nt, for example, is indeed golden his birthright should be disregarded in favor of
his natural quality.
Then how did the widespread perversion of caste-by-birth originate? In medieval
times, a coterie of brahma-bandhus, wanting to hold on to brahminical privileges
without developing the required character, started claiming that caste was deci
ded by birth and was unchangeable. Further they misused their social influence t
o deprive lower castes of access to the practices of self-realization. And thus
began the unfortunate history of casteist discrimination. Genuine Vedic teachers
categorically disown this caste-by-birth system as non-Vedic and label it as ,
the demoniacally-conceived system. Author Micheal Pym echoes in his book The Pow
er of India: Caste is the secret of that amazing stability which is characteristi
c of the Indian social structure. It is the strength of Hinduism. Naturally, it
can be abused. The moment a Brahmin treats a sweeper cruelly because he is a swe
eper, he departs from his Brahminhood. He becomes a usurper and a social danger.
And in due course, he will have to pay for this mistake. Because men are imperf
ect, and because power is a deadly intoxicant, such abuses may and do occur, but
they are not inherent in the institution they are contrary to its principles, t
hough they may be inherent in the make up of the individual.
Spirituality is the Solution
The ultimate purpose of the original varnashrama, known as daivi varnashrama, th
e divinely-ordained system, was not just material social organization, but syste
matic spiritual elevation. As eternal souls, beloved sons and servants of God, K
rishna, we can attain eternal happiness only in His devotional service. This sel
fless divine love enables us to live as happily as is ever possible in this worl
d and finally transports us to our original home, the spiritual world, where we
live in eternal ecstasy, reciprocating love with Krishna. Varnashrama offers the
best springboard to catapult us to our spiritual birthright. Hence cultivating
genuine spirituality Krishna consciousness and returning back to the spiritual w
orld is the only real solution to all problems, including the problem of discrim
ination and exploitation.
Undoubtedly in this world, discrimination must be prevented and redressed. But i
s varnashrama its cause? Untouchability and similar Hindu inequities are portray
ed as the ultimate horror, yet racial groups like American Indians or Australian
Aborigines in modern societies were treated worse than untouchables; they were
isolated, crowded into reserves, where they could only atrophy and disappear.
Many countries today are witnessing xenophobia. And discrimination, if we may us
e the word, based on economic power is ubiquitous in the current consumer econom
y.
What causes discrimination? Almost always materialism. When people imagine that
material things wealth and comforts, power and prestige, positions and possessio
ns are the only way to happiness, they seek to acquire these by any means. As we
live in a world of limited resources and unlimited wants, plenty for one causes
scarcity for another. When the powerful become materially-minded, they encroach
upon the quota of the weak, leading to social inequities. Depending on time, pl
ace and circumstances, this materialistic agenda masks itself in racial, nationa
listic, religious and casteist rationalizations.
The antidote for materialism is spirituality, which provides inner fulfillment a
nd cures the exploitative mentality. And varnashrama is the best social order to
foster spiritual enlightenment and experience. Therefore, while striving to rem
ove the cataract of casteism, let us ensure that we don t pluck out the eye of Ved
ic spiritual wisdom. When the whole world is recognizing the value of ancient In
dian wisdom in the form of yoga, meditation, vastushastra and chanting of holy n
ames, let us not reject the profound and universal spiritual teachings of ancien
t India while correcting the social evils of Hinduism. Late British historian re
minds us, It is already becoming clear that a chapter which had a Western beginni
ng will have to have an Indian ending if it is not to end in the self-destructio
n of the human race. At this supremely dangerous moment in history, the only way
of salvation for mankind is the Indian way.
Srila Prabhupada, the founder of ISKCON, remarked, Without the awakening of divin
e consciousness in the individual, there is no use of crying for world peace. The
refore Srila Prabhupada declared his mission to the West to be finding brahmanas.
Far from reviving the demoniac caste-by-birth perversion, he wanted to revitaliz
e the modern social body with its missing head. He wanted to create, among the s
o-called lowborn Westerners as well as everywhere else, a class of genuine spiri
tual intellectuals, by education, culture and training. Hundreds of such spiritu
ally transmuted intellectuals are pioneering a non-sectarian spiritual revival a
ll over the world. When these detached devoted leaders guide society, their exam
ples, words and policies will eradicate the material greed that causes all inequ
ities. Hence practicing and sharing Krishna consciousness constitutes egalitaria
nism in its most pure, potent and practical form, the panacea for all forms of d
iscrimination.

It honestly isn't all that different from the American class system, or the clas
s system in other cultures.
More rigid, ritualized, codified, fine-grained and arguably more oppressive, but
basically the same sort of thing, that exists for the same sort of reasons.
So just review your basic intuitions about class (see for example, "Class Dismis
sed" in the Atlantic Monthly: http://www.theatlantic.com/magaz... ) and ignore t
he complexity, and you'll have a good 101-level understanding.
Not trying to condone the Indian caste system by comparison with a similar const
ruct, or explain it away. Just giving you a "good enough" starting point so you
stop thinking of it as "completely unfamiliar." Beneath the arcane Sanskrit and
incomprehensible rituals, it is still the psychology of homo sapiens after all.

Though the caste system is fading away slowly due to western exposure, industria
lization, international competence, still there are doubts in Indian s mind how it
got originated and what is the solution to get rid of it.
1. Introduction:
Our Veda (the Sruti), the only Hindu authority, does not mention anything on cas
te system. It just mentions (for example Rig Veda Purusa Sukta - brahmanosya muk
hamasit, bahu rajanyah kritaha, uru tadasya yadvaishyaha, padhyagam shudro ajaya
ta etc) four keywords (called Varna, color, class) Brahmana, Kshyatriya, Vaisya
and Shudra with their definition based on Guna-Karma. This is also called Svabha
vaja Karma or action based on mental inclination. Later texts like Mahabharat, G
ita(Sloka 4.13 - Chatur Varnyam Maya Sristam Guna Karma Vibhagasah) also defines
these keywords based on Guna-Karma.
These Guna-Karma divisions as per Sankhya darshan is:
1. Activities done by a person with dominant Satwa guna called as Brahmana.
2. With dominant Rajo guna mixed with Satwa guna called as Kshyatriya.
3. With dominant Rajo guna mixed with Tamo guna called as Vaisya.
4. With dominant Tamo guna is called Shudra.
Veda and Gita do not command to divide the society based on Guna-Karma. People cho
ose this as a formula to divide the society. Other formula could have been based
on economy (high class, middle class, low class) as it is done in USA. Due to a
dvancement of technology, we can think of dividing people based on genetic patte
rn. Twenty-three human chromosomes can provide all details of mental, psychologi
cal inclination of a person.
So this caste system is neither the God created, nor a vision of Veda. It is a h
uman creation. Interestingly Upanishads and Mahabharata say in the beginning all
humans were with dominant Satva guna, pure mind. Later their mind got corrupted
when Greeks opened the Pandora s box. This is in contradiction with what we study
about primitive humans from western study: living in jungle, taking raw meats,
barbaric life etc. Our civilization says the first set of humans born with pure
mind, called as Risis. And we are all the Risi-putra(children of saints).
Unfortunately there are smritis(e.g. Goutama smriti, Manu Smriti etc) which say
such fierce words as these: If the Shudra hears the Vedas, fill his ears with mol
ten lead, and if he remembers a line, cut his tongue out. There is no purificati
on rites for Sudra. This is diabolical old barbarism no doubt. These books are no
t aligned to Veda. However people thought that Smriti is a Hindu scripture. But
those are not. During 200 BCE these kinds of Smritis were written to suppress Ve
dic Varna system. Unfortunately those books are instrumental in diving people ti
ll date.
2. How it got adopted into Hindu society?
Given the definition in Veda, Gita (like IEEE-LRM), how it got implemented in Hi
ndu society? That is the trick of specification vs implementation inconsistency.
1. At some level of our parent generation the caste was a self-declared or a volun
tary designation based on what kind of profession they choose. There are instance
s mentioned in Purana, Mahabharat(in Ajagara, Uma and Maheswara story). And it w
as not hereditary.
2. Later it was a political (Kings) decision to allocate caste to individual to
give it a permanent shape. In Mahabharat, King Yudhisthira is saying it was diffi
cult for him to determine the caste of an individual based on mental inclination .
Here also it was not hereditary. There was choice for profession and change in
caste.
3. Wherever politics enter, the thing gets spoiled. Same happened here also. And
caste became a matter of (a) privilege, later (b) hereditary and tied to some (
c) old customs. Individuals were imposed a caste forcefully to get the low profi
le jobs done. This became a hereditary system.
4. History says there are many royal communities once they became powerful, they
declared themselves as Brahmin caste as a whole community and ruled over rests.
And others were dominated for their selfish gain. Evidence says this self-decla
ration is done till recent years in Tamilnadu and Kerala. Mighty is the right is pr
oved.
5. Hindu society was so conservative and social customs were very tight. Anybody
violated any custom was thrown out of village, property and made untouchables.
Many communities were made religiously impure by birth. History says even many B
rahmins, who wanted to be liberals or violated any custom; they were forced to b
ecome untouchables as a punishment. It more similar to honor killing of married
couples from different communities in today s India.
6. On one side the rulers made rules to make a concrete infrastructure to divide
people. On the other hand the priest-class did not leave any stone unturned. Va
rious tags were discovered to identify people using (a) Surname (b) Gotra (c) Su
tra (d) Caste/sub-caste (e) external symbols like sacred thread, Tilakam, Tulsi
necklace (f) false rituals with wrong notion like Pinda-dana (g) fear of eternal
hell on mixture of community, even if Veda do not mention of any hell etc. Fals
e rumors were spread through folk songs, on sharing of Roti and Beti(common dinin
g and marriage) will incur sin.
For example Manu Smriti says on naming of various Varna -
Sloka 2.31. Let (the first part of) a Brahmana s name (denote something) auspiciou
s, a Kshatriya s be connected with power, and a Vaisya s with wealth, but a Sudra s (e
xpress something) contemptible.
Sloka 2.32. (The second part of) a Brahmana s (name) shall be (a word) implying ha
ppiness, of a Kshatriya s (a word) implying protection, of a Vaisya s (a term) expre
ssive of thriving, and of a Sudra s (an expression) denoting service.
7. Some of our Mahapurusha(saints) directly or indirectly helped to give it a sh
ape. Started with, Buddha (800 BCE) strongly condemned any division of Humanity.
During his time 99% of Brahmins and Kshatriyas were converted into Buddhism. Th
is practically abolished castism and Vedic rituals from India. Later Adi Sankara
charya (8th century) was a great advocate of Brahmin caste and caste maker, for
which he is criticized most. Ramanujacharya (13th century) tried to eradicate an
d declared all of his followers as Brahmins. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (17th century)
followers themselves declared as Vaisnava-Brahmins. Rammohan roy, Swami Dayanan
da (19th century) were strong condemner of caste-system. Swami Vivekanand (19th
century) converted few thousands dalits into Brahmins by initiating them into Ga
yatri.It is said an individual who is initiated into a Mantra from an eligible G
uru, will be considered as Brahmin. Many, including untouchables, followed these
saints, took Mantra and got converted into Brahmins. All most all saints have p
ut their maximum energy (by initiating through Mantra) to fix this social disord
er. Still this is an unsolved problem. So why to blame the limitations of Semiti
c religions, where they have only one prophet?
3. What is the Consequence of Indian caste system?
1. Due to this wrong implementation of Vedic definition, the Varna (class, c
olor) systems converted into caste (Jati) hereditary systems.
2. India lost its patriotic feeling. Rather it was just a combination of few
separated communities without any coherence. All the feeling and enjoyment and
marriage were limited to same narrow community.
3. The only way the human breed can mix is through marriage. This cross-comm
unity marriage got blocked in fear of losing property and privilege. Even in som
e communities only elder son was allowed to marry. Youngers were advised to prac
tice polyandry e.g Kerala Namboodiri Brahmins. Later again each community gets d
ivided and sub-divided into many smaller castes to protect the selfish and narro
wness among themselves. So where is the Indian-ness?
4. Women were considered as Sudra as mentioned in Srimad-Bhagavatam. They we
re deprived of Vedic rights and temple worships. Though there are twenty five wo
men risis (Gargi, Maitreyi, Vak etc) mentioned as editors of Veda, not sure why
women were not allowed to chant Vedic Mantra. Even today many women are scared t
o chant Veda.
5. Many including Swami Vivekananda, Dr, B. R. Ambedkar pointed out; this di
sjoint communalism was the cause of Mohameddan and Christian invasion into India
. Because the downtrodden, the major population, during that time cooperated the
m to find an escape route of suffering.
6. History says when a pariah (Chandala) gets converted into Islam and Chris
tian, nobody was hesitating to do hand-shake and offer a chair. Most of the reli
gious conversions were voluntary. Foreigners come with few thousands soldiers an
d gets multiplied into many millions in a few years.
7. Foreign rulers did not try to solve this social disorder. Rather they had
tried to make it sticky by following Smrities and took advantage of this Indian
weakness. Because their colonization policy was based on divide and rule . And we
were succumbed to our own faulty system.
8. Even today Christian missionaries are targeting the downtrodden, rural, p
oor lower caste people to convert into other religion. And this has a strong imp
act on Hindu population and Hindu civilization. Unless they are uplifted, there
is no solution to this conversion issue.
4. What is the solution as given by Swami Vivekananda?
1. Remove false notion: Though our castes are apparently linked with our religi
on, but they are not so. In religion there is no caste. Caste is social custom.
Same is told by Mahatma Gandhi also to the nation.
2. Revert back to Brahmin-hood: We are all Risi-putra. The solution is not by br
inging down the higher, but by raising the lower caste up to the level of the hi
gher. The goal is to uplift everyone into Brahmin Varna. After independence Dali
ts were given special privilege as compensation under constitution. We need to r
each a civilization where everybody will be treated equally without any special
privilege to any community. Then only caste-less Indian society will be possible
.
3. Continue self-declaring: There are thousands of castes, and some are even get
ting admission into Brahminhood, for what prevents any caste from declaring they
are Brahmins?Instead of crying foul, people can self-declare or correct their c
astes based on Vedic definition.
4. Rename the whole Community: Thus caste, with all its rigor, has been created
in that manner. Let us suppose that there are castes here with ten thousand peop
le in each. If these put their heads together and say, we will call ourselves Br
ahmins, nothing can stop them; I have seen it in my own life. Some castes become
strong, and as soon as they all agree, who is to say nay?[CW-III page-295]
5. Expose to western science: Keep harmony between Vedantic theories and western
science. Science and technology is a greatest gift from western civilization. A
ll Indians need to be exposed to modern developments across globe. This will hel
p in removing the narrowness about our own civilization, customs and way of life
. Till date Indian caste system is suppressed due to exposure to western Industr
ialization and international competence. India must keep foreign direct investme
nt (FDI) up to eradicate local monopoly in profession and economy.
5. Conclusion:
So your caste was voluntarily declared by your own forefather. Now it is your tu
rn to undo the mistake.

Anything that does not show dynamism (we call it evolution) will eventually die.
For example there is a huge water pool and it is decided not to allow any water
enter into it thinking that its purity will be lost. Eventually this water pool
will be stinky. Similarly if you don t allow other community (caste) to enter int
o your family life, then whole genetic system, immunity system and cultural syst
em will fall apart. The aroma has vanished and only the stinky ugly part is pois
oning the mind of society. Don t propagate this ignorance to your next generation,
your sons and daughters.

Historically, the caste system in South Asia is not at all unique.


Most of the Greek states had a system that segregated society. Spartan society h
ad a concept of priestly class, warriors and serfs/slaves. The Persian empire al
so had a very similar structure, with a priestly nobility differentiated from ot
her classes. Egypt, Rome, Arabia - pretty much every ancient civilization that I
can think of had some form of stratification (not too sure of Chinese civilizat
ion)
When did it first form?
References to the caste system are found in both Hindu epics - Ramayana and Maha
bharta. So the origins are thousands of year old.
Did it vary in implementation?
The same Hindu epics also have references to instances of people crossing caste
boundaries. The Ramayana itself was supposedly penned by Sage Valmiki who was bo
rn of a low caste.
Valmiki
So historically, the caste system seems to have some mobility built into it. But
for the most part, it has remained relatively rigid and has not changed in its
basic four tier structure.
How did it interact with foreigners such as in commerce or diplomacy?
In ancient India, the caste system was a means to lock down tribal customs and l
oyalties. Each caste had it's own sub-gods that they worshiped, particular tasks
/skills that they specialized in, and it's own subculture.
Except for certain employment related interaction, each of the castes were fairl
y independent. So despite the lop-sided rights attributed to each layer, the sys
tem was not overbearing enough to trigger revolts. Most lower classes never knew
anything different. They typically had their own village where everyone else wa
s of the same caste. They had their own temples and their own wells. The son typ
ically learnt the task/skill from his father. The daughters were married off to
others from similar castes/tribes in nearby villages.
The system was not benevolent. But as long as you obeyed the "rules", it was not
malevolent to you either. It allowed Hindu society to assimilate varied set of
foreign tribes and religions.
However, it also prevented Hindu society from properly mobilizing itself against
foreign invasions. In response to invasions, only a fraction of the population
could be mobilized. The priests and warriors formed the officer core, while the
lower castes often were the foot soldiers. The entire trader class usually had n
othing to with the defense of the land.

Indian caste system was just a vocabulary, which used to divide all professions
into 4 major categories Varna (Hinduism) [Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra].
Your caste is just what you do and not what your father used to do. If you used
to teach, then you were a Teacher [Brahmin] and if you used to do trade then you
were a trader[Vaishya].
What went wrong: Initially everybody was free to choose their profession and th
eir profession used to be their caste. With time, more and more people started a
ccepting their father's profession ( as it gave them advantage like free educati
on, business contacts, free tools etc over those who were totally new into that
profession). Also those parents, who were in better professions, started favorin
g their own children by selecting them for the jobs, who were meant for the best
candidates from the society. Like, a king makes his own son the next king, inst
ead of selecting the best suitable young person from the kingdom.
This went up to the extent, that people started believing [still most of us
believe this way] that your caste is what your family's caste and you get it at
the time of birth. This created a big divide in society and led to the inhuman
treatment of Lower caste people.
Advantage : Caste system is noting, but the names of your profession and we stil
l use them around the world with different names [I am a Doctor, I am an Enginee
r]. It just a convenient tool to tell others, what your profession is. So you sa
y You are a Plumber, instead of saying 100 sentences about what Plumbers do.
Disadvantage : Original Caste system doesn't have much disadvantages. But the ca
ste system which is currently getting practiced in the our society, is one of th
e biggest problem of India.
1. It denies equal rights between different castes.
2. It takes away fair chance of selection from government jobs.
3. It suppress the best talent of society, by giving opportunity to people wh
o are not really qualified for the job.
4. It created hatred between different castes, which led to a weak society an
d the country.
5. Caste System gave birth to caste based reservation, which lowered the qual
ity of Government Service and led to more corruption.

The caste system is one of the greatest social evils plaguing our country today.
It is acting as a powerful social and political divisive force in our country a
t a time when it is absolutely essential for us to be united if we wish to face
our nation s challenges. It is a curse on our country which must be speedily eradi
cated if we wish to progress.
THE CASTE SYSTEM IN INDIA
We may consider a few facts to realize how strongly caste is still entrenched in
our society today.
Our politics is largely governed by caste vote banks. When the time comes for se
lecting candidates for the elections a study is made of the numerical caste dist
ribution in a constituency, because voters in most areas vote on caste basis.
What to say of the illiterate people, even the so called intellectuals tend to o
perate on caste lines. Thus, in the elections to many bar associations the lawye
rs tend to vote for the candidates of their caste.
Many castes want to be declared as O.B.C.s or Scheduled Castes, to get the benef
its of reservation. Even some O.B.C.s strive to be declared as M.B.C.s (most bac
kward castes) or Scheduled Castes.
Fake caste certificates have become rampant, as is often witnessed in our law co
urts, to get jobs or admissions in educational institutions.
Marriages are still largely performed within one s caste.
Violence often occurs between castes, as was noticed in the recent fight between
students of different castes in a University in Chennai, while the policemen lo
oked on as silent spectators.
Even Muslims, Christians and Sikhs often have castes, although their religions p
reach equality.
We can multiply these facts manifolds. Many books and articles have been written
about the caste system in India, but a scientific study is still wanting. An at
tempt shall be made here to explain the origin, development and future of the ca
ste system.
Origin of the Caste System
The origin of the caste system was in all probability racial. It is said that ca
ste originated when a white race, the Aryans, coming from the North West, conque
red the dark coloured races inhabiting India at that time, probably 5000 years a
go or so.
Some persons deny that the Aryans came from outside India and assert that India
was the original home of the Aryans (Aryavarta) from where a section of them mig
rated to Europe. It is difficult to accept this view because people migrate from
uncomfortable areas to comfortable areas (see the article `Kalidas Ghalib Acade
my for Mutual Understanding inwww.kgfindia.com). Why should anyone migrate from a
comfortable country like India which has level and fertile land ideal for agric
ulture to a place like Afghanistan or Russia which is cold, mountaneous and ther
efore uncomfortable. Indian history bears out the view that almost all invasions
/immigrations were from outside India (mainly from the North West and to a lesse
r extent from the North East) into India.
The caste system is called `Varna Vyavastha and the word `Varna in Sanskrit litera
lly means colour of the skin. This also points at the racial origin of the caste
system. Fair skin colour is usually preferred to darker skin even today, as is
evident from matrimonial advertisements.
Subsequent Development of the Caste System
While the origin of the caste system appears to be racial (as mentioned above) i
t subsequently developed an altogether different basis according to the needs of
the feudal society in India. In other words, the caste system, though originati
ng in race, subsequently developed into the feudal, occupational division of lab
our in society. This needs to be explained in some detail.
In theory there were only four castes, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudra
s. This, however, was only a fiction. In reality there were (and still are) hund
reds, if not thousands, of castes and sub-castes in India many of which do not f
it into the 4 traditional castes mentioned above e.g. Yadavs, Kurmis, Jats, Kaya
sthas, Bhumihars, Gosains, etc. Every vocation became a caste. Thus, in North In
dia badhai (carpenter) became a caste, and so did lohar (blacksmith), sonar (gol
dsmith), kumbhar (Potter), dhobi (washerman), nai (barber), darzi (tailor), kasa
i (butcher), mallah (fisherman), kewat (boatman), teli (oil presser), kahar (wat
er carrier), gadadia (sheep herder), etc.
This was not something unique to India. For instance, in England even today ther
e are many people with the surnames Taylor, Smith, Goldsmith, Baker, Butcher, Po
tter, Barber, Mason, Carpenter, Turner, Waterman, Shepherd, Gardener, Miller, et
c., which indicates that the ancestors of these persons belonged to those profes
sions.
In feudal society, apart from agriculture, there was development of handicraft i
ndustry. This happened in India too, and the caste system became the Indian vari
ation of the feudal occupational division of labour in society, somewhat like th
e medieval European guild system.
As pointed out by Adam Smith in his book `The Wealth of Nations , division of labo
ur results in great progress. The caste system in India resulted in great develo
pment of the productive forces, and hence in the feudal age it was a progressive
institution (as compared to the preceding slave society).
It is well known that before the coming of the British, India was one of the wor
ld s most prosperous countries (at that time). India was exporting Dacca Muslin, M
urshidabad silk, Kashmir shawls and carpets, ornaments, etc. apart from agricult
ural products like spices, indigo, etc. to the Middle East and even Europe. The
discovery of Roman coins in several parts of South India show the great volume o
f trade from India, which shows the great development of the productive forces i
n feudal India. In fact India was once a super power with a 31.5% share in the g
lobal gross domestic production, which came down to 3% in the year 1991.
The Destruction of Handicraft Industry in India
It is estimated that before the coming of the British into India about 40% of th
e population of India was engaged in industry while the rest of the population w
as engaged in agriculture. This industry was no doubt handicraft industry, and n
ot mill industry. Nevertheless, there was a very high level production of goods
in India by these handicraft industries before the coming of the British, and ma
ny of these goods were exported often up to Europe, the Middle East, China, etc.
e.g. Dacca Muslin, Murshidabad silk, and other kind of textiles, spices etc.
A rough and ready test of the level of the economic development of a country is
to find out how much percentage of the population is engaged in industry, and ho
w much in agriculture. The greater the percentage of population in industry and
lesser in agriculture the more prosperous the country. Thus, the U.S.A., the mos
t prosperous country in the world today has only about 2 or 3% of its population
in agriculture, while the rest is in industry or services.
India was a relatively prosperous country before the coming of the British becau
se a high percentage of the people (which could be up to 40%) was engaged at tha
t time in industry (though no doubt this was handicraft industry, not mill indus
try). Thus, Lord Clive around 1757 (when the battle of Plassey was fought) descr
ibed Murshidabad (which was then the capital of Bengal) as a city more prosperou
s than London, vide `Glimpses of World History by Jawaharlal Nehru (Third Impress
ion p.416, chapter entitled `The Indian Artisan goes to the wall ).
When the British conquered India they introduced the products of their mill indu
stry into India, and exorbitantly raised the export duties on the Indian handicr
aft products. Thereby they practically destroyed the handicraft industry in Indi
a. The result was that by the end of the British rule hardly 10% or even less of
the population of India was still in the handicraft industry, and the rest of t
hose who were earlier engaged in the handicraft industry were made unemployed. I
n this way about 30% of the population of India who were employed in handicraft
industry became unemployed, and were driven to starvation, destitution, beggary
or crime (the thugs and criminal tribes were really these unemployed sections of s
ociety). As an English Governor General wrote in 1834, `the bones of the cotton
weavers are bleaching the plains of India . At the end of the British rule, India,
which was one of the most prosperous countries in the world, became one of the
poorest, unable to feed itself, with industrial development stalled (as the Brit
ish policy was to not permit industrialization of India), low life expectancy an
d very low literacy rate. As Angus Madison, the Cambridge University historian p
oints out, India s share of world income fell from 22.6% in 1700 to 3.8% in 1952.
In this connection it may be noted that in the revenue records in many states in
our country one often finds recorded: A son of B, caste lohar (smith), vocation
agriculture ; or C son of D, caste badhai (carpenter), vocation agriculture , or E son
of F, caste kumhar (potter), vocation agriculture , etc. This indicates that the
ancestors of these persons were in those professions, but later they became unem
ployed (although ostensibly they were shown as agriculturists) as British mill i
ndustry destroyed their handicraft. Some people think that if the British had no
t come into India an indigenous mill industry would have developed in India, bec
ause the high development of handicraft industry leads to capital accumulation w
hich is the pre-requisite for industrialization, and India would have become an
Industrial State by the 19th Century, like North America or Europe, but it is no
t necessary to go into this here, as there is no use crying over spilt milk.
In England and other European countries, too, the handicrafts were destroyed by
the mill products, but the handicraftsmen got employment in the mills, whereas i
n India the British policy was to prevent industrialization of India (see Rajni
Palme Dutt s `India Today ) with the result that the millions of handicraftsmen eith
er starved or became beggars or criminals. The Thugs of India or the `criminal t
ribes were those former handicraftsmen who became unemployed.
Handicraft Industry and Mill Industry
In the feudal period there were no engineering colleges or technical institutes,
and the only way to learn a craft was to sit with one s father from childhood and
learn the craft by seeing how he works, with some tips from him. Thus the fathe
r was not only doing the production work through his craft but also teaching the
craft to his son.
This was totally unlike modern times where the teacher in an engineering college
or technical institute is not a producer engaged in some industry. In other wor
ds, in modern times the vocation of a teacher is separated from the vocation of
a producer, but there was no such separation in the feudal age.
In feudal times one had no choice of one s profession, one had to follow his fathe
r s profession, and thus the son of a carpenter (Badhai) became a carpenter, the s
on of a blacksmith (lohar) became a blacksmith, etc. In this way carpenter, blac
ksmith, potter, etc. all became castes. The same thing happened in Europe too in
feudal times (as mentioned above).
Modern Mill Industry
In the modern industrial age the demand for skilled technical personnel is much
larger than in the feudal age, because the demand of goods is much more (due to
increase in population, etc.). Hence the traditional feudal method of teaching a
craft, in which only a handful of persons, (usually the sons of the handicrafts
man), were taught, no longer sufficed for modern society. Now technical institut
es or engineering colleges have become necessary, where a large number of studen
ts are taught the technical skill. Obviously all these students could not be son
s of the teacher. This destroyed the very basis of the caste system in which one
had no choice in choosing one s vocation and had to follow his father s profession.
The caste system, in which one s vocation is chosen by one s birth, is thus totally
outmoded in the modern age.
Today a boy of the badhai (carpenter) caste comes from the rural areas in India
to a city where he becomes an electrician or motor mechanic or takes up some oth
er vocation. If he gets some education he becomes a clerk or even a doctor, lawy
er, engineer or teacher. He does not usually follow his father s profession, and t
his has largely destroyed the basis of the caste system economically.
The caste system is now being artificially propped up socially by some vested in
terests e.g. vote bank politics, but when the basis of an institution has been d
estroyed (by the advance of technology) how long can that institution survive? T
o my mind the caste system in India will not last for more than ten or twenty ye
ars from now (because its very basis has gone).
A modern mill no longer bothers about the caste of the worker it employs, it onl
y sees his technical skills.
The caste system was a social institution corresponding to handicraft industry.
Now that handicraft industry has largely been replaced by mill industry, the cas
te system has today become totally outmoded, and is hindering our progress. The
sooner it is destroyed the better.
Was the Caste System Bad for India?
Many people think that the caste system did a lot of damage to India. This is un
doubtedly true of modern times. But it must also be said that in the feudal age
the caste system did good to India because it corresponded to the feudal occupat
ional division of labour in society (as pointed out above), which resulted in th
e great development of the productive forces (at that time).
It is a myth that the Scheduled Castes of today were always treated with indigni
ty. In fact upto the coming of British rule, these castes were usually in some h
andicraft vocation and were earning their livelihood from that vocation. It was
only when the British mill industry destroyed their handicraft and they became u
nemployed that they began to be treated with indignity. An unemployed man become
s a poor man, and a poor man is not given respect in society.
For instance, the chamars were at one time a respectable caste because they earn
ed their livelihood by doing leather work. It was only when Bata and other compa
nies destroyed their handicraft (and thereby their livelihood) that they sank in
the social ladder, so much so that today to call a person a chamar is often reg
arded as a word of insult (see the judgment of the Supreme Court in Swaran Singh
& Ors. vs. State through Standing Counsel & Anr. [2008(8) SCC 435, JT 2008(9) S
C 60]).
Similarly, other castes whose handicraft occupations were destroyed by the Briti
sh mill industry also became unemployed and thereby fell in the social order.
How will the Caste System be Destroyed?
To my mind the caste system will be destroyed (and is in fact being destroyed) i
n India by (1) The advance of technology (2) The people s struggles, and (3) Inter
caste marriages.
As regards the advance of technology, it has already been pointed out above that
in modern industrial society the division of labour cannot be on the basis of o
ne s birth but on the basis of technical skills. Hence industrialization destroys
the caste system, and in fact the caste system has become weak in a State like W
est Bengal, which was partially industrialized before most other states.
As regards the people s struggles, these are in fact going on everywhere in view o
f the harsh economic conditions in India (price rise, unemployment, etc.). Peopl
e in India are realizing that united they stand and divided they fall, and caste
is certainly a dividing force.
As regards inter caste marriages, I have stated in my judgment in Lata Singh vs.
State of U.P. [2006(5) SCC 475, JT 2006(6) SC 173], that inter caste marriages
are in the national interest and hence should be encouraged.

How Does The Caste System Impact Indian Behavior ?


As a keen observer of the Indian Caste System in practice,I could not help but o
bserve its undue impact on the mindset and attitudes of every Indian, irrespecti
ve of his religious affiliation.In fact every single move of an average Indian i
s directed by all the all powerful and pervasive Caste System or Caste Spirit(CS
). I have attempted a critical and well-researched study on the impact of Caste
System on the Indian mindset and attitudes.For such a study to be realistic ,fir
st of all,one needs to step out of the system and observe through the eyes of a
foreigner.I am sure that you would agree on such a view, once you read the analy
sis in full. I would urge the readers to consider this study more as an introspe
ctive exercise than as a charge sheet against Caste System .If this study is con
sidered as a charge-sheet,then it may unnecessarily prompt the reader to prepare
a defence. After all,we need to know ,that all said and done Caste System undou
btedly remains as a curse on India, that needs to be mercilessly killed in the i
nterests of the Nation.
Caste System is not about people alone!
Often we think that CS applies only to human beings !Nothing can be far from truth
than this thinking.If you critically analyse Indian life, you will know that th
e tentacles of CASTE SYSTEM extends into every area of human activity in India .
.Eg.The left hand of the body is treated as inferior to the right hand and is us
ed for cleaning ***.Similarly the leg is treated as low as it carries all dirt of
walking etc.Most Indians wash their legs when they return home after going out.A
mong drinks' coffee' is considered as high and tea is considered low .The reason attr
buted is that tea is normally consumed by people who are into physical labour ca
tegory and coffee is taken by thinkers ! What about cars ? Maruti 800 is a low caste
while Dzire will fit into high caste . Among the snacks, some are considered low
and some as high depending on each Site Disabled certain Hindu families the eld
est son is treated like the high caste as against the youngest who is the servan
t caste.Similarly between man and woman, a woman is always the low caste and is
entitled only to what is left after the men in the family have their full. ..Amo
ng the animals dogs are considered low and that is the reason why Indians have t
he minimum number of dogs as pets per household in the entire world .Brahmins ne
ver have any pets . In (Satapatha Brahmana 14:1:1:31) women ,dogs and shudra are e
quated in a verse - And whilst not coming into contact with Sdras and remains of foo
d; for this Gharma is he that shines yonder, and he is excellence, truth, and li
ght; but woman, the Sdra, the dog, and the black bird (the crow), are untruth: he
should not look at these, lest he should mingle excellence and sin, light and d
arkness, truth and untruth. Among cattle the poor buffalo is low caste as its varn
a is black ! Cow is a Brahmin among the cattle.Garden lizards are to be killed as
they are anti-Rama and squirrels are reverential as they helped Rama in building
the bridge to Lanka!So Caste System extends to all areas of activities in India.
Caste Spirit makes one knowledge-proof !
When CS rules ones mind, the person concerned may learn new things but nothing t
hat is inconsistent with the CS enters their mind. So however high one s education
may be, he may acquire just academic knowledge but he continues to remain chang
e -proof when it comes to his opinion or behavior with respect to superstitions,
caste discrimination etc. Indians who are educated in Harvard, when they return
back to India, do not change their behavior in any manner.They continue to prac
tice whatever they they were practising before their overseas exposure.They obse
rve caste while marrying. They do not fight against social injustice or supersti
tions ,as CS still controls their thought process.Space scientists in India who
are capable of sending rockets into the space ,continue to look for auspicious o
mens before launching the rockets ! So CS effectively rules out change in supers
titious culture of the Indian intellectuals,through acquired knowledge. Compare
this with a particular tribes in North Eastern India who used to kill their enem
ies and hang their skulls in their verandahs as a statement of valour.When the C
hristian missionaries who served among them, taught them that it was not correct
,they changed their century old obnoxious practice immediately .How could they c
hange a century old practice? Because they are beyond the control of the powerfu
l CS ! Lying is the mother-tongue of Caste System ! We saw that the spirit of ca
ste ,over rules every thing else in India.It shapes all your opinions and views.
It determines the direction of your decisions as well.Eg. A Painting Competition w
as held in Chennai, in an office for the children of the staff of a PSB.The Pain
tings were first viewed by the public and given marks..A particular Painting P1
came first followed by Painting P2 ,in this viewers rating.The viewers who gave
marks were not aware of who painted P1 and P2. Now a Brahmin Judge comes to fina
lize the award and he quickly gets to check who painted P1 and P2.Unfortunately
P1 is done by a dark Dalit and P2 done by a fair Brahmin ! The moment he comes t
o know this the Spirit Of Caste(SOC) takes over the mind and commands him to com
ply with Caste Dharma .So the Judge tries and finds out some faults in P1 and declares
P2 as the winner of 1st Prize !Here the beauty is that the Judge himself may no
t be aware that SOC has taken him over and that his decision is biased ! So it i
s not correct to blame the Judge for 'injustice' as he is not aware of his preju
dice.A foreigner observing the scene closely can sense it immediately. Often we fi
nd it so exhausting in convincing the Indian intellectuals,on what is patently a
cceptable ,if their accepting that fact can go against the Caste Dharma.The inte
llectuals draw all their argumentative skills to the fullest extent and put down
any argument that militates against the CD.Suppose a Dalit argues that the sun
rises in the East,the response from the intellectuals would be Well,depends on wh
ich direction you are sitting ! .The same argument is put forward by a Brahmin,the
response would be something like this That,of course, is a universal truth! This i
s the reason why Indian intellectuals keep on denying ground realities relating
to untouchability beef ban etc.They may not be aware that they are doing it at all,a
s they are under the spirit of caste.. As a natural consequence of this imperati
ve,one is required to do any thing or pay any price to maintain and uphold the Ca
ste Dharma (CD).That anything includes lying/cheating and that is why lying/cheating i
s so common in India among intellectuals and others.When the intellectuals pract
ice lying/cheating ,others tend to imitate the same.So lies breed lies and soon it be
omes the official language of the Caste Kingdom. Lying becomes an essential part o
f Caste System(CS) as it is an easy way out when the ground realities clash with
the mandated requirements of CS. This is the basic reason for lack of integrit
y among the intellectuals of India.While in foreign countries,it is very common
to find the accused in criminal cases admitting to charges, the accused in India
never admits to his guilt on his own.
Caste System controls Judgment/Justice/Law
Caste System prevails over all individual judgments including all judicial decis
ions.Let me illustrate the hold CS has over judicial judgments with the following
explanation.The western concept of ' justice' implies the following: 1) just 2)
equal 3) neutral 4) impartial 5 )without prejudice 6)fair 7) crime-based The Ind
ian concept of Dharma is concept unknown to the west. Dharma implies the following.1
. Based on one s birth in a caste ,each caste is assigned a duty. The Caste Dharma i
s to do that duty sincerely. If they do not do their assigned duty and try do th
e duty of some other caste it is called Adharma .2. Adharma is punishable under Hindu
law.3.The punishment for any crime committed,as per this dispensation, depends o
n the caste of the criminal and not on the crime . This means for the same crime, dif
ferent punishments are applicable according to the caste of the criminal. For il
lustration, let us assume that X murders Y in England. The punishment for murder
as prescribed in the criminal law of the land will be awarded to X in England i
rrespective of his race or colour.1. But suppose the same X murders Y in India.L
et us see how Dharma works.First of all the caste of X will be ascertained The p
unishment will be as under.a)If X belongs to Brahmin caste ( priestly caste) -Pu
nishment will be very low ,say something like plucking a few hairs from his head
etc.b)If X belongs to Shudra caste(servant caste) punishment will be severe like
capital punishment.The lower the caste, higher is the punishment Hence Caste Dh
arma practically translates into injustice .So Caste Dharma is the opposite of 'Jus
tice .It is not crime-based but person-based.It is unfair,unjust,prejudiced,,parti
al and unequal . Now ,how does the concept of Law fit into Caste System ?
Law & Practice According to the constitution of India, India is a Sovereign, Sec
ular, Democratic Republic.While the de-jure position is amply clear, what is the
de facto position? Is the country secular and democratic as claimed and declare
d? Does rule of law prevail or rule of religion prevail?Let us examine.
Interpretation As A Powerful Weapon!
After completing the longest Constitution in the world,written after studying 70
constitutions , Dr.B.R. Ambedkar, Chair Man of the Drafting Committee, remarked
'If after all these checks and balances,the constitution does not work,well ,le
t us remember that man can be vile..' His expectation regarding the vile nature
of man did materialise, with our legal experts diluting the constitutional provi
sions through' tricky' interpretations.
'No' means 'Yes'!
The word 'secular' played into the hands of our legal experts. Oxford English Di
ctionary authoritatively defines' Secular 'as ' Not connected with religious or
spiritual matters:'' But our Authorities over- ruled the Oxford and defined' Sec
ular' and defined it as 'relating to all religions'. Its like interpreting a cle
ar' No' as sure ' Yes'! This small trick is a great leap for the religious force
s to pierce through the formidable firewalls of the Constitution. Religious forc
es displaced the throne.Result- utter chaos, hatred, harassment of minorities,be
ef on ban etc. To day the nation is at the brink of disaster due to a small tric
k of interpretation.
Collapse Of The Rule Of Law. A series of such tricky interpretations has robbed
the Constitution of its chastity and today the rule of law in India appears to b
e a distant dream. But it does not mean law" does not work in India!What law work
s and what law cannot work in India?
Three Types Of Law In India.
Those who keenly observe India, would have noted that everything in India is sub
ordinate to one Supreme Power. Don t ever think that the Supreme Power is God! Tha
t supreme power is nothing other than the great Caste System! Anything, includin
g law" inconsistent with the Caste System does not work, what ever you do,however
best you try! The opposite is also true. That is ,anything that strengthens the
Caste System works very well even without any law"supporting it or inspite of a
'law' against it!So, in India, these are 3 types of Law, as under:
Type 1: Mandatory law" Which has to be carried out, against all odds. This catego
ry may or may not have legal backing. But it surely works. This category can wor
k against legal law" also.Eg.Government opens a new building.There is no 'law' th
at you should perform a 'pooja' while opening a new building.In fact there is 'l
aw' that says that India is 'secular'.But nothing can deter any one from this ri
tual and no Government scheme is launched without a 'pooja' preceding it! The CS
has a powerful parallel or superseding legal system which is enforced much more
effectively than the constitutional legal system. Recently a kangaroo court in
Uttarpradesh ordered rape of two sisters belonging to Dalit community as a punishm
ent for inter-caste marriage! Imagine the guts with which such sentences are pas
sed in a country which has the longest written constitution in the world.The pee
r enforcement mechanism in such cases is much more effective than the legal enfo
rcement machinery of the Government.
Type 2: Enacted law" which is beneficial to Caste System will be enforced
There are hundreds of laws in our statute book.Not all laws are equally enforced
.But 'laws' which strengthen Caste System is always enforced by the concerned.Eg
.Pollution Control Laws are never enforced against the offenders,as the industri
alists owning the units are always 'upper castes' but a simple phone call from s
ome one prompted a raid on Kerala Bhavan, for allegedly serving 'beef'!
Type 3:Enacted law which is inconsistent or against Caste System.
This' law'can be treated as good as' dead law'.This 'law' dies as soon as it is
born !It cannot be enforced at all even after exhausting all available legal ave
nues.At every level there is stiff resistance against its enforcement.It is very
interesting to know how it works this way. Eg.Let us take a case of an atrocity
committed against a Dalit and he goes to the Police Station to file a complaint
.The Scheduled Castes And The Scheduled Tribes (Prevention Of Atrocities)Act, 19
89 requires the officials to register the complaint promptly and says " 4. Whoev
er, being a public servant but not being a member of a Scheduled for neglect Cas
te or a Scheduled Tribe, wilfully neglects his duties required to be performed o
f duties. by him under this Act, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a ter
m which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to one year." But
practically the complaint is no complaint is registered and more over the Dalit
making the complaint ,is often harassed for making the complaint.At every stage
of the proceedings,the Dalit finds stiff resistance.Suppose he stands firm and
fights his way through till the end,he finds the case dismissed on 'fancy' groun
ds !. In Tamil Nadu ,one dalit adolescent girl was raped,murdered and buried in
the sand in Cuddalore District.Her hands were showing out through the sand and p
eople who saw this ,reported to police.The case was taken up,proceeded and final
ly closed by the Police as a case of 'suicide'!How did the Police believe that a
girl could commit suicide ,then dig a deep pit,then crawl into it and bury herself
into it , showing her hands out? The Caste System made them believe this incred
ible story ! Media s Major Role in Shaping The Caste System
Since media is a major instrument used for maintaining the Caste Dharma,media ca
n ill afford to be true to the happenings around.The media has over a period of
time,developed an inherent tendency to project events in a way that would streng
then the CS in some way or other.Eg.In the 70s ,once a candidate who belonged to
low-caste Dalit (named C. S. Das,if my memory serves me right)secured 8th rank
in the Open List of the All India Civil Services Examination. Now,when media got
wind of this info,they chose to suppress it completely ,as it conflicts with th
e CS propaganda that Dalits have no brains or merit .However,despite their best
efforts,truth did leak out,but not many would know it ! A few years back,when th
e huts belonging to Dalits, in a village down in southern Tamil Nadu were torche
d,the Dalits decided to retaliate, with protests after a day of the incident.A l
eading English national paper published from Chennai ,carried the following head
lines Dalits on the rampage in The last line in the report casually mentioned It may b
e noted that the caste Hindus in the village had torched a few huts belonging to
Dalits two days back .
What one need to understand is that the paper has not published the first incide
nt of torching the huts at all,as it is not press-worthy in its eyes!
Is Exploitation an essential part of Caste System ?
Exploitation is an essential part of CS. The Caste Dharma demands servitude of t
he Shudra Castes and Dalits to the upper castes. So CS justifies exploitation as'
natural and normal'.Eg. When Government instructed Public Sector Banks to provid
e business loans to SCs for their livelihood, some enterprising youngsters avail
ed the facility. Most of such units failed because the upper castes refused to pa
tronize the units. One young Dalit running a Cycle Hire Shop in a village, compl
ained that all upper castes did patronize and were hiring his cycles, but not pa
ying even a paise, for the use! He felt utterly helpless against high caste cust
omers under whom his caste serves. Soon the unit became sick for no fault of his
!But a systematic propaganda that Dalits are not capable of running was let loos
e,to prevent further finance by the Banks!
Caste System,sure Kills Conscience!CS slowly kills conscience. As narrated in th
e fore-going case, if conscience is present, one will not refuse to pay after hi
ring the cycle.Conscience is bound to prick. Few decades back ,a well known musi
c maestro of Tamil Nadu ,donated Rs13 lacs for the renovation work of the famous
Sri Rangam Temple at Sri Rangam. Money was received promptly and used for the r
enovation work.But when the renovation was completed and inauguration was done ,
the donor was not invited, as he is a Dalit ! He is 'untouchable' but his money
is not ! Forgiveness has no place in CS!
CS encourages vengeance for any action against the individual or caste for any a
ction that is perceived as intentional insult against caste. Nothing is accepted
as a possible mistake. So there is no place for forgiveness in the CS and venge
ance is almost a certain consequence for any perceived offence.This spirit of veng
eance can last for even 100 years in some incidents !
What is Gratitute ?
CS defines that 'Dharma' is carrying out one s caste duties without expecting any
recognition or reward ..So there is no space for the quality of Gratitude in the '
Dharma dispensation. Gratitude is nothing but recognizing something good done by some
body to us and feeling thankful to him for it. There is no provision for doing s
omething good to anyone in CS and hence no provision for gratitude also. In othe
r words,CS is good proof ! If some one oversteps and does something good to anyone
, CS does not allow the recipient of the benefit, to thank them.Eg. Prior to the a
dvent of the British rule in India,the CS did not allow any access to education
for the the poor non- Brahmins. But the British decided against such a discrimin
ation and opened the education to all the castes including the Dalits in India. H
ow grateful should every beneficiary feel towards those who made available quali
ty education to all for free ? But even national leaders who studied in English
schools and enjoyed the benefits often speak against Christianity and the Britis
h.Sashi Tharoor went to the extent of claiming reparations for British exploitat
ion of India,in a language that they taught him ! Why ? It is not him to be blam
ed but the CS that ensures that no one feels grateful when they enjoy any benefi
t . Let me share an incident to illustrate this attitude. When I was serving as
a Senior Executive in a PSB, I had to cancel a particular Banquet Meet fixed ,du
e to some unforeseen circumstances.I did not want the lavish dinner I had arrang
ed for the meet to go waste and so invited some poor workers residing in the are
a ,to enjoy the dinner.They all came,sat and silently enjoyed the dinner.When th
ey left NOT A SINGLE SOUL chose to thank me for the gesture of providing the din
ner !They do not know what a thanks mean and why they should thank .I won t blame them
but blame the CS that controls them. Merit according to CS means .. Caste System has
o place for merit as merit is inherently attributed and reserved only to Brahmins wh
o constitute just 5% of the society .By continuous propaganda , all people are m
ade to believe that other castes do not or cannot have merit what ever they do.Thi
s propaganda is so powerful ,even the target group themselves are made to believ
e that they have no brains ! What happens if some news going against this propagan
da leaks out ? Ramar Pillai, a Dalit village scientist from Tamil Nadu,invented
a method of extracting petrol from herbs. Even though he proved the process befo
re scientists of IIT Madras, the entire Indian intellectuals mocked at him and h
umiliated him on grounds of his low caste.Later the same process has got approve
d but not credited to him!Similarly while selecting sports persons ,low caste pe
ople are ignored even if they are excellent performers.Fishermen are excellent s
wimmers but never selected for swimming contests of national or international le
vels,as they winning in international events may add to the nation's pride but t
ilt the CS apple-cart !.
On this issue of merit of Dalits ,I reproduce here under what one anonymous Dalit
has to say, in the Quora Answers forum:
How does it feel to be a Dalit in India ?
Quoras Answer. In fact,being a Dalit in India, is not a problem at all, as long
as one accepts the slot allotted to the Dalits in the prevailing social system.T
his means a Dalit has to willing accept the following with out any kind of resis
tance.1)He should allow the upper caste Hindus(UCH) to freely trample on him wit
hout any reason.2) He should allow them to spit, insult or do anything extremely
atrocious to him.3) He should not aspire to raise in his life.4) He should not
dress well or wear slippers.5) He should not talk back when asked to do somethin
g.6) He should stand with a position of respect in front of them.7) In case he d
oes any creditable thing, he should not claim it.8) Many more such expectations.
What happens if a Dalit chooses to revolt?1) He is suppressed with all possible
power/might at the command of the UCH2) He is side lined and trapped in some mis
conduct or disciplinary proceedings etc.3) If the Dalit is smart and intelligent
,its all the more trouble for him. All people join together and launch a whisper
propaganda against the Dalit.4) Every body joins together to make his life a he
ll of a misery.5) If in a incognito contest a Dalit scores high marks it is redu
ced the moment the identity is known. I secured 142 general rank in a tough All
India Exam competing with 78000 candidates in 1976,the moment they checked my pa
pers,I was put under SC/ST category ! I topped as no 1 in collection of a partic
ular business and the incentive foreign tour due for the achievement was given t
o a totally unconnected UCH !Even my own staff were shocked as my Brahmin Boss d
ecided on this !I often got admitted for 'heart aches' whenever 'injustice'was u
nbearable. This only one example ! I joined as Level 1 direct officer and should
have reached Level 12 in the normal course ,which is like MD, for my merit and
performance.But with the Dalit tag ,I could not cross Level 4 ,at my retirement.
Now I publish my works in US easily than in India. US recognises me because its
a nation of merit.Often I tell my daughters "If your Dad was born in US ,I am su
re he would have been a Bill Gates or like " Thats it. This speaks about how merit
in India fares in 21st century.When India suppresses its merit ,how can it compete
with the world?That is why India(Rank55) lags behind even small countries like
South Korea(Rank 5) in Olympics 2012 Medals tally.We demand level playing field wi
th other countries, while denying the same to our own nationals! Socialising is An
tithesis in Caste System!
' Society' means the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordere
d community . If you apply the ingredients of this concept, I am not quite sure wh
ether a caste- based- society would ever qualify to be called as a society at all.
In the Caste System, the vertical hierarchy of the castes makes it more akin to
a bossing military structure than a fellowshipping society. More over a period o
f time, lot of myth,superstitions, proverbs, adages about each caste have been c
reated intently and floated, to ensure against free interaction among the castes
.A particular caste is ridiculed for being stingy,another for being foolish,anot
her for being crafty etc. This makes free interaction,fellowship,helping each ot
her,working for common good etc as practically impossible.A kind of hatred between
the castes is fuelled by constant back-biting. I would like to share an inciden
t to illustrate how this CS works against helpful socializing.When I was in Chen
nai during the 70 s I used to visit one of my close relatives staying around 20 km
s away.I travel all the way in my car along with my family during the week-ends
just for a social call. On two such occasions, it so happened that the head of t
he house, one old uncle of around 80 years old,fell sick.We were happy that we w
ere there at the right time to help him reach the hospital for treatment. This h
appened two times.We felt happy that we were able to help during two occasions,b
ut the wife of the old uncle did not feel so! She felt that every time we made a
visit, the old man fell sick!What a perverted thinking ! What a world of differ
ence between this perception and our perception of the same incident ! So she st
arted indicating so to some others ,not to us ,that we were sort of bad omen bring
ing sickness every time we visit! How hurting to hear such remarks !Who will go
visit them if they categorize people helping them like this? We also felt bad an
d stopped visiting.The winner is the indomitable Caste Spirit ultimately. Now t
he question is, why are they not able to identify someone who is genuinely helpi
ng them? You cannot but blame the CS only,for this perverted thought.
Common Good or 'Leadership' Has No Space here! Since CS arranges groups of people i
nto castes and the castes are vertically arranged there is no space for any comm
on good.What is good for one caste is always considered as bad for another caste
.This is the reason why people oppose any benefit given to any other castes.For
example,if the government gives 3% reservation for physically challenged,there w
on t be any noise among the communities.But if the Government gives reservation fo
r any particular community or group of communities,there will be lot of noise an
d vociferous protests all around! Every caste wants to ensure that their positio
n in the hierarchy remains intact.This means the lower caste needs to remain lowe
r only and even if they try to move up a little high,there will be lot of resista
nce all around.Each caste is more concerned and bothered about other castes rema
ining as they are and its own members moving up in the ladder. So there is no sp
ace for common good.This is the reason why the common roads are dirty,traffic is
chaotic and any common facility is not taken care of.For example,I will throw a
ll waste on the roads because it is not my caste duty to keep the roads clean! M
y job is to dirty it and their job is to clean it ! Let them come and clean is the g
eneral attitude. Once in my friend s marriage party held in southern Tamil Nadu,th
ere was no low-caste person available to clean the dining tables .Dinner was ser
ved on plantain-leaves and as per prevailing tradition guests are not supposed t
o remove it.My friend did not know what to do as the leaves were piling up.At th
at point of time one hungry beggar came and asked for food.My friend thought tha
t he can use him to clean the tables and give him food and some money,in additio
n.But the beggar promptly refused ,saying I am a --------caste man,I won t do such
work ! My friend quipped , But,you are begging for food ! Is that ok for your -----
-caste ? He would not reply but have the food full! Yes,CS permits any caste to b
eg rather than do work of the lower caste ! So however best we try,CS prevails o
ver our intentions and make us comply with our caste mindset. CS cannot produce
any common leader for all as any leader can only represent the interests of his
caste.This is the reason why India has no national leader of the stature of Abra
ham Lincoln who was willing to sacrifice his life for abolition of slavery.
Caste System Determines All Sensitivities/Priorities !
It is quite interesting to note that the CS holds sway over all the sensitivities o
f Indians. So, it is very common to observe that the average Indian is not' sens
itive' to what all civilized citizens of other nations are 'sensitive' to.Let us
see the list of insensitive and sensitive aspects of an average Indian.
Not Sensitive To
Chaos: For example chaotic traffic does not disturb any Indian.Climbing into the
crowded trains,hanging on train roofs, disorganized religious festivals like Ku
mbh Mela ,chaotic admission procedure in schools, colleges etc. nothing disturbs
him All government procedures for obtaining approvals.are terribly chaotic but
an average Indian takes it well in his stride.. Cleanliness An average Indian is
not disturbed by dirt, filth, gutter water sewage seeping over the streets,pissi
ng in the streets,shitting on railway tracks etc.But he would expect you to remo
ve your foot-wear when you enter his shop for shopping ! QueuesAn average Indian
is not disturbed by jumping of queues and given an opportunity he would also jum
p the queue happily.The reason is Caste Dharma assigns different rights to diffe
rent castes.As such queue violation is a permitted value in the system. An averag
e Indian is not sensitive to work commitment or perfection. He will claim that
' work is worship' and all that but when it comes to practice he will never care
.Recently a electrician in Tamil Nadu working on a power transformer was electro
cuted to death for a minor mistake . That minor mistake was working without wearing ha
nd gloves on a high-voltage transformer! No newspaper ever talks about such a majo
r negligence but disposes off it as his fate .Mind you,he is not an exception;he i
s the rule. Caste System is against any kind of work ethics, as perfection does
not matter at all ,in a CS environment .The job of each caste is assured from th
eir birth and they need not prove their eligibility or skill to do it.Accordingl
y a Brahmin who is suffering from even contagious disease is not ineligible to s
erve as priest in a temple, on account of the disease.Compare this with the Bibl
ical instructions on levitical priest hood which prescribes the following norms
for priest-hood:1)Num8.24 commands, This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five
years old or more shall come to take part in the work at the tent of meeting, bu
t at the age of fifty, they must retire from their regular service and work no l
onger. They may assist their brothers in performing their duties at the tent of
meeting, but they themselves must not do the work. This, then, is how you are to
assign the responsibilities of the Levites. God regulated the priestly office an
d limited the age of priests to 25 to 50 years. Anyone younger or older was not
eligible to serve.2) God held the priests to the most stringent standards of beh
avior and ritual purity (Leviticus 21). Abihu and Nadab were sons of Aaron and t
wo of the first priests. They disobeyed God, however, and were instantly struck
down (Leviticus 10:1 2). Later, the sons of the high priest Eli treated the offerin
g of the Lord with contempt and were also judged (1 Samuel 2:12 17). Since work eth
ics is not considered important,an average Indian worker is never punctual,not s
incere in work,often misleading the customer,having tendency to do certain thing
s stealthily without the customer s consent and not feeling bad if caught red-hand
ed. An average Indian worker does not feel proud about his work or his skills.He
is more concerned about making money somehow. A biscuit manufacturing unit in T
amilnadu had surplus capacity which was leased to a foreign biscuit company for
manufacturing their products.But on one condition that the workers shall wear ha
nd gloves without fail, for reasons of hygiene.The staff union agreed to the con
dition.However random inspections carried out subsequently, proved that the work
ers stealthily removed their gloves during the work, whenever the Supervisors we
re not seen around! Whatever best the management did to prevent this practice fa
iled because of the workers mindset.Why do they do like that ?Who controls their
mindset? You should have known it by this time !
But Sensitive To:The average Indian,however is highly sensitive to the following
. Any type of help done to the poor or needy. Nobody wants any kind of help to be
done to the poor labour category like porters, auto drivers, beggars etc. In Ba
ngalore Cantonment railway station the maximum porterage charges payable to port
ers is fixed at Rs 70/- . I am not aware of any maximum charges on even brokerag
e fixed for real estate deals. But in case of a porter demanding Rs 10 extra an
average Indian fights tooth and nail to avoid giving it. He posts complaints in
social media for that Rs 10 /-extra !An average Indian is not willing to give Rs
10/-per month,for door collection of garbage but will happily give Rs 5000/- fo
r a 10 day summer camp for kids ! To strengthen this attitude of not helping the
'poor' ,lot of superstitions have been floated over the years.One is that 'poor
hate help from the rich.They hate extending their hand for help' This is to pre
vent poor from asking for help.There is another ,for preventing the rich from he
lping."If you help the poor,you will soon become like them !" The most sensitive
area is that of 'caste'. An average Indian can not tolerate any thing except a
ny kind of benefit ,reservation or advantage that is given to a caste other than
his caste.He employs all his arsenal to fight against such a move tooth and nai
l.More than the desire for benefits for his caste,the feeling that the other cas
te should not get anything rules. He is also against any sort of dilution of the
caste system through intercaste marriages. He will go to any extent to defend h
is caste. Any extent means and includes killing of own daughter,son or sister who ge
ts into a intercaste relationship .This he considers as a honour killing to save the
caste system!
Sensitivities Determine Priorities! Our pattern of 'sensitivities' determine our
priorities.For example, suppose in my family the youngest brother is starving e
very day and I have lots of money.If I am sensitive to his suffering ,the first
priority for me will be to provide him food.If I am not sensitive to his sufferi
ng,I can go for a lavish BMW car with the money I have.Does this explain why Ind
ia is going for Space Research when 300 mnof its people are below poverty line ?
.
Is Hatred ,a part of Caste System ? Since the caste system is a vertical arrangeme
nt of various castes,every caste feels superior to the castes which are placed b
elow them and inferior to the castes which are placed above them . So none of th
e castes except the highest that is ,Brahmins feel adequate and full.The lowest
in the ladder, that is the Dalits feels the most crushed and rejected by every b
ody .They are made to feel that they are zero in the system. One common thread t
hat seems to run through the entire CasteSystem is the utter contempt for the lo
wer castes and high respect for the higher castes In practice,however this trans
lates into a vein of hatred running through entire line of hierarchy. Due to this
feeling of hatred the Hindus are not sensitive to the suffering of the other cas
tes ,though they are part of their own religion.Sometimes,they may become be sen
sitive even to the suffering of people in different countries. The Government of
India ,once raised funds for Nelson Mandela to fight against Apartheid in Afric
a, while 300 million Indians are still suffering under the curse of untouchablli
ty right on is own soil! This inbuilt hatred in CS works against creating the feel
ing of one nation .
CS Sure Breeds Inferiority Complex
At the cost of repetition,let me tell that the caste system is a vertical arrang
ement of various castes. Every caste feels superior to the castes which are plac
ed below them and inferior to the castes which are placed above them . So none o
f the castes except the highest that is ,Brahmins feel adequate and full. The lo
west in the ladder, that is the Dalits feels the most crushed and rejected by ev
ery body .They are made to feel that they are zero in the system.Overall,every c
aste suffer from a strong feeling of inferiority complex s an essential part of CS
mindset. Compare this position with the poor in Africa. Even the darkest African
s or Afro-Americans always feel proud about themselves.
CS and Communication CS affects effective 'communication' as such, as each cas
te perceives any issue or problems with its own eyes. In other words what is a p
roblem for one caste need not a problem for another caste. Some times what is ba
d for one caste may even be a source of joy for another caste.This prevents leve
l communication between two different castes. CS prevents free communication due
to clash of interests .This is the reason for the foreigners feeling that Indian
s do not mean what they speak!
CS and Suffering Of Others/Helping Unknown People
The treatment of each caste in a CS depends on the position they occupy in the h
ierarchy .As per the position the degree of respect or contempt for the caste co
ncerned is decided .The higher the caste the higher the respect and the lower th
e caste higher is the contempt .Accordingly a low caste person is treated lower
than even animals.While the animals are permitted to pass through the streets or
the higher caste ,the lower caste Dalits are not permitted to pass through the
same streets,As a consequence of this ,any kind of suffering undergone by the Da
lits are simply not visible to the eyes of the upper caste ..As this attitude ge
ts embedded in the Hindu mind set ,they simply ignore victims of accidents or th
ose who are in a SOS situation.The person affected does not mind about this indi
fference of others who is suffering ,as he is conditioned not to expect any help
from anyone.This is the main reason why bleeding accident victims in India are
not helped by anyone passing by.They may give different reasons for their apathy
,as they themselves may not be aware of these real reasons.
How does CS impact Depression/Anger /Anxiety ? Caste system nurtures negative fe
elings like depression anger ,anxiety,etc in every one.The' lower castes' always l
ive under a feeling of threat despite having intelligence,etc .The higher castes w
ho are the rulers never recognize the merit of the lower classes.As a consequenc
e, these people suffer from constant anger,anxiety ,nervousness and related heal
th problemsl.They are not sure of their future or even the next moment.
CS and Cheating Since CS does not accept ground realities which clash with the C
aste Dharma,it has either to put it down through lies or through cheating.Many o
f the religious literature carry stories of vile cheating, tricks etc employed t
o save the CS from destruction.Hence cheating becomes an accepted and essential
part of maintaining the Caste Dharma.
CS and Personal Grooming CS does not attach any importance to presentation,perso
nality,looks etc which are required for executive jobs in other cultures.A Brahm
in is considerd as belonging to a high caste even if he is half clad without any
upper garment or in whatever look he wants.Similarly a person belonging to a lo
w caste is considered as low even if he is smartly dressed in a coat and suit an
d well groomed.Consequently personal grooming in a caste society does not matter
at all. all.Even public leaders are casually dressed and their personal looks a
re hardly given attention to.The only well dressed Indian political leader happe
ns to be a Dalit,Dr.B.R.Ambedkar,always dressed right.Even ,a famous cine-actor,
known for his style , appears in public meetings dressed in surprisingly inappropri
ate attire.In fact earlier before the advent of globalization in India,many Indi
ans would not have had regular haircuts.More over certain communities believe in
having tied up hair than a smart haircut as a part of their caste requirement.S
o when compared to even the poorest African countries,Indians do not attach any
importance to looks and personal grooming.Married women moreover are not expecte
d to make-up for fear of attracting other men.
CS and Helping Unknown People/HumanityWe have already seen how CS is totally ins
ensitive to the suffering of the people of lower castes of the same religion.Whe
n the upper caste are so insensitive to the suffering of their own people,how wi
ll they react to the suffering of unknown people or the humanity.Their mindset i
s built against helping people.This is a reason why so much food is wasted in In
dia when millions of people go hungry everyday.
Let Us Join Hands And Kill This Monster!
Before I conclude this long study,let me admit that I have not covered the impac
t of Caste System on some more areas like hypocrisy,lust etc ,for want of space.
Having known about the ill effects of Caste System over the mindset and attitud
es of every Indian,I feel ,I need not emphasize the need to destroy the evil mon
ster in the interests of the nation.
The first step towards that can be taken by the Government of India and the Stat
e Governments.They can create a new category of casteless people in India called
Free Category(FEC) and encourage people belonging to any caste to renounce their
caste and be called the" Free Category category.Government can consider reserving
20% of all the Government/public sector/private sector vacancies to this newly
created category.The reservation percentage may be reviewed later and increased
if necessary.This reservation can be in addition to the stipulated maximum perce
ntage of 50% for reservations.Apart from this Government can also encourage inte
rcaste marriages whose offsprings can be categorized under Free Category category.
All educational institutions should make available this option of declaration as
Free Category" while admitting students. Media should be barred from highlighting
caste based activities and news.Caste references should be dropped in films,ser
ials and talks and people encouraged to drop their caste surnames with incentive
s.
As building up this rigid caste system took around 3000 years,b
reaking it down may also make take sometime.Neverthless the first step needs to
be taken so that the country moves forward to become a super power in reality.Af
ter all Caste System is nothing but celebration of division and hatred and not u
nity and growth !

What is caste system?


Caste System of today is a corruption of the real Varna system, which used to be
talent based and not handed over from father to son, but, from teacher to stude
nt.
It went as follows:
A student, whose role in the society in the future is not yet known is sent to G
urkul before Puberty , to pursue education and gain skill. After some years , th
e teachers , who have taught him/her would decide whether the person would do co
mmerce (vaishya), be a part of governance and implementing law, order and defenc
e (Kshatriya), become a knowledge resource or researcher/scientist ( Brahman ) o
r would contribute to maintaining hygiene, production of food and other relative
ly low skill job workmanship ( Shudras ).
This decision would be based on the interest, talent and observation throughout
years of primary teaching and on some ancient Indian techniques like pouring mer
cury on a U shaped hand of the student and then understanding the flow to get a
picture of a students mental aptitude. ( I have read about this ,but, haven't fo
und a reference any where else)
It would also be based on the teachers observation of the character of the stude
nt. A treacherous or a weak character for e.g. would never be put in a Varna whe
re in future he/she could hold a seat of power or influence.
Somewhere down the line, the common Human trait of possession and passing on eve
rything you have as a heredity coupled with the fact that as is the environment
in the house, so tend to be the kids. For e.g. a Doctor's kid becomes doctor and
so on, this system became hereditary.
Later on, this developed in to identity for the whole communities.
What is the problem?
People from the upper castes saw this opportunity to hold to power in society pe
rmanently for themselves and future generations . This meant 1. Oppression and d
iscrimination against the lower castes
2. Lesser skilled people in the wrong profession at the top.
3. Some treacherous and weak characters at influential positions.
This led to the corruption of the whole society and the system

Answers to this question are generally 'cute' which ask me the question - Am I l
iving in the same India they are living in ? So, let me put some blatant roadsid
e reality in perspective.

My answer to a similar question What is the history of the caste system in South
Asia? is copied below:
There has been a greater debate on what encapsulated what or what initiated
what. After long considerations, most historians accede to an accepted noti
on that Varna encapsulated Jati.
The term caste(root meaning 'pure') is of European origin and both Varna and Jat
i reflect a different history and etymology. They, themselves can not be clubbed
together as one and they are different terms. Neither Jati developed into Varna
nor vice versa. Varna was imposed on a society that was familiar with the notio
n of Jati.
The various Jatis and groups were allotted Varna status to keep the social or
dering intact. The statuses were provided according to the politics and socia
l scenarios. Since, allotting a higher status meant sharing resources, most o
f the groups were allotted with a Shudra status. The lower status was also pr
ovided to continue the availability of labour.
The members of a same group, the Abhiras were given diferrent Varna status - Bra
hman or Shudra.
A striking example is of Lingayat caste in the peninsula. It grew out of a
religious sect but included as a Jati and provided a Varna status.
Varna:
The evolution of the idea of Varna can be found in the Vedic corpus. Since Rigve
da is the earliest literary source, it came to be seen as the genesis of the Var
na system.
The Vedas reflect a Brahmanical view of caste and maintain that Varnas were crea
ted on a particular occasion and remained virtually unchanged since then. The
original text describes a primeval sacrifice and emergence of four groups: B
rahmins (ritual priests), Kshatrias (Warrior aristocrats), Vaishyas(Pastoralist,
cultivator, trader) and Shudra(those who labor for others). The fifth part mell
echas(the 'untouchables') were clans who refused to accept Vedic Brahmanism and
its social ordering. They continued being hunter-gatherers and pastoralists and
formed their own clan societies.
The initial view of Vedas came from Aryan speakers who migrated to South A
sia. A group among them claimed a ritual status and called themselves Brahmins.
The priests held the ritual a authority to legitimize kings and kingdoms.
They were a medium between gods and men which stamped their higher status. Th
ey claimed themselves the purest. The wheels started churning to re-organize
social groups.For a society to become caste based society there has to be thr
ee preconditions. All these three were satisfied with Varna.
1. The society must register social disparities.
2. There has to be unequal access to resources for various groups, maybe on the
basis of perceived qualities or traits.
3. The inequalities should be legitimised through a theoretically irrevers
ible hierarchy and imposition of that hierarchy must be claimed on a supernat
ural authority.
Jati:
The origin of Jatis, on the other hand can be traced back to clans and tribes
in neolithic societies. They were not mentioned until later sections of the
corpus, they don't constitute a development by the Indo- Aryan speakers. The
basic occupations of such clans could be counted on fingers: it was huntin
g and gathering, and later pastoralism and agriculture. A clan could be divid
ed in what one does and it was the initial functioning of occupational division
s. The work and relations were based on kinship and it was not attached to bi
rth. Later, in Ind-Aryan texts(written after the Vedic corpus), the term Jati
(root meaning 'birth') was attached to occupational systems to give it a status
attached to birth.The initial system of Jati was completely different from what
the society offered in modern times.
Coming back to the original question, it is in trend nowadays to mix Jati wit
h Varna, with the former superseding the latter. It solves two major purposes:
1. It still maintains the hierarchy claiming that the Varna was actually chose
n by you, not the other way around. It gives people a reason to follow the hie
rarchy thereby maintaining Varna and its yield.
2. It saves Hinduism/Brahmanism from one of the worst forms of human oppressio
n in human history. Americans are ashamed for their acts of slavery, Germans a
re shameful for their acts during the WW2, Indians were always perfect.

The claim that it helped people in recognizing others is ludicrous at best.


Historical India had no signboards to tell you who lived in that hut. The advent
of Varna was in the period of the Rigveda. In those times, humans were mainly h
unter-gatherers, farmers and pastoralists, and business was off-course very ba
sic. The clans and villages were so small that finding someone was not a matte
r of great concern. Anyways, Jati was enough to recognize profession. Varna wa
s not needed. The only justification of Varna was to segregate people, conce
ntrate resources in limited hands, provide continuous labor, and maintain the
Brahman authority to ritual.
Attaching profession to even Jati was an imprudent idea. Initially, when the
choices of profession were countable on fingers, it could solve some trivial
purpose. Afterwards, when human society advanced, it blocked people from adopt
ing any profession other than their father's. It produced a society where even
knowledge was concentrated in a few hands, with others not allowed to even re
ad. Moreover, it gave people a reason to oppress others as a matter of followi
ng a divine duty.
We can find profession based surnames everywhere in the world. Surnames such as
Butcher and Carpenter are easily found in England. It is in India that we attac
hed purity to profession in the name of Varna and formed a stringent system that
took away people's rights. We messed up with whole system and are still clingi
ng on to find some validity in it. A sorry state it is.
I suggest you read Jotirao Phule's essay Caste Laws.
In that essay Jotirao Phule is saying that Brahmins were not the aborigines of I
ndia. These Aryans came to India not with the peaceful intensions of colonisatio
n, but as conquerors. The actual aborigines who they displaced, were brave peopl
e who showed great resistance to these Aryans, thus causing great hatred towards
them by the Aryans. Aryans designated hateful terms to the aborigines like Sudr
as, Mahari etc which show their dislike towards them. They established themselve
s as supereme and thus formed the caste system to keep the aborigines under thei
r control.
Few extracts from the essay :
"The highest rights, the highest privileges and gifts, and everything that would
make the life of a Brahmin easy, smooth going and happy- everything that would
conserve or flatter their self-pride,- were specially inculcated and enjoined, w
hereas the Sudras were regarded with supreme hatred and contempt, and commonest
rights of humanity were denied to them."
Here he is citing few instances in which Brahmins established their supremacy.-
Never shall the King slay a Brahmin, though he has committed all possible crimes
.
To save the life of Brahmin any falsehood may be told. There is no sin in it.
A king, though dying with want, must not receive any tax from a Brahmin, nor suf
fer him to be afflicted with hunger or the whole kingdom will be afflicted with
famine.
No superfluous accumulation of wealth shall be made by a Sudra, even though he h
as the power to make it, since the servile man who has amassed riches becomes pr
oud, and by his insolence or neglect he gives pain even to Brahmins.
"Their main object in fabricating these falsehoods was to dupe the minds of the
ignorant and to rivet firmly on them the chains of perpetual bondage and slavery
which their selfishness and cunning had forged."
"The severity of the laws as affecting the Sudras, and the intense hatred with w
hich they were regarded by the Brahmins can be explained on no other supposition
but that there was, originally between the two, a deadly feud, arising from the
advent of the latter into this land.."
Sudras were denied the basic of rights. The slavery to which the Sudras were red
uced was not merely physical but also mental subjugation, the minds if the Sudra
s were enslaved. If you read Deliverance by Premchand you would see that the Sud
ras had accepted that they were untouchables who had been born to serve the high
er class. They were not able to release their minds from the state of servitude
and were mentally bound to the cruel and inhuman laws to which they were always
subjected.
It was only after they were educated they were freed from such inhuman shackles.

Hi guys, I m late but I wanted to add my input in on this and I wanted to add some
more caste information that many Indians aren't aware of.
The caste system in India is a very ancient form of social stratification that e
volved in Vedic Times, gained more complexity in the Ancient Era and faced addit
ions during Muslim Rule. Since everyone has drained the Hindu Caste System I wan
ted to discuss the Muslim Version of this system and what it means.
Many people are not aware of this but, a caste system does exist among Muslims f
rom South Asia as it does with Hindus. However, the Muslim variant of caste come
s in direct violation of Islam s view as everyone is an equal. The system arose in
the Early Delhi Sultanates as a court adviser suggested a system that parallele
d that of the Hindus that lived in India. The Hindu caste system is based on occ
upation while the Muslim caste system is based on ancestry.
The system goes like this:
Ashrafs (Foreigners who came to India and assimilated):
Syeds- People from the Arabian Peninsula who claim descent from The Prophet Muha
mmad (S.A.W). These people arrived during the conquest of Sindh, trade in Kerala
and the Konkan and Ummayad expansion into Multan.
Sheikhs- People from Arabia, who arrived during the first few successive Delhi S
ultanates as well as the era before Indian Muslim Empires, by trade, conquest or
missionary quests to several regions of the Subcontinent. Hindu Brahmin convert
s automatically became Sheikh.
Mughals- People from Central Asia and Persia. These people came during the Mugha
l Dynasty, and an earlier group arrived during one of the Dehli Sultanates, furt
hermore a southern group from the Deccan arrived pre-Mughal era to form the Bahm
ani and Deccan Sultanates.
Pathans- People from Afghanistan and Pakistan who arrived during the Ghaznawi in
vasions, Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire.
Ajlafs (All other converts)
Arzals: Muslim Dalits and No Caste (Caste Renouncers).
Migration and Life after Migration:
A Map of the Migrations looks like this:

The following map depicts the migrations by the Ashrafs (Upper Castes) and their
areas of origin and settlement.
The Ashrafs who migrated to areas like Bengal, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Sind
h etc. assimilated into the local cultures by adopting customs, language, food a
nd clothing of the Hindus and Newly Converted Muslims. Over a few generations As
hrafs married Hindu Brahmin and Kshatriya women; the Syeds and Sheikhs preferred
to marry convert Brahmins and the Mughals and Pathans married Kshatriya Women.
Since the Ashrafs were not Sufis and orginally converted in the early era of Isl
am when the Ummayads and Abbasids exited they practiced Islam in a more orthodox
way. The Syeds and Sheikhs were the heads of the religious community much like
the Brahmins while the Mughals and Pathans were soliders, and kings much like th
e Kshatriyas.
The Ajlafs were the Sudras and Vaishyas of the Hindu Caste System who remained b
elow the Ashrafs because they lacked the foreign ancestry needed to be an upper
caste Indian Muslim. Their conversion was mostly through the Sufis who swept the
Indo-Gangetic Plain. They maintained their laborious and artisan occupations an
d never got the chance to rise up to parallel the Ashrafs.
The Arzals held on to their culture like the Ashrafs and Ajlafs and converted mo
stly because of the Sufis and the alternative to caste (unfortunately, they coul
dn't escape caste). They remained in their occupations and never rose any higher
than what they were before conversion.
Comparing Hindu and Muslim Castes:
The lines are drawn in a way that shows how parallel the castes are to each othe
r in Hinduism and Islam in India.
But wait .
Just like Hindu castes Muslim Castes don t end here:
There are sub castes, which like Hindu Castes are like Jatis (Ethnicity and Clan
).
Ashrafs:
Syeds: Thangal (Kerala); Harnai (Balochistan); Hassani, Husseini (Punjab); Rizvi
, Naqvi (UP); Dawans (Assam)
Sheikhs: Quraishi, Hashmi, Siddiqui, Farooqi, Usmani, Ansari (Common to all Ethn
icties);Khatris, Qanungoh, Khawajam Rajputs and Saraswat Brahmin
Mughals: Subdivsions over land of ancestry (Bukhari, Samarkhandi etc.)
Pathans: Nasli and Diwani
The Ajlafs and Arzals are still divided in sub-castes from before conversion.
Just like Hindu last names Muslim last names are often derived by caste:
Upper Caste (Ashraf): Quraishi, Hashmi, Siddiqui, Farooqi, Usmani, Ansari, Mirza
, Baig, Khan, Yousufzai, Shah, Naqvi, Rizvi, Syedar, Zamindara etc.
Many people often overlook caste system as one for Hindus only, but Muslims and
other South Asian communities use caste as well. It s something that is embedded i
nto the Subcontinent, even other communities and groups that migrated to India e
mbraced caste.

In Hindu Mythology people were divided on the basis of the kind of work they do.
They were divided into four classes or varnas.
1)Brahmins : scholars , teachers etc (Their job is to attain and spread knowledg
e)
2)Kshtariyas : rulers, kings , emperors etc ( Their job is to rule)
3) Vaishyas : farmers (Their job is cultivation & trade)
4) Shudras : Guys who dont fall under above three (Their job is to serve the oth
er three classes)
If you felt Shudras were the lowest category here , you can't be more wrong as t
here are different set of people who are not even part of these classes and cons
idered untouchables. (Dalit & Adivasi)
Now each of these classes are further divided into subgroups based on different
criteria. For example brahmins are divided based on their gotra. Now one gothra
might be considered above others and only they might be entrusted with jobs like
priests. So again within each of these classes there might be discrimination ba
sed on different aspects.
In ancient India though these are the classes defined , teh system wasn't rigid.
That means a person born in a class can choose to be part of other class. For e
xample Valmiki was a shudra by birth but became a maharshi and authored Ramayana
, to become a Brahmin.
It is only during British regime and their divide and rule policy that the syste
m became rigid and made out to be such a huge issue. However during their rule t
he caste feeling got inculcated in lot of Indians.
After Independence , while putting together a constitution the people involved d
iscussed various ways of coming up with a system to have equal rights for all ci
tizens irrespective of their caste. But there were sections of people who were t
raditionally treated in a very bad way like dalit's and aadivashi's , so giving
equal rights may not be good enough for people like them. At this point citizens
of India were divided into three categories ,
1)Forward Castes
2)Backward Castes
3)Scheduled Castes and Tribes
Based on the history, government of India tried to undo the discrepancy that was
shown to certain classes of people. They introduced maximum reservation for SC'
s and ST's and small reservations for BC's in various goverments jobs and colleg
es thereby giving them a chance to develop themselves. Also other religions like
Muslims , Christians are added to one of these three categories based on variou
s factors.
However after 67 years of Independence , India is still caught up with caste sys
tem though no one would like to agree. It improved to certain extent that there
are no untouchables (i.e. to say physically). But there are still people who loo
k down on lower caste people and treat them as untouchables mentally. Though the
y would let people to be friends with a person from different caste, most of the
parents are not willing to get their child into a marriage with a person of dif
ferent caste. That's the reason for honor killings we see in Newspapers these da
ys.
Though most of the educated youth are moving away from this approach and gettin
g into inter caste and inter religion marriages, we are still not at a stage whe
re we can say that the caste system disappeared.
Though we have rapid industrialization and economic growth in our country , it i
s just helping rich get richer and poor get poorer. This is because the benefits
are not shared equally. For example the reservations for lower castes is being
availed by only certain sections who already became rich by using those reservat
ions before. Economic stature of the lower caste's is not being taken into consi
deration while providing reservation. They have tried to do it with BC's , where
they have divided them into creamy and non creamy and non creamy where BC's wit
h good economic status are part of creamy layer and cant avail reservation. But
when it comes to SC's and ST's no government can dare to do it because of the vo
te bank politics.
The caste system prevails in India. Its sad but true.
Sorry for my long answer.
Source : Caste system in India

The following is an extract from the book "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramhans


a Yogananda.
The origin of the caste system, formulated by the great legislator Manu, was adm
irable. He saw clearly that men are distinguished by natural evolution into four
great classes:
those capable of offering service to society through their bodily labor (SUDRAS)
;
those who serve through mentality, skill, agriculture, trade, commerce, business
life in general (VAISYAS);
those whose talents are administrative, executive, and protective-rulers and war
riors (KSHATRIYAS);
those of contemplative nature, spiritually inspired and inspiring (BRAHMINS).
Neither birth nor sacraments nor study nor ancestry can decide whether a person i
s twice-born (i.e., a BRAHMIN);
the MAHABHARATA declares, character and conduct only can decide.
Manu instructed society to show respect to its members insofar as they possessed
wisdom, virtue, age, kinship or, lastly, wealth. Riches in Vedic India were alw
ays despised if they were hoarded or unavailable for charitable purposes. Ungene
rous men of great wealth were assigned a low rank in society. Serious evils aros
e when the caste system became hardened through the centuries into a hereditary
halter.

Lets try to understand caste-system from the point of view of Vedas.There is no


caste-system in Vedas. Vedas contain no word that can be considered as Synonym f
or Caste. Caste, Jaati & Varna are three different words. Today people have mist
aken Varnas for caste and treat them as identical.
It is unfortunate that where Vedas were foundation of our culture, we forgot the
ir original lessons and got trapped into misconceptions regarding Birth-Based ca
ste system and discrimination. It is difficult to trace out when the caste syste
m entered into the life of Hindus and how and why there occurred confusion betwe
en the Varna System and the caste creation. caste as a system began to be rigidl
y adhered to during the Islamic Invasions and their rule of torture leading to c
onversion. It may probably be the 10th century. There never existed any rigid ob
servation of the system that separated one from the other. Even the food prepare
d by the low caste people was consumed by all caste peoples regardless of any re
servation
[A] Jaati & Varnas
1. Jaati
It means classification based on origion.
Samaanaprasavaatmika Jaatih from Nyaya sutra means those having similar birth sour
ce form a Jaati.
A particular Jaati will have similar physical characteristics.
It can t change from one to another & can t cross-breed.
We get information from the Padma Purana that there are 8.4 million species of l
ife which are divided into six groups, namely acquatics, trees, insects, birds,
animals and humans. So all human beings including Brahmans, Kshatriya, Vaishya,
Shudra form a Jaati.
2. Varna
Varna means that is adopted by choice & Jaati is given by God.
The intermixing among castes was as liberal as it made the cross-over an easy-go
.
The caste changes were very easy in the process & was based on complete freedom
of choice.
[B] Four Varnas as per Vedas.
Brahmin-the seers, the reflective ones, the priests.
He is called a Brahmana in whom are truth, gifts, abstention from injury to othe
rs, compassion, shame, benevolence and penance.
They possessthe attribute of Goodness (Sattwa)
The intellectual and spiritual leaders.
In our society, they would correspond to the philosophers, religious leaders, an
d teachers.
Kshatriyas- the born administrators (formerly nobles, rajahs, and warriors).
He who is engaged in the profession of battle, who studies the Vedas, who makes
gifts (to Brahmanas) and takes wealth (from those he protects) is called a Kshat
riya.
They had the attribute of Passion (Rajas).
The protectors of society.
In our society, the politicians, police, and the military.
Vaisyas-the producers, the craftsmen, artisans, farmers.
He who earns fame from keep of cattle, who is employed in agriculture and the me
ans of acquiring wealth, who is pure in behaviour and attends to the study of th
e Vedas, is called a Vaisya.
They got a mixture of the two, i.e., both goodness and passion (Sattwa and Rajas
);
The skillful producers of material things.
In our society, the merchants.
Shudras-the unskilled laborers or laboring class.
He who takes pleasure in eating every kind of food, who is engaged in doing ever
y kind of work, who is impure in behaviour, who does not study the Vedas, and wh
ose conduct is unclean, is said to be a Sudra.
They got the attribute of Darkness (Tamas).
The followers or the maintenance people.
The so-called menial workers or hard laborers.
[C] Analysis of Purush sukta
It is misinterpreted from Purush sukta that Brahmans are created from mouth, Ksh
atriya from hands, Vaishya from thighs & Shudras from Legs. Lets see how.
God is formless & shapeless as per Yajurveda (40.8) then how can he take shape a
nd originate humans from his body parts?
It contradicts law of Karma which says that we can change our destiny by our act
ions. So one born as shudra can became king in next birth. But if shudras are bo
rn from feets of God then can he take birth from hands of God?
Soul is eternal and it has chance to opt for Varna when it takes birth as Human.
If we assume that God has body then also it is technically impossible that soul
is taking birth from God.
So actual meaning of Yajurved mantra 31.10 from Purusha sukta means that In socie
ty, Brahmans forms the Brain/Head/Mouth that thinks or speaks, Kshatriya forms t
he hands that protects, Vaishya forms the thighs that support & nurture & Shudra
forms the legs that lays the foundation
Even the Brahmans texts, Manusmriti, Mahabharata, Ramayana & Bhagwat don t state a
nything even close to such hypothesis where God created different Varnas from hi
s body parts.
It is obvious that why Brahmans are given high respect in Vedas. Scholars & expe
rts get our respect in modern society too however dignity of labor is equally em
phasized in Vedas.
[D] How can anybody adopt his Varna ?
Brahmana can become a Shudra, a Shudra can become a Brahmana, a Kshatriya can be
come a Brahmana or a Vaishya, and so on.
A Brahmana is no Brahmana if he is not endowed with purity and good character, o
r if he leads a life of frivolity and immorality. However, a Shudra is a Brahman
a if he leads a virtuous and pious life. Varna or caste is a question of charact
er. Varna is not the color of the skin, but the color of one s character and quali
ty. Conduct and character is what matters and not lineage alone
When a pious nature and pious deeds are noticeable in even a Sudra, he should be
held superior to a person of the three regenerate classes. Neither birth, nor t
he purificatory rites, nor learning, nor offspring, can be regarded as grounds f
or conferring upon one the regenerate status. Verily conduct is the only ground.
Everyone is born shudra as per Vedas. Then based on his education he becomes Bra
hman, Kshatriya or Vaishya.The completion of education is considered as second b
irth. So these three Varnas are called Dwija or twice-born.But those who remain un
educated because of any reason are not discarded from society but continue as sh
udra and perform support activities.
If son of Brahmin doesnot completes his education then became a shudra & similar
ly son of shudra can became Brahmin, Kshatriya or Vaishya as per his education.
Lets see examples.
1. Lower to upper castes
Aitareya Rishi was son of a Daasa or criminal but became a Brahmin of highest or
der and wrote Aitareya Brahman and Aitareyopanishad.
Ailush Rishi was son of a Daasi, gambler and of low character. However he resear
ched on Rigveda and made several discoveries. Not only was he invited by Rishis
but also made an Acharya.
Satyakaam Jaabaal was son of a prostitute but became a Brahmin.
Matanga was son of Chandal but became a Brahmin.
As per Bhagvat, Agniveshya became Brahmin though born to a king.
Rathotar born in Kshatriya family became a Brahmin as per Vishnu Puran and Bhagv
at.
Haarit became Brahmin though born to Kshatriya.
2. Upper to lower castes
Nabhag, soon of King Nedishtha became Vaishya. Many of his sons again became Ksh
atriya.
Raavan was born from Pulatsya Rishi but became a Rakshas
Pravriddha was son of Raghu King but became a Rakshas.
Trishanku was a king but became a Chandal
3. Multiple changes
Son of Vishwamitra became Shudra. Vishwamitra himself was a Kshatriya who later
became a Brahmin
Prishadh was son of King Daksha but became a Shudra. Further he did Tapasya to a
chieve salvation after repenting.Had Tapasya been banned for Shudra as per the f
ake story from Uttar Ramayan, how could Prishadh do so?
Dhrist was son of Nabhag (Vaishya) but became Brahmin and his son became Kshatri
ya.Further in his generation, some became Brahmin again.
Shaunak became Brahmin though born in Kshatriya family. In fact, as per Vayu Pur
an, Vishnu Puran and Harivansh Puran, sons of Shaunak Rishi belonged to all four
Varnas.
The word Shudra has come in Vedas around 20 times. Nowhere has it been used in a d
erogatory manner. Nowhere it mentions that Shudras are untouchable, birth-based,
disallowed from study of Vedas, lesser in status than other Varnas, disallowed
in Yajnas. The Rishis like Vasisth, Vishwamitra, Angira, Gautam, Vaamdeva and Ka
nva exhibited traits of all the four Varnas
[E] Conclusion
It is therefore to be concluded that humanity is essentially one, but distinctio
ns of caste have been made according to a person s qualities and work [mentality a
nd consciousness]. As far as general behavior is concerned, the entire human rac
e is one. So we have seen that there is no element of birth-based discrimination
of any manner in the Vedas and everybody had full freedom to choice the Varna a
s per his qualifications so lets we all unite together as one single family, emb
race each other as brothers and sisters following the scriptures which says whol
e universe is a family Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam & reject the last element of birth-base
d discrimination of any manner.
SOURCE-
Caste System in Hinduism by Dr. R. K. Lahri
Caste System
Vedic Literature Says Caste by Birth is Unjust
India's Caste System - dummies
Hinduism and Caste System
The reality of caste system - 1
Vedic Caste System | Caste System of Ancient India - Important India
Caste Hierarchy And Discrimination
Not Sanctioned By The Vedas

This problem has arised due to misinterpretation of Varna system.Varna system is


subdivided by British into 3000 castes as per their divide and rule policy of B
ritish.They conducted census based on caste for the first time and they din t know
which caste to be placed in which respective varna and so created many castes a
s many as 3000.
First let us understand what Hinduism is.Understanding what actually is Hinduism
solves the problem. Sanathana Dharma is the actual name of Hinduism, what we ar
e calling no-a-days. Dharma is not what we are just what we are seeing in Hindui
sm. Aim of every Hindu is to attain MOKSHA- ABSOLUTE REALITY/TRUTH. It is nothin
g but reliving from continuous rebirths and deaths.We have 4 paths to attain Mok
sha.
1.Gnana yoga(path),
2. Raja Yoga(path),
3.Karma yoga(path),
4. Bhakti yoga(path).
Each has its own importance. For simple understanding we can compare all of them
to our schooling system. First level is the highest level of it. Last one is ea
siest ofall.It is the choice of individual to select one yoga to attain Moksha b
ased on their own capabilities. Gnana(means wisdom)yoga constitutes the vedas, U
panishats(Vedanta -part of Vedas). Raja yoga is simpler level which constitutes
Meditation(Upasana), Patanjali Yoga sutras(modern day exercise yoga).Karma (mean
s action) yoga is that you have to perform Karma as a contribution to society wh
ich is selfless. Bhagavadgita gives 4 Varnas in our society-Brahmin(learnt, prof
essors,administrative advisers,priests). Kshatriya(politicians/warriors). Vishya
s(business people). Sudras(servers). This can be compared to a cashless communis
t society but with class system. These classes can be observed in whole world in
modern day also. If a person is in Karma Yoga he has to perform his duties acco
rding to his varna selflessly to society as above to attain Moksha. If he does h
is duties for his selfish needs he cannot attain Moksha.
Weather a Brahmin or black Smith if he does his karma correctly he is a Karma yo
gi and both are given Moksha. There is no inequality between any varna if you re
ad Bhagavad Gita. It is a sin if anyone thinks superior to other because every k
arma is necessary for society to prosper as per Bhagavad Gita. This has been mis
understood,misinterpreted in many ways. Finally easiest is bhakti yoga in which
there is only devotion to God. They perform idol worship in bhakti yoga. Higher
level cannot deny lower level yoga because it is similar to our classes in schoo
l. A 10th standard student cannot deny 1st class standard because they have limi
ted knowledge. But according to that particular 1st standard student is sufficie
nt. As that student strives to go to next class only after passing 1st standard.
Similarly in Hinduism if one has to reach gnana yoga... first he has to cross k
arma yoga, Raja yogas. This is the essence of BhagavadGita.Gnana yoga teachs som
ething like Adivtham(Universal Non-duality) which has nothing to do with idol wo
rship. For example there are 3 parts in Vedas.Karmakanda,Upasana, vedanta(upanis
hats). So if a Brahmin boy starts to learn Vedas first he is taught his Krama i.
e, doing yagnas, yagas. Then the next level Upasana-meditation on Vedic Chants.
Final level of gnana yoga is Vedanta. Some can stop at the level of Karma also.
It is his choice. So anyone can choose his Yoga, according to his own capacities
, perform Sadhana with the help of a guru of particular Yoga to become a yogi.
Hinduism explains life is evolved and not created(read Advitha vedanta). Vedas a
re the oldest known sound records of mankind(according to science also). UNESCO
declared that Vedas are undistorted for thousands of years. Any record(even with
technology) would have been tampered in these years, but every sound in Vedas a
re perfect because of our Guru parampara(lineage of Gurus). various shastras eme
rged here with science, maths, engineering, philosophy, economics, financial sci
ences etc when whole world was in dark ages. I can say much of the maths that we
use today originated here(refer Indian mathematics Wikipedia page) and many met
als were first produced here.
We can observe why communism has failed.... because anyone simply doesn't work e
ffectively because he gets same importance weather he works or does not work.Thi
s can be understood in India with Socialist Government offices.There employee wi
ll get salary weather he may work or not. So many won t work.This is the reason co
mmunist countries fell down in the world. But in Hinduism Karma(duty) is astonis
hingly given spiritual importance and so he performs his KARMA well to towards t
he society to attain MOKSHA for himself.Communism works to eliminate class syste
m but cannot be achieved as in many countries.But Hinduism has division of labor
which was intended to treat all classes equal but misunderstood. Varna system i
s nothing but ancient class system more efficient than modern day class system.
Hinduism has an alternative system beyond communism and capitalism where both ha
ve some problems. Hence Hinduism is not just a religion but a way of life.
Please upvote me if you think I am correct, not for my credit but truth can reac
h many people.
The distinctive feature of the Indian caste system is Endogamy - marrying within
the same caste/related-castes. Castes (currently) are groups to which membershi
p can only be achieved by birth. Hereditary occupational groups exist/have exist
ed in most cultures, but the Indian caste system is one of the few that enforces
endogamy. Some caste members consider their castes superior or inferior to othe
r castes. There used to be a clear stratification of castes in a hierarchy, with
some amount of limited mobility up/down the ladder.
In modern India, economically well-off people have shed caste identities in ever
yday life, except for the purpose of endogamy, which is still the dominant mode
of marriage. For the urban, educated upper caste person, they can usually tell i
f someone belongs to their caste or not. This sometimes leads to very subtle pos
itive discrimination, but almost never negative discrimination.
Lower castes on the other hand, continue to cling to caste for various reasons,
including reservations, but also due to the lack of marital avenues for social e
levation. Marriage & sex have been a great equalizer in many societies, but cann
ot really serve that role in India due to caste. Lower caste members tend to be
less skilled and less educated since their castes' values guide them towards ear
ly employment. Consequently, there is a great deal of competition for low-wage,
commoditized jobs among lower-caste members. Since the labor pool is undifferent
iated, hiring is often based on comfort levels of the person doing the hiring, w
hich is often caste-based. This in turn reinforces caste identities among the lo
wer-castes.
The worst aspects of the caste system will only be broken when inter-caste marri
age among social strata (even small levels of marrying up/down, which now happen
s within caste) becomes a lot more common than it is now.

It is a complicated question because there are a number of disagreements between


scholars
When & Where ?
1. Some scholar believe that caste system originated after vedic culture came to
India because four varnas (brahman, kshatriya, vaisya & shudra) are mentioned i
n vedas. They believe castes to be sub categories of varnas
2. Some other scholars argue that probably caste was existing in Indus-Saraswati
civilization, because we have found evidences of specializations in crafts, and
with the coming of aryans culture, it got crystallized in varna system. Interes
tingly in the earliest veda, Rig Veda, there is mention of only 2 varnas, aryan
varna and dasa varna. Varna means colour in sanskrit and dasa is similar to daha
in the language of Avesta, which means 'the other'. Probably earlier varna syst
em was only to differentiate aryans and other people. gradually caste system get
s assimilated into aryan culture and four varnas emerged encompassing among them
selves numerous caste.
Thus there remains debate weather varna predates caste or caste predates varna.
3. Another point of view is that caste system was crystallized only 2000 years b
ack with large number of foreigners coming to india for trade or as soldiers of
warring armies. Since those were 'groups' of people, to incorporate them into In
dian society, it was easier to identify them as a caste and put at a position in
varna hierarchy. This point of view, assumes caste as originating from racial d
ifferences.
4. According to research of various sociologists, it is identified that there ar
e various mechanisms of caste formations:
a. occupational groups to caste : Like badhai, darzi, luhar, sunar etc.
b. Tribes to caste : Some tribal society when come in contact with wider mainstr
eam societies, their isolation ended, economic and service interdependence estab
lished and they were incorporated into wider hindu society with a jati assigned
to them. There are still some instances where some of tribals refer to themselve
s as 'Adivasi jati'
c. Racial groups to jati : As explained in point 3
d. Religious sects to jati : There are some castes known as 'bairagi', kabirpant
hi etc.
e. Clan to jati : Some of the clans of aryan people gradually developed as a sep
arate jati
Why?
Again there can be several reasons, why Caste originated, like:
1. Need for Specialization : In ancient times, India was economically developed
and economic development can be sustained only through specialization. Some of t
hese specialized groups turned into jati.
2. According to famous sociologist Emily Durkheim, as a society develop with inc
reasing moral and material density (i.e increased population and interaction), t
o avoid conflict among themselves, people specialize in particular roles and bec
omes interdependent on each other. This result in organic solidarity in a societ
y. Indian society with caste and jajmani system is a beautiful example of this c
oncept.
3. Racial Pureness : Some of the immigrant groups might have wanted to maintain
a pure race of theirs and hence they created a separate 'jati' for themselves.
4. Need to classify : Ancient brahmans/priests/scholars of India were overzealou
s of classifying everything. They classified people into jatis. they even classi
fied plants and animals into jatis (!)

India has its history and roots gone back to some thousands of years, various wa
rs, epics had happened. Many Great Rulers,from Lord Sri Rama to Chatrapati Shiva
ji and Jhansi Laxmi Bai, several milleneia had passed. Right from the first exis
tance of the king, Caste System is been living. Before kings, Brahamans used to
lead the society. Even then, Caste system was present but not as much as when Ki
ngs and Kingdoms arrived.
This Caste System Was called Varna System. This was not used to discriminate peo
ple, rather it was created to classify people according to thier work done. Not
only work, each Varna has their own distinct Characteristic which can be found i
n evey person belonging to that Varna.
The Varna System goes as follows:
Brahamana
Khsatriya
Vaishya
Shudra
Brahmana:
Top cader and they lead society. These are majorly known as priests in temple. B
ut the word Brahmana signifies that The one with Knowledge . Brahmanas are only all
owed to study the Vedas, The portal of Immense knowledge. Its because only brahm
ana can understand the purity in them. Thier Mindset is determined to be like th
at. But being a Brahman is not easy and your perspective always matters. Brahman
as are also scientists, Teachers, Preachers, Priests, Ministers, Political and S
piritual advisers to Kings As they Know Vedas It is the law and creator s manual . An
d We Know Knowledge is Devine , Brahamana means one who has knowledge. So Brahmanas
Were given most respect in the society even by the kings, because they are who
keep the kingdom away from downfall. But these days, We humilate them every wher
e we see them, we don t give pinch of respect. Vedas also said, downfall of brahma
na means downfall of the kingdom.
Chanakya, Nagarjuna, Aryabhatta, Varahamihira, Sushrutha, Bharadwaja, angeerasa,
Vishwamitra, etc are brahmins.
Khsatriya:
The One who has power, Majorly Kings, Senadhipathis (Supreme Comander of Army) a
nd warriors. They are destined to rule. Royalty lies in their Blood, they are ve
ry caring about their citizens, also very ferocious. Strong minds and body are t
heir characteristics. Khsatriyas are who protect the nation and take care of cit
izen. Diplomacy, art of warfare, the science of ruling people are some qualitite
s which they posses by birth. Sacrifice and Honour are some of qualities that th
ey have.
lord Rama, Pancha Pandavas, Chandra Gupta Maurya, Ashoka Samrat, Gauthami Putra
Shatakarni, Chatrapati Shivaji, Queen Rudrama Devi and Jhansi Laxmi Bai etc come
into this cader.
Vaishyas:
These are next to Khsatriyas. Merchants, Traders, Landlords, Businessmen come in
to this group. They arre known for their skills in markting and trade. They are
backbone to income of the whole Kingdom. Our country had many Good traders who w
ent to many countries crossing distant seas and passing mountains. Silk Route is
Major trade to remember. Silk from south India to China is only because of our
trading skills. Vasco Da Gama didn t came to india on his own. He followed our Guj
arati Merchant Chandan who is back on his to India from South Africa.
Vasco da Gama followed a Gujarati trader!
Our ship buliding skills were far greater than others, Chandan s ship was three ti
mes bigger than Vasco Da Gama s.
Shudras:
Often Misunderstood as the lowest of all, But it is not the case. They were also
given respect in the society. Remaning People like Farmers, Workers, Artisans,
Infntry etc come into this cader. Without these people, we don t even be able to s
atisfy our basic needs. They work hard like ants, bulding block by block of what
brahmanas research. Even Khsatriya needs army, merchants need workers.
In whole context, our society was well designed, every varna needs other and are
interrelated. If one varna falls, whole society falls.
And There was barter System in our society for some time and coins were introduc
ed. So there nothing such as discrimination based on Caste. But People these day
s need Reservation saying that they are backward. Yeah may be but many others al
so suffer.
Hope this suffering ends soon.

The Indian caste system can be equated to the feudal social model of Europe in t
he medieval ages. There was a nobility (including royalty), the clergy attached
to the church, a community of craftsmen's guilds and traders and finally, the ge
neral lay peasantry. The original caste system of India was identical, and to th
e extent it still persists, it has the same basic structure.
The uppermost caste was the priests or the brahmins. They were followed by the w
arrior caste (kshatriyas), from which the rulers of the states usually came. The
n was the trader class (vaisyas), followed by the peasantry (sudras). Originally
the caste system was flexible and based on actual vocation, But soon it hardene
d into fixed hereditary categories.
It also has had a fair bit to do with racism. In great antiquity, India had alre
ady been settled by dark skinned races, probably descendants of one of the earli
est wave of migrants out of Africa. They developed all the fixed skills necessar
y for civilization, including cultivation of the land, settled agriculture and t
he various crafts.
Then, several thousand years ago (exact date cannot be established with precisio
n), a race of fair skinned barbarians called the Aryans came in from central Asi
a through the Khyber pass and occupied the northern plains to start with. These
people were good at warfare and had their own religion (which later evolved int
o the present day Hinduism) but as wandering tribes they were no good at agricul
ture or the trades.
Therefore, the Aryans placed their own vocations at the top of the social hierar
chy and that of the vanquished population at the bottom. The conquerors and the
conquered have always behaved identically across all times and at all places.
It is noteworthy that the caste system is not just restricted to Hindus in India
. Nearly all followers of the other so called classless and casteless religions
such as Islam or Christianity are relatively recent converts from Hinduism, and
they have very much carried their original caste structures into their respectiv
e communities.
Today, the caste system still persists to the extent that intermarriages between
castes is still not seen as greatly desirable. But the harsher aspects like une
qual socioeconomic opportunity or untouchability have long since been abolished
by law. And the present generations do not pay heed to the intermarriage restric
tions either.

In cities, from my experience, the only time you would come across caste-convers
ations among the "middle-class" Indians is during marriages, or when someone is
looking for an excuse to berate someone else (claiming that person is of an "inf
erior" caste). Religion is often a bigger barrier.
The social historical theory explains the creation of the Varnas, Jatis and of t
he untouchables.
According to this theory, the caste system began with the arrival of the Aryans
in India. The Aryans arrived in India around 1500 BC. The fair skinned Aryans ar
rived in India from south Europe and north Asia. Before the Aryans there were ot
her communities in India of other origins. Among them Negrito, Mongoloid, Austro
loid and Dravidian. The Negrito have physical features similar to people of Afri
ca. The Mongoloid have Chinese features. The Austroloids have features similar t
he aboriginals of Australia. The Dravidians originate from the Mediterranean and
they were the largest community in India. When the Aryans arrived in India thei
r main contact was with the Dravidians and the Austroloids. The Aryans disregard
ed the local cultures. They began conquering and taking control over regions in
north India and at the same time pushed the local people southwards or towards t
he jungles and mountains in north India.
The Aryans organized among themselves in three groups. The first group was of th
e warriors and they were called Rajayana, later they changed their name Rajayana
to Kshatria. The second group was of the priests and they were called Brahmans.
These two groups struggled politically for leadership among the Aryans. In this
struggle the Brahmans got to be the leaders of the Aryan society. The third gro
up was of the farmers and craftsmen and they were called Vaisya. The Aryans who
conquered and took control over parts of north India subdued the locals and made
them their servants. In this process the Vaisyas who were the farmers and the c
raftsmen became the landlords and the businessmen of the society and the locals
became the peasants and the craftsmen of the society.
In order to secure their status the Aryans resolved some social and religious ru
les which, allowed only them to be the priests, warriors and the businessmen of
the society. For example take Maharashtra. Maharashtra is in west India. This re
gion is known by this name for hundreds of years. Many think that the meaning of
the name Maharashtra is in its name, Great Land. But there are some who claim t
hat the name, Maharashtra, is derived from the Jati called Mahar who are conside
red to be the original people of this region. In the caste hierarchy the dark sk
inned Mahars were outcasts. The skin color was an important factor in the caste
system. The meaning of the word "Varna" is not class or status but skin color.
Between the outcasts and the three Aryan Varnas there is the Sudra Varna who are
the simple workers of the society. The Sudras consisted of two communities. One
community was of the locals who were subdued by the Aryans and the other were t
he descendants of Aryans with locals. In Hindu religious stories there are many
wars between the good Aryans and the dark skinned demons and devils. The differe
nt Gods also have dark skinned slaves. There are stories of demon women trying t
o seduce good Aryan men in deceptive ways. There were also marriages between Ary
an heroes and demon women. Many believe that these incidences really occurred in
which, the gods and the positive heroes were people of Aryan origin. And the de
mons, the devils and the dark skinned slaves were in fact the original residence
of India whom the Aryans coined as monsters, devil, demons and slaves.
As in most of the societies of the world, so in India, the son inherited his fat
her's profession. And so in India there developed families, who professed the sa
me family profession for generation in which, the son continued his father's pro
fession. Later on as these families became larger, they were seen as communities
or as they are called in Indian languages, Jati. Different families who profess
ed the same profession developed social relations between them and organized as
a common community, meaning Jati.
Later on the Aryans who created the caste system, added to their system non-Arya
ns. Different Jatis who professed different professions were integrated in diffe
rent Varnas according to their profession. Other foreign invaders of ancient Ind
ia - Greeks, Huns, Scythains and others - who conquered parts of India and creat
ed kingdoms were integrated in the Kshatriya Varna (warrior castes). But probabl
y the Aryan policy was not to integrate original Indian communities within them
and therefore many aristocratic and warrior communities that were in India befor
e the Aryans did not get the Kshatriya status.
Most of the communities that were in India before the arrival of the Aryans were
integrated in the Sudra Varna or were made outcast depending on the professions
of these communities. Communities who professed non-polluting jobs were integra
ted in Sudra Varna. And communities who professed polluting professions were mad
e outcasts. The Brahmans are very strict about cleanliness. In the past people b
elieved that diseases can also spread also through air and not only through phys
ical touch. Perhaps because of this reason the untouchables were not only disall
owed to touch the high caste communities but they also had to stand at a certain
distance from the high castes.

I had my very own theory about, which I would try to present here in simplified
form, to explain what exactly is caste system. I will tell at last, why I am cal
ling it as theory rather than just hypothesis or something else imperfect.
This explanation is mainly for non-Indians to help them understand the Indian ca
ste system, however I think Indians could also understand few things at least, f
rom the explanation, though Indians may take it as absurd at first, but it will
start to make sense at last, at least. So, I would read it fully and slowly.
What is the Indian caste system and how does it works!
It may require a complete book to actually understand it, and I think caste syst
em is difficult to understand even to Indians themselves.
So I will directly come to the point, without much introduction to the topic.
There was a time when anybody can do the job as per their qualities, competence,
knowledge and inclination, just like what we do now, or how the things goes by
regarding the jobs.
Secondly, we all like to have a better life partner, who have better future pros
pects, especially the girls, at least in India. So we search for the boys with h
igh level professions like say Doctor, Engineer, rich businessman, politicians e
tc., in arranged marriage, especially in India. No one like to marry their girl
with the person having low future prospects, at least in arranged marriage betwe
en two strangers. Make arranged marriage culture of India very clear to yourself
, to understand what exactly is caste system and how does it works.
It always worked that way naturally, that everyone like to get their girl marrie
d with the person having better future prospects. But it must be understood that
it only can happen when anyone can do any job or professions as per their compe
tence, qualification, training etc. It was the same way in India too before the
advent of caste system, in ancient times.
Now, think about what will happen if the new rule is laid that says nobody can do
any job/occupation/profession (by giving some logic), and says, one can only do
that profession what his father did ????
What will happen after this new rule regarding occupations laid out, considering
marriages? And also, what will be the change in mentality of people, regarding
the other people of different occupations than themselves? And also, What will b
e the change in social system, due to change in mentality of people, brought abo
ut by change in rule regarding occupation?
The answer to the above three questions gives the idea about what the Indian cas
te system is.
So here is my theory, or say my answer to above questions, and question of what
is the Indian caste system.
When we have the options to do any kind of job, we think this or that kind of jo
b to be of higher or lower status, but when we are left with no options for to d
o any job, and we have to do only one kind of job, then we are likely to force o
urself to think our job to be superior. This can happen mainly to those who clea
rly have higher jobs to do. So those who have higher jobs to do are likely to na
me other jobs to be inferior and shame people deemed to do such jobs considered
to be inferior. Hindu texts already consists of something called Varna System, w
hich classify jobs into 4 categories considering someone s nature and mental incli
nation, and this is not rigid system, but helped and used to develop rigid Caste
System.
This was about everyone who are made to do the occupation what their father s did,
obviously like to think that their occupation to be considered as respectable,
as that is the only way to feel better, as there is no option to do other occupa
tion, as they are forced to do the job what their fathers did. So everyone obvio
usly will raise their voice to earn respectable status. But Varna System used to
clearly define which occupation comes under which of the 4 category, and to whi
ch to consider superior and which to inferior. I think there had been still the
clashes about the interpretation of Varna System, but it is forcefully suppresse
d. And, for suppressing it forcefully, some denigrating and inhumane treatment a
re invented to forcefully show some people to be inferior. Then these inhumane a
nd unfair treatment to show some people inferior became the tradition, and belie
f system. However, there is no support for it in any Hindu scriptures.
So, everyone had been in the need of feeling superior as per their own parental
occupation, and no one wanted to feel inferior from others. There became thousan
ds of classification in terms of occupation. There were many occupations among w
hich there were no clear distinction of superior and inferior. For example: Weav
er and Tailor. But, still they tried to show them as better than other, as they
cannot do others occupation with new rule, Actually, it was not about showing ou
rselves superior, but it was about showing other inferior. So, these 1000s caste
started to think each others inferior, or at least not among them. These 1000s
of occupations to which people belongs to, referred as Castes. There are also su
b-castes there. For example: Oil extracter is sub divided as the one who extract
oil using one bull, and the one who using two bull, so to make it two types of
oil extracter. So it makes two sub-castes within same caste. In the same way, ev
ery castes(occupations) is divided and sub-divided making it 1000s of castes. Ea
ch castes are classified as coming under one of 4 categories of Varna of Hinduis
m, however scriptures don t anywhere talk or support any such division by occupati
ons(castes).
Now comes the question of marriage. Before, anybody can be ready to get their gi
rl/boy married to other boy/girl considering qualities, job prospects, beauty et
c., just like what we do today, because we can do any job. But at that time, aft
er the rule of doing parental job is laid and made rigid, it became clear that b
oy will do his parental job throughout life. No other job is allowed for him, so
his future prospect is pretty clear. So, whose son (father s occupation i.e caste
) one is, became important, and who he himself is became unimportant, because he
is going to do his father s occupation throughout life. So, before giving their g
irl people started asking, what is his father s occupation (caste). This became tr
adition and part of belef and culture. So is the mentality among Indians to this
day, to ask the caste first for marriage relationship. This also never mentione
d in any Hindu scriptures to ask father s occupation before marriage, because Hind
u scriptures simply never discuss father s occupation(caste).
I think marriage between two from different castes(father s occupation) were never
been a problem even after rule about doing father s occupation is laid, because g
irl has to go to boy s home, and there couldn t be any problem if girl s parents are r
eady, especially when the girl is being married to a boy having better occupatio
n. Why would there be a problem? Caste? Caste effects what the boy will do, not
the girl. So there were no problem marrying girl in other caste. But it is obvio
us that parents are less likely to give their daughter to lower caste(father s occ
upation), but like getting her married in higher caste, for her better future li
fe. So they denied giving their girl to lower caste because of his father s occupa
tion. So, the situation is arised where it became difficult to get a girl from t
he family who have better father s occupation. So, the other easy option is gettin
g a girl from the family who have lower kind of father s occupation, because they
will more readily like to get their girl married in such family. So situation be
came, that girls can get married in higher caste but not the lower caste (father s
occupation), for her better future. But here arises another problem i.e. who re
ally is higher or lower caste? As I told you before there is no clear distinctio
n between most caste, that is who is higher and who is lower. For example: Tailo
r and Oil extractor, as both are respectable occupations. But both thought other
to be lower. So one can ask for other people s girl for their son or boy , thinki
ng others to be lower, but cannot ask for others people s boys to marry their girl
with, thinking themselves to be of upper caste. So marrying their girl to other
caste(father s occupation) itself became the matter of upper or lower parental oc
cupation. So people simply denied getting their girl married to other castes(fat
her s occupation), as it was the sign of being lower. So girls became the matter o
f respect to the family. So, another rule came into existence, to not to get you
r girl married to other caste people , as it will prove yourself to be lower fro
m others. I hope everyone are understanding it. Actually there is nothing in Hin
du scriptures directing towards not to get their girl married in lower father s oc
cupation. There are many examples that simply reveals that someone climbed the l
adder of occupation(caste) because of their nature, inclination, aptitude, talen
t etc. before the advent of caste system.
So, here obviously can come another problem. If no one of other caste(father s occ
upation) giving their girl to marry with, then whom to marry with, and have chil
dren from? Here comes the custom, what Hindus follows even today. The only optio
n was that, that one should marry with the caste exactly as of themselves i.e. s
ame occupation, same sub-occupation(caste). This was the only option,i.e. to mar
ry in your own caste, HELPLESSLY. However, there is no rule in Hinduism to only
marry in your occupation(caste)
Now, because the occupations are divided in thousands, including sub-castes, the
re were not much people of same occupation in same locality, which made it diffi
cult to find boy/girl to marry with. So, the people had to take extra efforts to
find boy/girl of own caste(father s occupation), and it was very frustating. It c
ould become more difficult, than the situation when the people of one occupation
will marry with people of other occupation. So it became the rule, that not to
marry with other caste. Now, this was made strict rule that everyone must get th
eir girl/boy to marry in their own occupation(caste), because, if they will marr
y with others then there will be shortage of boys/girls in their own caste, and
in this situation, to whom the other boys/girls of same caste will marry? As eve
ryone want to marry and have their own children, and further their own family. T
his became the moral, that not to marry in other caste. It became the duty of ev
eryone to think of their own people (caste, occupation people) first, and marry
with them only, at any cost. This is the duty and morality that everyone from sa
me occupation must marry with the people belonging to their own occupation(caste
). It became a shameful thing, if you don t follow this morality, and your duty to
your own people(caste people). You will be condemned, shamed, taunted etc. This
mentality is still shown by Indians as it was hardened by 1000s of years of bel
ieving the same thing. There is no place for such morality and duty in Hinduism,
to adhere to people of occupations as of themselves.
Such duty and moralty became the matter of respect for the parents, that their c
hildren must follow these moralites. So parents invented fake morals to indoctri
nate their children to go as per the caste norms anyway, because their respect i
n their caste society depends heavily on which caste their children marry with.
So parents started suppressing everything of their children s desires regarding an
ti-caste marriages anyway, through these fake morals, which was actually made fo
r suppression. So because the morals are made especially for suppression, there
couldn t be any cultural or moral thing in it to understand.
So, when there were too many rules get created, it becomes a Caste System, rathe
r than just a matter of caste or occupation. If you analyze the above points pro
perly, you will realize pthat people get completely trapped to follow Caste Syst
em without any option to deny this system, or raise a voice against it, even if
they are wanted to. The superiority-inferiority complex about each-other s occupat
ion, within this system deepened the feelings of being absolutely different from
others.
So, the caste system is mostly created by circumstances, rather than people. The
only thing that is created by people is rigid occupation on the basis of father s
occupation. The rest is the evolution because of human interference in natural
system, which favours the talent and abilities.
So, after this mentality goes on for few generations, the condition of father s occ
upation for identifying what the son is going to do throughout the life; changed
to ancestral occupation . Ancestral occupation is considered to be what a boy/guy h
ad to do. So, it became even more difficult to change your caste, even if your f
ather changed occupation, as it is no more depends on your father s occupation, bu
t ancestral occupation.
This goes on for 1000s of years, and people forgot the real reason how caste sys
tem came into existence, but followed rules as it is. The rules were in the mind
, but not the reason of it. So this reasonless rules of caste system get hardene
d with time and became tradition, belief system, culture, moral, which requires
no reasoning other than it is a belief.
Today, Indians left following father s occupation as a necessary thing i.e. they m
ostly dont do father s occupation any more, unless forced to do by time i.e. if pe
ople failed to acquire good qualification to place themselves in better job. For
example, if any brahmin(preist) failed to acquire good qualification for better
jobs, he will do his ancestral job of priesthood. But today people can do anyth
ing. But they still follow the other rules which are actually byproducts of rigi
dity of occupation i.e. which was not made as rule, but became so because of mak
ing it a rule to only do your father s occupation. And funny thing is that these r
ules are not going backward as per changed circumstances, with similar sensibili
ty in reasoning, as it was there when caste system was in evolution by circumsta
ntial forces.
The reason for this is, the brain is totally drained by now because of reasonles
s following of rules for thousands of years. The only reason they give is that, t
hese rules are followed since antiquities, and our forefathers also followed the
se moralities. Were they stupids to follow these rules, or all these people, who
are following, except you, are fools? Is it so? So there is lack of reasoning sk
ill among Indians. Indians(mostly) can tell you to be kind to living beings i.e.
animals, insects, especially cow, but they don t do same with human beings, and n
ever ever notice their stupidity by this. So Indians almost lost their reasoning
skills. I can give many examples of serious lack of ability to reason among mos
t Indians, but that could be bitter and offending.
In 1000s of years, there were many changes in India and Indian culture, includin
g invention of social evils and fake morals, degradation of Hinduism, foreign ru
les, loss of philosophical/theological knowledge, inclination to rituals, due to
this caste system. The caste system is still prevalent in India, and caste(fath
er s occupation) is still asked before marriage, even if our father haven t did occu
pation as per caste, because, as I told before, father s occupation is changed to anc
estral occupation after few generation. So, now, caste means ancestral occupation
, not father s occupation. So, how can we change our ancestral occupation, even if
our father haven t did his ancestral occupation? So we are trapped situationally,
mentally in caste system.
If you observe, then you will find that there were no way out for anybody, to go
against caste sysstem, as soon as occupation made rigid, and then the whole sys
tem evolved, because everyone want to marry anyway. And no one has any choice ot
her than follow it, and it was circumstantial based thing.
One more thing I must say, that few caste came into existence not because of the
ir father s occupation, but because of what they eat. For example: Non-veg eater,
rat eater etc. Needless to say, that these caste names are an abuse , and made t
o shame/condemned people. So there may be few caste which have different reason
other than occupation, and I am sure these were made afterward.
SO, WHAT IS THE CASTE SYSTEM
The Caste system is,
Force people do their ancestral occupation (it is not existent today)
Thinking at least few other castes to be inferior
Marry only in caste
Don t marry your son/girl out of caste.
Go with other caste norms, like sub-caste etc.
Think it to be morality, going against which is shameful.
You will condemned, made outcaste, boycotted, or even sometimes killed going aga
inst it.
You should follow how to treat people of so called lowest castes, like cobbler,
sweeper, beggar and those who eat something not acceptable.
If you are from lowest caste(ancestral occupation), you should know how to behav
e with so called upper caste. To do,and not-to-do. What to expect, etc. These ar
e the rules made to forcibly show lower caste as inferiors, even if they disagre
e, and without much reasoning into it.
Who should do the highest kind of occupations like politicians and should rule o
ver different sectors, even if they are not doing their ancestral occupation. Th
is is the mentality actually.
So, this is the caste system.
Everything said above till now, every mentality, every so called values, ways to
show people inferior, inhumane treatment, contradictory beliefs, rules which ar
e existent since 1000s of years, are all observable till now among Indian Hindus
, at least. That is, it is all observable.
These mentalities, moral values, social systems, are the phenomenons, because it
has no real basis, like religious scriptures etc. But it still exists, within a
lmost 75% population(excluding non-Hindus), without proper reasoning, rationalit
y, scriptures etc. These lack if reasoning etc.can even be termed as madness, as
it cannot exists without madness(I can prove it, if anyone can turn On my notif
ications.But know that I had many other interests) So this is the reason why I c
alled it as Phenomena.
It is part of my very own theory about evolution of caste system, and the relate
d things, like social evils, disallowing so called inferior castes from studying
, degradation of Hinduism, evolution of fake moral values etc. I think, these th
ings can be explained by identifying several phenomenon, because most people fol
low these things out of nothing and no valid reason. This can only be considered
as phenomenon, as it is impossible to exist this way, but these thing exist and
followed by 95% people at least, and explaining various inter-related phenomena
, with all strings attached, is rightly be called as theory, I think. These can
be observable even today, regarding mentalities, logic, behaviour, morals etc.
Please refer to the links below for the DNA evidence based research as opposed t
o largely speculative discussions and stories.
a. Research clearly indicate a series of migrations into India with Astro-Asiati
c tribals - followed by Ancient South Indians were the first to come to India.
They were followed by Ancient North Indians. Our caste systems are amalgamations
of all these populations at various levels of castes of the system from the pre
-historic to historic stages.
Reference Genomic view on the peopling of India
b. It is clear that indo-aryans are closer to upper-castes than the lower-castes
. It also establishes that there is no pure ASI anymore in indian mainland, indi
cating that there has been intermingling of ANI and ASI for some period of time.
It may indicate a oppressive master-slave relationship between ANI and ASI.
These studies reveal that the origin of the caste system is mainly rooted in mal
e-mediated Indo-Aryan migration that pushed indigenous Dravidian speaking popula
tions towards southern India and Sri Lanka, and suggest that the Indo-Aryans est
ablished themselves as the upper caste [39]. Further, it has been shown that the
caste populations are closer to Europeans and Central Asians and differ signifi
cantly from tribal populations [34,39,43,45].
c. The intermingled society stratified after some period by endogamy as 'social'
concept rather than geographic separation. Documentation in manu-smriti indicat
es in no uncertain terms the 'dislike' for lower-castes. This is also indicated
by lack of DNA evidence for any intermingling recent 2000+ years or so.
Reference Ethnic India: A Genomic View, With Special Reference to Peopling and S
tructure on nih.gov
a. Castes existed much before colonists or dalit politicians came to india or th
e indian democracy. Both hindu historical text and DNA evidence of separation ex
ists. So any books written about western malice should be dismissed as works of
pure fiction. "Laws of Manu" was not written in England.
b. Women practically played little role in the 'labor of the men'.
Stratification of social structures being a result of division of labor is not b
orne by facts. The kshtriya princess was not master of arms, or the brahmin girl
was not master of vedas or the vaishya girl was not a master of tools at the ag
e of 12-13 when they were married to their husbands. They all perhaps learnt to
- cook, clean and take care of themselves - which is not significantly different
skill. It is in the husband's house that the little girl learns about family tr
aditions. So there was no reason to not marry between the top 3 castes - either
financially, socially or geographically. DNA evidence clearly point to girls get
ting married within the caste. So the factors must have been other than that.
c. Division of labor and social hierarchies existed in many societies but didn't
cause castes. They all did not result in significant social differences in DNA
unless they were backed by a ban on inter group marriages. The Indian system ban
ned inter-caste marriages.
d. Caste was just division of labor/family traditions gone extreme - Caste is no
t just what you do in your family - it determined by how people were treated soc
ially and before hindu law. Specific laws were written to oppress the lower cast
es - see the references below. If it was just division of labor, family traditio
ns then the laws should be same.
e. Caste can be changed by learning/education - Some mythological stories with d
oubtful historical proof are shown as evidence. DNA evidence clearly shows this
is not true.
~
Indian caste system was a result of the hindu belief that
your birth was a result of karma in previous birth.
~~~
Now my turn to speculate... :-)
1. Misunderstanding of passing of physical features by birth - Passing of parent
s 'features' such height, color, strength etc clearly indicated the relationship
between parent and child is related (i.e. not random). This was extended to per
sonality and intellectual ability without thorough scientific reasoning.
2. Misunderstanding of rebirths - The same could be mis-interpreted as proof of
rebirths. The custom of giving ancestor's names to new borns is age old traditio
n in many civilizations.
3. Lack of formal schools - Lack of formal schools implied that children mostly
learn from the parent. Further added 'proof' to the theory that capabilities are
passed on by birth without critical review.
4. Religious sanction for rebirth - The generally held belief that 'capabilities
' was passed on by birth and the concept of rebirth were provided religious sanc
tion.
5. Misuse of Rebirth - Rebirth was used to justify killings - anyone who was unf
airly killed was explained away by the concept of karma & rebirth. Many mytholog
ical stories have this concept of previous birth. Unfairness was explained as pu
nishment for previous birth.
6. Entitlement by birth - This concept was extended to justify division of labor
by capabilities, inherited by birth as result of karma. You are condemned to do
some work because of your previous karma. Brahmins protected themselves with Th
e Laws of Manu - made a separate set of rules for themselves [1] - portraying th
emselves a higher up in the social order by birth.
7. Discouraging inter-caste marriages - Concept of entitlement by birth was inc
ompatible with inter-caste marriages - sometimes color and other features of a l
ower caste would be visible in the child. Therefore it was discouraged and final
ly strictly enforced - resulting in the separation of castes and their DNA over
the years.
8. Lack of social mobility - lack of social mobility caused the sharpened divisi
ons of society and resulted in exploitation - taking away the even the basic hum
an rights of the lowest caste. Many more oppression were committed by subsequent
generations resulting in the current caste system over the period of time.
In conclusion, the caste system was a result of malicious social manipulations b
y upper-castes based on the flawed understanding of birth and genetics.
[1] A sample of translation of hindu The Laws of Manu VIII
270. A once-born man (a Sudra), who insults a twice-born man with gross invectiv
e, shall have his tongue cut out; for he is of low origin.
271. If he mentions the names and castes (gati) of the (twice-born) with contume
ly, an iron nail, ten fingers long, shall be thrust red-hot into his mouth.
272. If he arrogantly teaches Brahmanas their duty, the king shall cause hot oil
to be poured into his mouth and into his ears.
...
279. With whatever limb a man of a low caste does hurt to (a man of the three) h
ighest (castes), even that limb shall be cut off; that is the teaching of Manu.
280. He who raises his hand or a stick, shall have his hand cut off; he who in a
nger kicks with his foot, shall have his foot cut off.
281. A low-caste man who tries to place himself on the same seat with a man of a
high caste, shall be branded on his hip and be banished, or (the king) shall ca
use his buttock to be gashed.
282. If out of arrogance he spits (on a superior), the king shall cause both his
lips to be cut off; if he urines (on him), the penis; if he breaks wind (agains
t him), the anus.
283. If he lays hold of the hair (of a superior), let the (king) unhesitatingly
cut off his hands, likewise (if he takes him) by the feet, the beard, the neck,
or the scrotum.

Contrary to what many people think, Indian caste system in reality is quite comp
lex and confusing. But before answering this question, i will go back to ancient
history of India. Many evidences suggest that Aryan invasion of India false. Th
e term Aryan race itself is a false notion. There are two prominent cultures tha
t use term Aryan in two different contexts. One is Iranian and other is Indian.
Indians used it describe a character trait nobility while Iranians used it to de
scribe ethnicity. It is theorized that precursors to Iranians and their Indian c
ounterparts came from Central Asian highlands i.e. Pamir plateu to Himalayas and
adjacent areas. old Persian scriptures describe these areas as holy lands. What
is interesting is that they also describe Heptahindu (Saptasindhu) as a kingdom
of Aryans. This creates a possibility that Harappa culture was Aryan. Again we
don't know for sure. But what is evident is that there are no signs of invasion
in Harappa culture sights. This Indus-Saraswati civilization declined due to des
ertification and Saraswati changing it's course, which also has many evidences t
o support it. This means one thing, definitely any invasion by Aryans did not ha
ppen. Also the rivers mentioned in rigveda, the oldest scripture of Indian Aryan
s, mentions Ganga in Nadistuti sukta which means that aryans knew and consider G
anga important. Ganga is mentioned first and then going eastward, respective riv
ers are mentioned. This means Ganga was the last large river in while going to E
ast. This makes the area of Indian Aryans as that from Indus Basin to atleast mo
dern Uttaranchal and UP meaning entire modern Pakistan except Baluchistan, Rajas
than, Punjab, Lower parts of Kashmir, Western UP and Uttarakhand were inhabited
by the writers of Rigveda, which makes them Indian. now consider name, Ganga. Li
nguists propose that name Ganga is not of Sanskrit or Indo-Europen origin, nor o
f Dravidian but of Austroasiatic origin i.e a language close to Munda. users of
Austro asiatic languages reside in south east asia. There is also a Dravidian la
nguage family tha probably was present in southern India. It might be closer to
Elamite, an extinct language from Iran but enough evidences are not found yet. A
part from this there are many languages in himalayan region that are from Sino-t
ibetan family. all these languages show influence on each other. So we can concl
ude that four types of people lived in Indian subcontinent as people call them,
Aryans, Dravidians, austro asiatic and sino-tibetan. Over time, these people min
gled with each other. If you check genetics of all the Indians across all the ca
ste, religions, languages and ethnicities, you will find traces of all these peo
ple. This means that there are no people who are of pure Aryan or Dravidian or S
ino-tibetan or Austro asiatic races in India. All have somewhat mixing up with e
ach other. I am not considering people from extremely remote areas here such as
parts of himalayas or of central and south indian hilly region. But such people
are rare. until manusmriti, there are no direct references to caste by birth. Ve
das which are codified into four parts by Vedvyas was a son of a Fisherman's dau
ghter and Kshatriya king. Valmiki muni was also a Fisherman and dacoit. Now the
question is who were Mlechhas, Rakshasas, etc. These were people of different et
hnicity, probably dravidians, sino-tibetans etc. living adjacent to the areas in
habited by vedic people. notably, not all of them were considered enemies. Asura
s were notably the people of same ethnicity as that of vedic people but were con
sidered enemies. Asuras are now identified as people from Iran. The iranians cal
led themselves as worshippers of Ahura (Asura) and called Daevas (Devas) as demo
ns which were worshipped by vedic people. So Asura and Deva conflict cannot be b
rought into Indian Caste debate.
Now who were shudras? Shudras are people who were outcast from society or doing
labor work. But was this decided by birth at that time. answer is NO. not always
. Some parts of India had it. Other's didn't. The same mahabharata that describe
s Karna being rejected by drona due to his lower status also explains Ved Vyas r
ising from lower class to become the most respected rishi. Note that in mahabhar
ata and many other scriptures, brahmanas are said to be poor people, who ask for
alms. Birth based caste system became prominent somewhere in 10th century. At t
his time, India was entering the dark ages. Myopia was setting in the minds of I
ndians of all types and thus as any society degrades. Still, till the 18th centu
ry, people have been elevated in their status. Take for example, Malhararao holk
ar, who was born as a Dhangar, lower caste but elevated to Kshatriya status by h
is virtue. He and his descendants eventually ran kingdom of Indore. Then there w
ere many people from Mahar caste who had senior positions in Maratha army includ
ing that of subhedar. In fact from Varkari era till golden era of Peshwa reign,
Casteism was not really present in Maharashtra. in the declining era of Peshwas,
we again see Casteism rising in maharashtra. interestingly, caste based discrim
ination was also present in Franc and Spain with a caste named Cagot being thou
ght as untouchable. and religion based discriminations by Europeans in the past
were no different.
I have only one conclusion that i can put here, whenever a myopia and ignorance
sets in the society, birth, religion or culture based discrimination starts taki
ng place. Take for example, now slowly caste system is declining but is still wi
despread. this means a lot of ignorance and myopia is still present within peopl
e but thankfully we are doing efforts to eliminate Casteism.

Everyone needs to understand that caste system is not by birth.


"According to the Rig Veda hymn, the different classes sprang from the four limb
s of the Creator. It was meant to show that the four classes stood in relation t
o the social organization in the same relation as the different organs of the Pr
imordial Man to his body. Together they had to function to give vitality to the
body politic. There was nothing in that account to warrant the assumption, that
the order in which the four groups were mentioned, or that the particular limbs
specified as their origin, marked their social status."
"A person s worth is determined by his knowledge and capacity and the inherent qua
lities which mark his conduct in life. The four fold division of castes says the C
reator in the Bhagavad Gita, was created by me according to the apportionment of
qualities and duties. Not birth, not sacrament, not learning, make one dvija (twic
e-born), but righteous conduct alone causes it. Be he a Sudra or a member of any o
ther class, says the Lord in the same epic, he that serves as a raft on a raftles
s current , or helps to ford the unfordable, deserves respect in everyway.
In Ancient India two great Rishi's, one was"Rishi Bhardwaj" and other was "Rishi
Bhardwaj", met to discuss how to structure a stable society. Then "Rishi Brigu"
said there are four sources of power in a society and we must ensure that nobod
y has more than one of that.
The four sources are :
1. Knowledge,
2. Weapons,
3. Wealth,
4. Land.
These should not be in one hand, not even two should be in one hand. So those wh
o has knowledge will not have wealth, will not have weapons and will not have la
nds. Those who will have weapons will rule the country but they will not make po
licy. They need to go to people having knowledge to seek their permission and ad
vice. Those who are having wealth, their social status will be decided by the ho
w much philanthropy they do not by their wealth. Those who has lands have to pro
duce for the society. In fact none of these four category or "varna" was based o
n by birth.
So, they divide people into Brahmin(knowledge) , Kshatriya(War , weapons and pro
tect people from invaders), Vaishyas(wealth) and Shudras (workers).
-"Ved Vyasha" who was a Maharishi, who wrote the "Mahabharat". His mother was a
fisher women.
-Maharishi "Valmiki" who wrote the "Ramayan" was considered as child of a Dalit
women.
-'Kalidasha" who is the greatest poet our country has produced, was a Hunter.
-"Rishi Vishwamitra" who was considered as Rishi of Rishi was born in "Kshatriya
" family.
It proves that Hindu Dharma does not have "varna" or "caste' on the basis of Bir
th. The Ravana was a "Brahmin" whom no Hindu worship and call him as Rakshas (de
vil). So everyone needs to understand that caste system is not by birth.
Caste identification was not by birth instead was by Gunahas (Virtues), as Lord
Krishna told Arjun according to Uttara Gita.
Nor do the recent researches on DNA of Indians show any racial differences among
castes. So why tolerate a system which at the very least is obslete and stumbli
ng block in the total way of unity?

1. There was never any unified 'Hindu religion'. Much like the variations on a l
oose Hindu theme exists across the subcontinent, so does the caste system. For i
nstance, the caste system was institutionalised in Bengal and Assam only after 1
000 A.D. (After the fall of the Buddhist Pala Dynasty). The Tantric sects had ve
ry relaxed caste systems and that was the prevalent non-Buddhist school of Hindu
ism at the time in Southern Bengal.
2. One common theme among the varna system, wherever it exists, is the dominance
of Brahmins, so you may be certain that whoever decided to 'create' it, was Bra
hmin.
3. Proper historical evidence is only available since after the births of Buddha
and Mahavira, but to be more precise, from the Maurya Empire. Buddhism and Jain
ism both arose as reactions to an oppressive caste/varna system.
4. The Rigveda contains one reference to varna. The Dharmashastras and Bhagavad
Gita are supposedly authored during the Gupta period. The argument about caste n
ot being hereditary originally is disputed. While the Vedas were authored in pre
-Buddhist times, the Dharmashastras were authored much, much later. However, Bud
dhist texts clearly mention the presence of a rigid caste system by then. So it
is false to assume that even Rigvedic society did not have a hereditary caste sy
stem.
In short, you really don't know whom to blame because all that happened before r
ecorded history in the subcontinent, but do blame the Brahmins. Regardless of wh
at may be said elsewhere, both the varna and jati systems were disgusting and di
rty by modern standards and any attempt to reappropriate them as otherwise(as si
mple 'division of labour' etc.) should be looked at with suspicion.

To start with there was no Varna or Caste system among the earliest Vedic people
. People used to get into a profession according to their training and aptitude.
Some people got trained in remembering and reciting the Vedas and remembering t
he procedure of Fire Sacrifices. They were called Hota (he who tended the fire),
Udgata (he who sang the sacred chants) etc. The Vedas (the first three - Rik, S
aam, and Yajur) had three parts each - Samhita (the Chant/hymn part), Brahmanam
(the procedural part) and the Aranyak (the procedural part for those who were li
ving an ascetic life in the forests). On the other hand those who used to work a
s warriors were called Khsatriyas. Then there were the businessmen, craftsmen et
c. - the Baishyas and finally the servant of all - the Sudras.
Now, to do something (worship, or fight or business or crafting) one needs train
ing. The easiest way of getting training for many (during those days) was to get
trained by one's father or grandfather or uncles. So it was quite natural that
those born in the family of priests would be easily trained as priests. Same app
lies for others as well. Gradually those who were associated with the worship an
d fire sacrifice etc. - the priests - (probably) started calling themselves (or
others started calling them) 'Brahmans' (or the English spelling "Brahmins") - b
ecause they were versed in the Vedas, specially the Brahmanam part. But that was
not going to carry much weight over time - they understood that. Some of these
guys were pretty clever - after all they were reading and writing all the stuff
that was there to read and write during those days. So some clever priests start
ed writing the next generation of Hindu scriptures - especially the Smritis. One
of the Smritis - Manu Smriti codified the social norm and law books that was t
o govern the Hindu (Sanatan Dharma really) life. Among the Smritis mainly Manu
Smriti made the division even more rigid, prescribed punishments for any transg
ression (actual or superficial) against the authority of the Brahmins, and so o
n. So that is how the Varna System which was just a system of division of labou
r and a little bit of racism (against the native Indians) became the codified,
strict and harsh system of social hierarchy and oppression. By the way Puranas
and Smritis were written long before the Muslims or Europeans invaded India -
so there is no scope of blaming them for contributing the Caste system we had a
lready created. It was all our own doing.
Later on they also wrote Puranas. Among these Brahma Purana was written about Br
ahma and how the earth was created etc. etc. The authors saw the chance was ther
e and so they took it. They wrote into this Brahma Purana that Brahmans or Brahm
ins were created from the face/head of Brahma - and so they are the prime member
s of the society. Khastriyas were written to be created from the hands of Brhama
, Baishyas from the thighs and Sudras from the feet. So the Sudras were the lowe
st creation of all. Interestingly however it was not their original idea (most l
ikely) - Purusa Sukta of Rik Veda already had a similar thing about Purusa, inst
ead of Brahma.
Now who were the Sudras? Most likely those who could do nothing else. But, when
the Aryans came (they may or may not have invaded India, but they definitely mig
rated to India) they displaced the native Indians - those whom we currently call
tribals, living in the deep heartland of india. Some of these native Indians go
t a place in the Aryan society as the Sudras, as the vanquished servants. It mus
t be noted that the Sanskrit word for the Caste system - Varnashram - is derived
from the word Varna, which is also the same word that means 'Colour' in Sanskir
t. So it is highly likely that the skin complexion difference between the Aryans
and the native Indians played a crucial part in naming the system - a system of
differentiation.

Indeed, India has many castes. But in ancient India, the social structure was qu
iet different from the one followed in the present times. Back then, there was n
o caste system. So how did we end up with (so many) castes?
Well, the ancient Indians were divided into various classes/groups, just like ho
w we are now. But, this classification was not based on the family one is born i
nto. It was totally independent of one's background and was determined solely by
one's merit. This merit based categorization is called Varna System.
For instance, a person born in a Brahmin household need not be a Brahmin. He wou
ld be a Kshatriya if he chose to become a warrior/ruler, a Vyshya if he chose to
take on business/trade and so on. In this way, one's Varna is decided by one's
role in the society (one's merit).
People's perception or understanding of Varna changed gradually with time. Super
iority complex set in. People began to assume and believe that one Varna is supe
rior to the others. This prompted them to ultimately create a map of various Var
nas depicting the so called social structure which is in use in our present day
society. As this idea of 'Brahmins>Kshatriyas>Vyshyas>Shudras' grew louder and s
tronger, it spread a sense of pride among the "Upper classes" and insecurity amo
ng "lower classes". This created a barrier among the existing varnas and drove t
hem apart.
With this mindset, a Brahmin wanted his children to become Brahmis, for he thoug
ht the other classes are beneath his own - Pride. A Shudra wanted his children t
o become Shudras, for he was afraid whether they would be accepted into other cl
asses - Insecurity. Pride & Insecurity thus changed the Varna system into the Ca
ste System that we see now.
I hope I answered a part of your question. Although i cannot give you informatio
n on the books, I am sure there are many.
Disclaimer: The answer is solely based on my knowledge/understanding on the shif
t from Varna system to Caste system. It may well be entirely different. I am ope
n to discussion.

This requires a long answer. You will come across two sets of common arguments t
hat you need to take with not pinch, but buckets of salt. The first is an argume
nt that comes from colonially constructed knowledge of India, which is still ver
y prevalent among Indians and is the most common stereotype in the West. This pa
ints caste as a rigid hereditary system. There are some scholars who have oppose
d this view and provided a nuanced view - best references are Nicholas Dirks and
M. N. Srinivas. They will show you that caste was a fluid system that was consi
derably made rigid by colonial rule and by anthropological and later census clas
sifications.
Unfortunately the second set of arguments take off from this opposition and pain
t a very romantic view of India portraying India as being casteless and to stret
ch scholars' nuanced observations to argue as if it was British who created the
caste system. These are usually nationalists who hark back on an ancient romanti
c past where there was no caste system - while that is true, as is true for all
societies over the world that were egalitarian before they evolved into complex
societies, this argument ignores the rigidity of caste system that developed wel
l before the British came. Keeping these two critiques in mind will help you bet
ter navigate the maze of literature and folklore on caste system. Modern Indians
are fed with colonial construction that caste is inherently bad, so they try th
eir best to portray India as casteless, often denying how prevalent caste is in
private lives of people.
Overall, caste is a mix of many things - originally separate tribes joining the
mainstream but maintaining their exclusivity through endagamy, craft guilds, an
d so on. There is also huge variation from region to region, and any sort of gen
eralization should be guarded against. The Varna system is a fictitious creation
that is draped over caste system, and is hardly of any use to you to understand
Indian society. It does work in some parts of the country, but totally fails in
some parts like South India.
Most modern Indians also argue it does not exist because in urban regions, espec
ially metros caste is hardly a reality anymore, especially so with professional
and upper middle class families. Indians from this class are also ignorant of re
st of India's social reality and our school does a poor job of teaching either h
istorical or contemporary social realities. These Indians tend to deny the exist
ence of caste partly because it does not matter to in their lives, and partly be
cause they resent affirmative action that deprives them from opportunities.
Caste is integral to peoples' social identities, wrongly portrayed as part of Hi
ndu religious identity. It would be best if stigma is removed of the caste syste
m, it would allow Indians to acknowledge it as a valid, not inherently bad group
identity, the only bad part of it being hierarchy, which is also true of class
and race systems. If we acknowledge it, then it would make us more ready to ackn
owledge how oppressive it has been to a few sections of people, and there are be
tter chances of us dealing with it than denying reality.

Caste system in india goes back to the ages of MAHABARATHA, DWAPARAYUGA and may
be even well before that. The system followed is written down in ancient book wr
itten by "MANU" (a saint) and it is claimed that it as written as and how it was
narrated by the god himself.
The caste system was not meant be based on birth, but based on the occupation. l
ater the cruel evil minds changed it to how it is with time. Infact if you see,
the caste system in india is broadly divided into 4. Brahmana-learn and teach, k
shatriya - protect the society, vaishya-do trade, sudhra- maintain the society's
essential like cleanliness etc.,. Really speaking a society can run only if the
se four processes are going on be it any part of the world leave alone india or
asia. All the 4 castes are to be treated equally as per the scripts. Later the h
uman mind craving for power and ego started suppressing the caste which they fel
t was least important. This is where the system started smelling foul.
In this modern world caste system is no more than a claim for respect Inside Ind
ian society . But when we enter into the roots of the origin for this overall dr
ama ,Not all caste systems are related to Religion, its typically related to sci
ence and health related protocol used by my ancestors who belong to this land.
As other tribes around the world ,every Indian tribal groups also have their nat
ive diets and native occupation which Identifies individually among other tribal
groups around them.
My caste is "Kodi kal vallalaar "
Vallalaar is nothing but agriculture , Kodi kal mean vine plants, and my origin
belong to a village called Amma petai which is near Salem district , Tamil nadu
state, India. The name comes from Tamil language since we are native speakers of
Tamil.
No matter which part of the world kodikal vallalaar lives in, no matter what job
he/she does ,he/she must be some way or other related to me , I mean we both be
long to the same tribe group , same ancestor who lived in the same village and d
id the same job .
If Obama and Bin Laden belong to the same caste , there are 99% chance for them
be cousins sharing same ancestor .
For example :
Kodi kal vallalaar occupation was betel agriculture .
solzhiya vallalaar occupation was sea shell and coral agriculture .
So by knowing the caste we can Identify the origin of the tribe group they belon
g to .
There are few nameless caste in India which i am not supposed to note here ( the
y will call me rasist If i do :-P ) who are mostly categorized as schedule tribe
s by the government .
Importance in olden days :
Case system is mainly used only during Marriages .
Since the Indian marriage system is purely based on arranged marriages , when th
ey follow cast system bride family or groom family make sure that they both carr
y native gene.
Because there are some diseases / Infections or other health related problems wh
ich are occupation based. And , it is believed when married to same caste people
they make sure that they don't carry/introduce any foreign health( foregin mean
s other tribal group) related issues to their child or to their descents.
Even today In India ,caste system is followed only during marriages .
I am Catholic Christian , My baptist name is lourdes samy . Which is also my gra
ndfathers first name , which is also his grandfathers name.
Proves we are not newly converted catholics, but we care Catholics for centuries
..
I can't get any informations before my great great grandfather , So I don't know
when exactly we are converted , But till date marriages happen in our family fo
llows the caste system .
Fun facts :
My mom is 60 , my dad is 65 they are married before 38 years . It was an arrange
d marriage ( before getting married they are unknown to each other, But both bel
ong to same caste) . Only last year when we attended a marriage of my cousin bro
ther we found that my parents' family are closely related but lost their relatio
nships in time. This is what caste is all about .

TO BE NOTED : there are few caste which are purely based on religion . But even
there, the caste is named by the occupations like serving to god and maintainin
g temples, even there is a caste who guard the temple gold and wealth.
"As decent the job is, as shit they treat other caste "
Trust me in this modern world there is no reason for this caste differentiation

Thanks for the A2A.


'What is Caste system?'
The term 'Caste' was given to an ancient system existing in India - the Jati sys
tem - the form as existent then, and witnessed by alien eyes, the colonizers/mis
sionaries in the 15th-16th C
[From the Portuguese word 'casta' (lineage, breed)or the Latin 'castus' (seperat
ed, pure) later picked up by the English - 'cast' (secondary connotation - sort,
kind). Probably coined by the Portuguese or the English]
But the original Jati does not connote the English 'Caste'
So, what is thought of as 'caste' today is a hollow term, signifying nothing exc
ept endogamous, hereditary groupings with empty attributes.
So, was 'Jati' created?
No, it evolved. Through thousands of years due to social and economic dynamics.
(The full answer can run into a thesis size. If you wish, I'll send you a brief
essay on it)
Is genetics related to that?
Could be, in the long run. Now, in the light of the studies of genetics.
(But the science of genetics is still in its nascent stage and we need to wait a
nd see)

Huge subject. So will give a simplistic answer. TL:DR version.


Individual to a family, family to a clan, clan to sept, sept to tribe and so on.
Such formation is a part of human experience - not just in India. Jati is just
our version of such a structure.
It is emergent to the social nature of humans and not created by anyone. Neither
does stay fixed, it evolves and changes over time.
When majority members of a tribe/clan subscribe to a single profession then it g
ets associated to the profession - for example Yadavas and animal husbandry. But
it does not mean all Yadavas reared cattle or that all cattle rearers were yada
vas.
Similary to attitudes/personalities - many Jatis got associated with Varnas.
And over centuries, they merged, got conflated and got confused.
Genes does matter, because you are born into the Jati your Kula is associated wi
th. Like parents, it can't be changed because you switched countries or religion
s. However as an identity it may get faded depending on your context.
But Jati does not privilege one with any authority and superiority over other Ja
tis. Varna may do that, but even that is very nuanced.
See these answers Raghu Bhaskaran's answer to If the Indian caste system is not
based on birth, to what caste do the software engineers belong?
Raghu Bhaskaran's answer to Hindu Gods: Is Yadav a kshatriya caste or a worker?
Hope it helps.

I'm afraid that it's not really possible to answer this question here. Origin of
caste system is one of the most heavily debated topics involving vast number or
references, justifications and theories. I will try to put my point here as bri
efly as possible without sliding into other subjects.

In modern world, the human race is thriving with an purpose of maximizing the co
mforts and luxuries in life. The modern society thus is designed to maximize the
efforts to make every individual lead a comfortable life.
Similarly, caste system also has a purpose. Caste system is a characteristic of
Vedic society and its inherent purpose is the purpose of Vedas. The ultimate pur
pose of vedas is to attain the non-dual state of brahman(a.k.a moksha). Caste sy
stem is designed with a goal of providing environment for people to attain the s
tate of brahman much easily while also providing enough but strictly guarded spa
ce for fulfillment of materialistic desires.
This simple difference in the goals of the modern society and the vedic society
can explain most of the characteristics of caste system and why it contrasts wit
h today's society.
Brahmins are considered the highest caste because they are supposed to perform v
edic rites(shrauta and smartha rites), do yoga sadhana, live very simple life an
d attain moksha. The work they are doing is heart of vedas and hence is regarded
with utmost respect.
The work of all the other three castes is also no-less in anyway. These castes a
re designed to support Brahmins(while supporting themselves).People of these cas
tes are supposed to support Brahmins financially(Brahmins beg for food), politic
ally and in areas that need physical work. This support will help Brahmins to pe
rform their duties without deviating for other needs. Supporting brahmins is sam
e as supporting the existence of vedic practices and hence people other than bra
hmins attain moksha for doing this.
The end note for this is: Whether it is Brahmins, Khsatriyas, Vaisyas or Sudras,
they will attain moksha for fulfilling their duties(kartavyam).
From here we can venture into numerous questions/topics like "Is caste system bi
rth based? If it is, is it fair?", "Contrasts between modern society and vedic s
ociety", "How does caste system work overseas?" etc., but as I said I want to st
ick to the point.
P.S.: I'm not sure if I really answered the question. Details of how exactly cas
te system is put into practice can be only speculated for now but cannot be answ
ered unless there is an authoritative document discussing this.
The Caste system in India started off in the early Vedic Age.
It began as a classification of people into Varnas or Classes. In Sanskrit "Varn
a" means colour.
The Aryans landed in Indian territory somewhere around 1500BC and discovered the
already settled Dravidians in the subcontinent. They mingled with them and star
ted the Vedic civilization but made a distinction on the basis of the skin colou
r.
The initial Varna system only had 2 classes - The Aryans or the fair migrants an
d the Dasas (Dravidians)or the darker natives. The distinction became more broad
er to include professions but restricting the Dasas to the lowest rung. In those
days, everyone followed the same religion called the Sanatana Dharma(the eterna
l religion).
The classes were flexible depending on the occupation of the individual. There w
ere 4 prominent professions hence 4 classes-
a) Brahmins - priests/ teachers
b) Kshatriyas - warriors/kings
c) Vaishyas - commoners/tradesmen
d) Shudras - Barbers, Sweepers, servants(Dasas)
The Shudras mainly consisted of Dravidians and as the distinction lifted off, ev
eryone was free to choose their profession. You were then classified on the basi
s of your profession.
In the subsequent centuries, the class system became more rigid, a new subdivis
ion of Varna called Jati formed. There could be thousands of Jatis under each Va
rna specifically on the basis of jobs undertaken. A jati was essentially a tribe
. This was what we now call "caste". If you were born into a caste, you had to s
tick to its profession. Each caste had a hierarchy in its Varna.
eg.The King's advisor brahmin had a higher status than the temple brahmin and th
e Fisherman caste was higher than the Sweeper etc.
In the Vedic age, people who consumed meat(Cow's meat) and drank liquor etc. we
re considered as degenerates and called untouchables, and were given tasks like
cleaning of human waste. No provision was ever made to include their future gene
rations into the caste system and they were debarred from entering temples. Trib
als were included in it.
The caste system has pretty much remained the same so far.
The Book "Immortals of Meluha" mentions the Varna system of classification when
Jatis were not prevalent and people were free to choose their profession. This m
ight have true in the period prior to 1000BC. Any other historical data in the b
ook is purely fictitious.
Contrary to popular notion, there are actually more than 1000 castes in India.
* Very less conclusive information is known about the Caste system because of co
ntradictions with the historical proof. No perfect theory exists to explain its
origins or when the caste system went rigid, although many claim it occurred lat
e, in the medieval period.

Caste System was first started in very early periods, probably during the time V
edas, were written. In the early days, people were said to belong to a particula
r caste based on the occupation they were doing. All the priests and teachers be
longed to the brahmins.
The warriors, kings, soldiers, rulers were said to belong to the Kshatriyas, who
se responsibility was to protect the country/kingdom and the people.
All the people doing business, handling finances, treasuries were called Vysyas
and the rest were called Shudras.
But I don't think there is anything written in Vedas about people discriminating
, denying rights/benefits to other people based on caste. It was all started by
a few people who wanted to retain power and enjoy the wealth.
The caste discrimination has nothing to do with Vedas, but with people discrimin
ating others based on it.
I think the caste system doesn't hold back India, but its these stupid uneducate
d people, who are obsessed with caste and people who discriminate based on caste
, should be blamed for holding the country back as they do not allow the people
of other castes to get equal rights, benefits and want only people of their own
caste to get the benefits is what is holding India back. Period.

When life begun on earth, there was no system to classify human beings anywhere.
In India and also in rest of world, the idea of caste or groups nurtured when pe
ople started identifying groups of similar habits and interests.
Not only in India, but also in other parts of the world, people were identified
by their places and profession.
For Ex: The name John Von Newmann (Von is a German word that means of)...the nam
e signifies John of "Newmann". Similarly, the name Paul Hatmaker may relate to a
profession. But this is not always true as unlike Indian names many western nam
es are without meanings.
Initially, the classical Varna or Caste was based on one's deeds rather than on
birth. There are examples of scholars (Maharishis) who were not born in Brahman
families. Likewise, there are examples of Kings (who were not born in Kshatriya
families).
As time passed, it changed form and was more towards identifying one's caste by
birth.
Anyway, this is a never ending topic. In my opinion, purpose of caste is not to
compare and analyze but to build self-culture. It has to be for the benefit of t
he society rather than for doing harm.

I am one of those people who believes in the caste system. And I would like to e
xplain it from the perspective that I understand.
But before I go on, I want to request whoever is reading this to leave any assum
ptions they previously might have had about the Indian Caste System and to look
at it in a new light.
Also I would like to make clear that I do not speak of the current caste system
that is prevalent in India (now, only used as an excuse for oppression) but I wa
nt to introduce you to the caste system as explained in the Vedas.
Some clarifications:
- You are not born into a caste. You get to choose it through your Karma.
- All castes are meant to have equal dignity in society.

The Indian caste system was designed back in the olden days to simplify administ
rative procedures and social responsibilities. The 4 castes are -
Shudra - this is the caste serving (positive not negative like slavery) the othe
r three varna/castes
Vaishya - the agriculturalists, traders, cattle rearers etc.
Kshatriya - The military and the administrative class
Brahmin - the Gurus, the thinkers, writers & artists.
The assumption being that we are all born different and we have different capabi
lities & interests so we must be best suited for a certain kind of activity.
That's about it.
The Shudra cleaning the temple is just as important as the kshatriya/policeman c
leaning the streets of crime and just as important as the Brahmin/Artist cleanin
g the minds of hatred.
In fact Lord Krsna, whom we consider to be God himself, was a Vaishya on Earth.
He was a cowherd, that was his duty and he did it even though he was God, the al
l powerful God.
That's a lesson of humility there in the Indian Caste System if you really want
to learn. It's about accepting our current state in life and to try and do our b
est.
We believe it's not what you do, but how you do what you do that defines you. Am
en.

[ Appends - this are replies to questions asked in the comments section ]


How do you choose your caste?
Firstly to understand the answer you need to have these beliefs -
1. You get what you deserve
2. With more power comes more responsibility.
3. Our position in life is forever changing
Though all castes are equal in dignity, they are not equal in power. Lowest is t
he Shudra, then the Vaishya, then the Kshatriya and finally the Brahmin.
Your caste is not allotted by a human desk worker sitting at a temple or decided
by where you were born. It is your position decided by the Universe and only yo
u know your caste. No one can force a caste upon you, it is up you to figure whe
re you fit in the scheme of things and how you can contribute most.
Now for example, if a Shudra decides that No he does not want to be a Shudra but
wants be a Brahmin - he will soon find that he lacks the sublety of mind and fo
cus required to be a Brahmin. And not only that but he doesn't have the moral mu
scles to take decisions which might effect (negatively) not only him but a lot o
f people who are dependent on him because of his position.
That's not to say that he cannot cultivate these attributes. If you have got you
r current position according to your past actions, then it follows that your fut
ure position will depend on your current actions.
But at the core of all of this is to kill pride and cultivate humility. For even
the greatest president considers himself a servant to his people

Note: I feel that my answer here might seem to suggest that I endorse the Indian
Caste System in any way, which is not the case. I believe that it's an over sim
plified system and as a system it maybe not appropriate for our times. But that
being said I still believe in the value it's fundamentals have to teach us about
how to live our lives. Which is the whole point anyway.

The answer is quite simple: What happens when a 'shudra' is born to a 'brahmana'
(or a 'kshatriya' or 'vaishya'?) As per Varna system, the brahmin born shudra s
hould take up manual labour (or 'low-profile' jobs) whereas a 'brahmana' born of
a 'shudra' should take up teaching or research work... This would go well only
as long as the people understand the benefit of this. If they start thinking abo
ut the 'wellness' of their wards instead of the society at large, they'll start
tampering with this system... Thus the grading became based on birth rather than
skill or potential.
As people started to marry within the same caste (which is basically a professio
n designation,) the system became more and more stringent and unquestionable - l
eading to all sort of downfall for the society.

Often misunderstood as an outgrowth of Indian religions such as Hinduism or Budd


hism, the idea of social caste in India was actually started to maintain social
order in the face of a diverse religious and social landscape.
India Before Castes
Indian society is unique in that it was never truly united in the way that socie
ties were in China and the Mediterranean. Sure, from time to time an empire like
the Mauryans or the Guptas managed to conquer the majority of the region, but t
hese empires were more concerned with issues of national importance, and they ca
red little about the mix of societies on the streets. And frankly, if a leader t
ried to make one group happy, he would just upset another.
India has always been a place of significant diversity in belief, with a number
of different religions and even more subdivisions within those religions. In sho
rt, Indian society was full of chaos, in that there was no social order. No reli
gious leader could emerge to control all those divisions, just as no political l
eader could hope to make everyone happy.
However, one thing that all Indians could agree on is that chaos was not good fo
r society. As a result, the idea of caste developed. Although it is controversia
l as to who started the idea of caste, many historians believe that it goes back
thousands of years. A caste is a social division within society. However, the I
ndian idea of caste went much further than just division.
It was as if your whole life, from who your friends would be, to the job you too
k, to the person you would marry, was determined by the work that your parents d
id. While this sounds really unusual to those of us living thousands of years re
moved from the establishment of the castes, this made sure that a society would
always have an appropriate amount of weavers, potters, and soldiers, helping to
ensure social order.
The Four Major Castes
In India, four major castes, known as the varnas, would emerge. These four caste
s were the Brahmin, the Kshatriya, the Vaishya, and the Sudra. The Brahmin were
the highest caste and were priests who were charged with making sure that the de
votions to the gods were made. The Kshatriya were the warriors and kings, charge
d with protecting the Brahmins. Next down were the Vaisyas, or merchants and oth
er semi-educated individuals who could hope to amass considerable wealth, but no
t the power of the Kshatriya or Brahmins. Finally, the Sudras were the farmers a
nd other unskilled workers whom everyone else depended upon.
Each of these groups was divided into hundreds of sub-castes based more specific
ally on the type of work done, and it was these sub-castes from which people wou
ld choose their friends and spouses. After all, the benefits of having all the f
armers as friends was one thing, but having all the farmers of a specific crop m
eant that they could further look out for each others' successes and share tips.
While these castes have faded in importance due to the rapidly changing economy
of India, they are still in place in the minds of many Indians.
There was one other group that emerged as a result of the caste system. Known as
the Untouchables, these individuals performed the jobs that were viewed as uncl
ean, such as handling the dead or cleaning up after animals. Erroneously, the Un
touchables are often portrayed as unimportant. However, they performed very impo
rtant tasks that others didn't want to do, such as helping during funerals. They
were called Untouchable because they were often unclean, due to the 'dirty' nat
ure of their work, and therefore those of the higher castes wished to avoid them
. In recent years, reformers in India have worked to improve the lives of this g
roup, as in the past they were often discriminated against.
Caste and Religion
Needless to say, this idea of caste matched up well with Hinduism's ideas on rei
ncarnation, as well as those of Buddhism, because it helped remind people that b
y doing their assigned duty, they could hope for better in the future. However,
when Islam would arrive in India, a religion that said that all are equal before
God, this caused many people from lower castes, especially the Untouchables, to
convert in large numbers. However, in many instances the old social divisions s
tuck, even if people were no longer bound by the religious concerns.
However, it was possible to escape the castes even without converting. Holy men
of any religion, but especially Hinduism and Buddhism, known as Sadhu, could foc
us their lives on devotion and prayer. As such, they were viewed as having escap
ed the caste system, as they were largely living lives outside of society. This
ability helps to underline the fact that the castes were social, not religious,
in nature.
The argument of "division of labor" is a totally false, frivolous and cunning ar
gument. If that were to be true then there should not have been a concept of " o
rder" among the varna/caste, then why some caste/varna be superior to other, why
marriages among different caste/varna be un-acceptable? why "thinking" should b
e treated superior to "action", why not dignity of labor was there?

Friend, you can read the writings of the revolutionary social reformer Dr. B.R.
Ambedkar for the criticism on Hindu caste system. Books like:-
Who were the Shudras
The Untouchables: Who were they & why they became untouchables?
Philosophy of Hinduism
Riddles in Hinduism
Castes in India - Their Mechanism, Genesis, and Development
The Annihilation of Caste
What Congress and Gandhi
Against the Madness of Manu
Agricultural Cooperative Banks and Farmers of SC, ST, and Other Castes
Essays on Untouchables and Untouchability
Also, books by other writers like Jotiba Phule, Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, Rahul Sa
nkrityayan, Kancha Ilaiah, Bharat Patankar, Gail Omvedt, will help.

On my flight to Boston, I had a amazing conversation with the person seating nex
t to me. Looking at my Tilak Chandlo he asked the normal question about what it
meant etc. Afterwards hr asked me if I was from India. He was a 3rd year undergr
aduate student studying world history, economics and language (Specializing in C
hinese). I told him about the diverse languages we have and the number of period
icals and newspapers published in India is the largest for any country in the wo
rld. Also had a Indian currency with me and showed him the different languages
written on it. Our conversation progressed towards Indian history to which he ca
me up with the caste system. Now I remember all of us were taught that India was
a caste driven society. But the fact my friends is that all the history we have
learned is tampered with by pseudo intellectuals. FYI caste is a derived from
a Portuguese and Spanish word casta !
Ancient India never had a caste system. What we had was a Varna system. It diffe
rs from Caste system as varna is independent of birth and based on merit ! So in
ancient India a farmer's system doesn't necessarily become a farmer . Jatis wer
e never frozen or fixed in India . Same for a warrior(kshatriya), banias and Bra
hmins ! Infact Europe had a feudal system !! And when they came to India they dr
ew a parallel between India's varna system and their Caste system ! The rigved
a clearly states that we all have specialities. We must use it to the maximum ex
tent. And it is not hereditary. They all fulfill different roles. That doesn't m
ean one is more important than other. Like after 10th and 12th some of us took c
ommerce, some engineering and some arts and some medicine ! It is exactly simila
r. Division of labour in society based on your ability, age. That is varnashram.
It isn't hereditary.
They People say we are polytheist - believe in many gods. We aren't ! We are plu
ralists - we believe in many paths to the same god !
Hence a lot of the youth feel " Ohh hindusim is a horrible religion. It segregat
es people ". But these aren't the facts ! It is simply a socio economic stratif
ication of society. In villages the potters son becomes potter not because of he
reditary. But because of lack of opportunities. Give him the ability to code and
he will join Infosys !
My point is we must know this. The media, western indologists have spread this.
And we trust the opinions of Harvard's and the Oxfords more than out very own B
hagwad Gitas and the Vedas.
Well after knowing this the guy sitting next to me was surprised. So please next
time let people know this.

Even though I have an Indian name, I am thoroughly unqualified to give a first h


and account. However, I did come across this interesting and touching first han
d account of a young woman who was oppressed as a child, persevered, and eventua
lly went on to earn a doctorate in Sanskrit:
(Interviewed by Indian actor megastar, Aamir Khan, with English subtitles)

The caste system, as it is now, is very different from its original design. No
w it has become a system designated by birth, which was not the point. The syst
em was first formulated by Manu, an ancient teacher and legislator. It made a l
ot of sense and still does. But over time, and the ego being what it is, the sy
stem got corrupted.
Manu's idea was that all by their nature, due largely to spiritual evolution, co
uld be divided into four general classes. This applied not just to those born o
n the Indian sub-continent, but to all mankind through all time. The classes a
re:
1. Sudras (those whose form of service to society was primarily through physical
labour),
2. Vaisyas (those who could bet serve through the mind skilled workers, trade an
d commerce and general business life)
3. Kshatriyas warriors and rulers (who best could serve as leaders, executives a
nd protectors)
4. Brahmins (those who were spiritually-minded, contemplative, who were inspired
and could inspire others in a spiritual way).
But the system got greatly misused. It was never intended to be a system of bi
rth, ie, you were born into one caste or another. It was a designation determin
ed by one's natural capacities which was clearly seen by the goals one chose to
pursue in life. Those goals could generally be divided into four:
- kama, desire, activities mainly in the senses (sudra),
- artha, gain, getting control of those desires and working to fulfill them (vai
sya),
- dharma, goals characterized by a life of self-discipline and right action, b
asically taking responsibility for one's life (kshatriya)
- moksha, liberation, a life of spiritual striving and teaching.
Whilst a bit of all of them is in everyone, generally one of these goals predo
minates. And as it is natural to all people, every society practices this caste
system to one degree or another, although they don't describe it as so.
All kinds of problems began to arise when the caste system of naturally propens
ity hardened into a caste system of birth. Still, as India works to rediscover
its ancient greatness, inroads are being made into dealing with many of the soc
ial problems caused by a rigid adherence to a caste-by-birth system.

When you say India, it becomes very difficult to sort out as at the surface leve
l India has many different religions. We have Hindus, Muslims, Chrishtians, Sikh
s, Jains, Buddists, Zoroastrians, Bahai faith, Daoism (Ancient Chinese religion)
and also Jews. And all religions have their own castes. Hindus have Brahmins, K
shatriyas, Vaisyas and Shudras. Muslims have Shia, Sunni, Ahmedia (and some more
I guess I am unaware of). Christians have Catholics, Protestants, Penta-cross (
I not sure). Other all religions I have no idea.
Since I am a Hindu, I will write down as much I know about Hinduism and Hindu ca
ste system.
Firstly, we have the most ancient categorization, the Varnas. They were create a
round 5000-8000 years ago. So our scriptures say, there are three types of tende
ncies: Satvic, Rajasic and Tamasic. The Satvic tendency makes a person independe
nt, fearless, want to learn all the time, want to explore more about themselves,
sharp witted, wise, aloof, ambivert, less of a talker and more of an observer a
nd overall noble. Rajasic tendency is about extrovert, social butterfly, outgoin
g, glamour-loving, attention seeking, self-gratification and mortal pleasures. T
amasic tendency is about ignorance, aloofness, holding grudges, laziness, easily
manipulated.
Based on the above qualities, there are 4 types of people in the world. (Its a p
sychological discrimination. Just like how psychiatrists describe 4 types of peo
ple: Group A, group B, C and D).
So these 4 types of people are
1. Brahmin (Totally Satvic)
2. Kshatriya (Satvic+ Rajasic)
3. Vaishya (Rajasic+Tamasic)
4. Shudras (Totally Tamasic).
So due to their nature, these castes are assigned a profession which suits them.
So,
1. Brahmins = scholars, priests, teachers, doctors, hermits, scientists/inventor
s (like Aryabhatta) etc.
2. Kshatriyas = Kings, warriors, knights, fighters, combatants, rulers etc.
3. Vaishyas = buisnesmen, tradesmen, enterprenures, accountants etc.
4. Shudras = farmers, peasants, potters, fishermen, servants etc.
Why so? Well imagine a man who can be easily manipulated (Shudra/Tamsic tendency
) be made the King. He is counselled by someone who thinks of personal benefits
(Vaishya), the empire will fall. And that is why it is preferable to not choose
a different profession rather than one assigned to you.
In today's world there was a great scam in India where a doctor illegally used t
o operate homeless people and sell out their kidneys. I donno the name of the do
ctor, but he is someone who shouldnt have been given a chance to learn medical s
cience. But how do we decide who becomes what?
Thats why comes birth. Just like a mango tree will bear a mango and a coconut tr
ee will bear a coconut, similarily a father's character is passed down to his so
n. Hence a particular caste was later seen by the family background, the caste o
f father. There were strict codes not to mix them as two people of different nat
ures will sure have a difficult marriage.
But still we have exceptions. We have intermixed castes too. They are formed by
the union of two different Varnas. For example Suta, a caste made of the inter m
ixture of Brahmin and Kshatriya. This caste is mentioned in Mahabharat and peopl
e often believe this caste to be that of Charioteers. But thats not true, its an
intermixed caste.
There are some castes which are formed by some oaths taken by our ancestors. Kay
astha is one such. The legend has it that Parshurama (a hermit avatar of Lord Vi
shnu) went on a fierce man-slaughter of all the evil Kshatriyas. One of the Ksha
triya rulers who was seemingly powerless begged to be spared for his wife was pr
egnant. Parshuram spared him on a promise that from this day on he and his succe
ssors would never touch the sword, nor rule. They shall be commoners. Thus this
caste called Kayastha was born. Kayasthas lived like commoners although having t
he qualities of Kashtriyas. They became accountants of kings, ministers, tradesm
en, philosophers, poets etc.
Now among these castes we have various communities or called Gotras. Some famili
es have rules that you cannot marry in the same gotra. While some families stric
tly forbid you to marry in different Gotras. However Gotras are not upper/lower
and its more about family differences.
Varnas are however mentioned upper and lower. Brahmins and Kshatriyas are seen a
s upper castes and are highly honored. The remaining are seen as lower castes. M
ost people will think its about power, but Brahmins used to be essentially poor
as they survived on begging. Yet Brahmins were considered as highest caste and k
illing a Brahmin was considered a sin of the highest order. Actually it was more
about loosing a wise, intelligent, noble soul than a mere person.
So this is how Hindu caste system is. For other religions I still have to find o
ut. This all I know about Hindu system. There may be clashes of opinions and I a
m open to that. But I may not answer worthless arguements.

A System which degrades India and deprives its world leadership


God controls his creation Nature, and Being with Control of Gunas- Three inclina
tion, which afflicts the Intellect ( Gita 18.40- no one is free in all the three
worlds)
Yuga Dharma, God s creation ?
Ved Vysa said to Janamejaya :-- O King! As the Yuga changes, so the people change
s in course of time. Nothing can alter its course, for this is caused by the Yug
a Dharma (the Dharma peculiar to each Yuga as intended by God). Therefore if all
the subjects that are considered wicked and vicious according to the law of the
Yuga Dharma, then this creation would be destroyed.
O King! The persons that are devoted to Dharma take their births in the Satya Yu
ga; those that are fond of religion and wealth they become manifest in the Tret Y
uga; those that like Dharma (religion), Artha (wealth) and Kama (desires), they
are born in the Dvpara Yuga, and those that dote on wealth and lust, they are see
n in the Kl Yuga. O King! Know this as certain that these characteristics, peculia
r to each Yuga, never vary; and know this too, that Kaal, the Lord of Dharma and
Adharma, is always present.
Caste System is based on Karma and Guna created to protect weak and meek from hi
gh and mighty in Treta Yuga.
All the three gunas----Tamas, Rajas and Satwa--are present in man in varying pro
portions.
The Tamo guna; It is natural for the Tamasic person to regard untruth as truth,
wrong as right, evil as good. Although the phenomenal world is impermanent and i
llusory, the Tamasic minded person regards it as permanent and real.
If we take world/Our Body as real and if we identify our individuality with fami
ly and place it is Tamasic.. The Tamasic person is incapable of perceiving the t
ruth.
The Rajasic guna; Rajasic qualities make a person hot-blooded and hot-tempered.
He lacks the power of discrimination and yielding to likes and dislikes behaves
without restraint. Impulsive action is characteristic of persons in whom the Raj
o guna is predominant. Because of hasty and impulsive action, they are subject t
o all kinds of difficulties. In the process, they waste their lives in wealth wo
men and seeking wisdom.
The Satwa guna. The virtus nature of a person. Even this results in a form of bo
ndage. Those who are inclined to renounce everything and who are pure in thought
, word and deed, form a third group
Who is a Brahmana; We know that the right to interpret the Sastras is given to t
he Brahmanas. But Brahmanas have been defined as those who have made a thorough
study of the Sastras, who have no self-interest and who live up to Sastraic inju
nctions. Anyone may acquire these qualifications. They are not confined to any c
aste on the basis of birth. Only qualities and actions are determining factors a
nd not birth. Otherwise Dharma will fall.
Kshatriya; is one who is prepared to lay down his life for his country. The nati
on's safety should mean more to him than the protection of his body. This attitu
de of sacrifice may be displayed by anyone and he should be regarded as a Kshatr
iya.
Vaisyas; are those who are engaged trade and business of commodity and goods
Sudra ;All those engaged in services, artisans, and those who are in agriculture
have been described as Sudras. Everyone needs food. If food is not grown and se
rvices are not provided by the so called Sudras, the world will perish.
Therefore, what is really caste in Kali Yuga.
Those who are engaged in providing Police service, Security and defence service,
Politics are Kshatriyas
Those who are engaged in trading of Goods are Vaisyas.
All doctors, Engineers, Office workers, Skilled Labours. Manufacturers, Entertai
ners, Trust and transport service providers, they support humanity, by definitio
n of scriptures they are Sudras.
Those who are constantly engaged in vedic rites, fire worship are Brahmanas
It only means that these categories are based on Guna and Karma (qualities and a
ctions). Therefore, if a person has the Tamo Guna and indulges in actions of a T
amasic nature, being Ignorant of Reality or truth he must be regarded as a Sudra
, even if he is a Brahmana by birth. One who devotes his entire time to the cont
emplation of God/Truth and does sacred acts is a Brahmana, regardless of the cas
te in which he may be born. Brahmana is the one who seeks God- Truth.
Obsessed with distinctions of caste, creed and community and indulging in futile
and meaningless controversies, people should not degrade humanity.
Sant Mat puts the Blame on God for giving a corrupt system, which has degraded h
umanity.
Caste System is a trap (Yuga Dharma)created by God to keep humans focused on wor
ldly attainment, ( A slave master at times plays and uses some slaves to control
other slaves) thereby they all remain as a eternal traveller of womb hanging up
side down in it.
All are children of those 7 sages born of Brahman. Division of work takes place
takes place just closer to the end of Satya yuga ( Vayu Puran), It fuels the min
ds of men with ego on Karma. Marriage preferences corrupted the caste system and
separated the brothers and sisters.
Sant mat advocates Surrender to a Knower of Truth (Gita 2.16 17 and 4.34)- Real Sa
tguru to overcome delusion which God has imposed. They warn!
Neech Neech Sabb Ter Gaye, Sant Charan Lau Leen. Jathin Ke Abhiman Mein, Doobe B
ahut Kuleen. Satguru Kabir Sahib
After seeking the shelter of the Sants, the low class with no ego about their ca
ste, got liberated while those with ego about their higher status got drowned in
the ocean of repeated births and deaths.
Moti Maya Sabb Tajain, Jheeni Taji Na Jaye. Peer Paigamber Auliya, Jheeni Sabb K
o Khaye.
Wealth, wife, son and the like are the gross forms of Maya. Many persons can for
sake these. But none succeeds in forsaking ego which is the ethereal form of May
a. This ego has devoured even the great Peers, Paigambers, Rishi and Munis as we
ll.
Kabir Sagar,Vayu Puran. www.sahib-bandgi.org

WHAT CASTEISM IS TODAY


The casteism that we find today is the materialistic form of designation that ha
s become a way of oppressing the lower social orders of people. It says that if
you are born in a family of a certain classification, then you are of the same c
lass with little possibility of changing. In casteism, birth is now the major fa
ctor in determining one s social standing. It dictates that your social order, occ
upational potential and characteristics are the same as your parents, which is a
label that may have been placed on a family hundreds of years ago.
In the Vedic system, there were four basic classifications. There were the Brahm
anas (priests and intellectuals, those who practiced and preserved the Vedic rit
uals and processes of spiritual realization), the Kshatriyas (warriors, military
, government administrators), Vaishyas (the merchants, bankers, farmers, etc.),
and the Shudras (common laborers, musicians, dancers, etc.). Casteism says that
if you are born of a Brahmana family, then you are a Brahmana, no matter whether
you truly exhibit the genuine characteristics of a Brahmana or not. And if you
are also born in a Kshatriya family, or a Vaishya or Shudra family, then that is
what you must be. It is as if when one is born in a doctor s family, the child is
also considered a doctor. However, anyone knows that to become a doctor require
s the proper training and perception to see if the child will be a qualified doc
tor or not. Just being born in the family of a doctor does not mean that the chi
ldren will also be doctors, although this may help. But they surely are not doct
ors merely by birth. Training and intelligence must be there. And before trainin
g, there also must be the proclivity, tendency, and attraction to even be a doct
or. Without that, no amount of training will be of much use because the student
will still not want to be, or qualify to be a doctor. Therefore, this form of mo
dern day casteism is useless.
This form of materialistic casteism was practiced five hundred years ago, during
the time of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who was considered an incarnation of the S
upreme Being. However, Sri Caitanya paid no mind to these social customs. He saw
them as a way that the hereditary Brahmanas were merely protecting their own po
sition and privileges and not spreading spiritual well-being, which is their dut
y. Even during that time the Brahmanas had the idea that if they ate with or tou
ched anyone outside the Brahmana caste, they would risk losing their own social
rank. Sri Caitanya, however, ignored such restrictions and readily accepted invi
tations to eat with the sincere devotees of the Lord, or also embrace them, even
if they were of the lowest social position. To Sri Caitanya, it was their devot
ion that gave them whatever qualification they needed. In this way, He dismissed
the materialistic method of casteism. By this action He also showed that it was
not birth that was important, but one s consciousness, intentions, and spiritual
awareness that was the prominent factor, which superseded the rank of one s body o
r family. It is this which actually determines one s personality, character, and a
bilities, not merely one s birth. This is actually how we should see people and tr
eat them equally as spiritual beings inside material bodies.
WHAT IS THE ORIGINAL VEDIC SYSTEM CALLED VARNASHRAMA.
The original Vedic system called varnashrama was legitimate and virtuous. It was
meant for the progressive organization of society. Varnashrama is the Vedic sys
tem that divides society into four natural groups depending on individual charac
teristics and dispositions. Everyone has certain tendencies by their own natural
inclinations and choice. These inclinations are also seen in one s occupational p
references. These activities are divided into four basic divisions called varnas
. Varna literally means color, relating to the color or disposition of one s consc
iousness, and, thus, one s likelihood of preferring or showing various tendencies
for a particular set of occupations. This would be determined not by one s birth,
but by one s proclivities as observed by the teachers in the school that the stude
nt was attending.
For example, there are those who prefer to offer service to society through phys
ical labor or working for others, or through various forms of expressions like d
ance and music (called Shudras); those who serve through agriculture, trade, com
merce, business, and banking or administrative work (Vaishyas); those who have t
he talents of leaders, government administration, police or military, and the pr
otection of society (Kshatriyas); and those who are by nature intellectuals, con
templative, and inspired by acquiring spiritual and philosophical knowledge, and
motivated to work in this way for the rest of society (the Brahmanas). It was n
ever a factor of whether a person had a certain ancestry or birth that determine
d which class was most appropriate for him or her, although being born in a part
icular family or tribe would give a natural likelihood to continue in the same l
ine of activity.
Ashramas divided society for spiritual reasons. These were Brahmacharya (student
s), Grihasthas (householders), Vanaprasthas (the retired stage, at which time a
person begins to give up materialistic pursuits and focus on spiritual goals), a
nd Sannyasa (those who were renounced from all materialistic affairs, usually to
ward the end of their lives, and completely dedicated to spiritual activities).
This provided a general pattern for one s life in which people could work out thei
r desires and develop spiritually at the same time.
In this way, the system of varnashrama came into existence according to the natu
ral tendencies of people, and to direct them so that everyone could work togethe
r according to the needs of society. The ashramas divided an individual s life so
that a person could fulfill all of one s basic desires as well as accomplish the s
piritual goals of life. Only according to one s qualities, tendencies, and traits,
usually as one grew up in school, was it determined which varna was best for th
at person. And then he would be trained accordingly to do the most suited work t
hat fit his qualities, much like the way counselors work with students in school
s today. Thus, he or she would have a suitable occupation which he would enjoy,
and make a respectable contribution to society.
Its real purpose was that the system of varnashrama was not to label or restrict
someone. It was actually part of the means for self-discovery and development.
It was to assist a person to find their place in life where he or she would be m
ost comfortable in terms of functionality and occupation. It was to allow the me
ans for everyone to work according to their own nature, which helps bring happin
ess to the individual and society. Thus, a person could study what was most suit
ed for him or her rather than pursue a type of work that was not really in line
with that person s character, and in which he would soon be dissatisfied. So, it w
ould help guide one to more efficiently complete one s life and reach fulfillment.
In this way, the varnashrama system is based on the natural divisions within so
ciety and is not meant to establish forced distinctions or restrictions.
However, beyond this it was meant to help raise the consciousness of humanity fr
om materialism to a higher state of devotional regard for God in spiritual life.
It would help one in managing the physical, mental, intellectual, and spiritual
energy for improving one s health, mental and physical development, and productiv
ity, along with spiritual awareness. Thus, it was meant for helping society to b
ecome spiritually harmonized and make the everyday tasks into a means of spiritu
al progress and growth.
To explain further, in Bhagavad-gita (4.13) Lord Krishna says, According to the t
hree modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the four divisions
of human society were created by Me. Then He continues, Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vai
shyas and Shudras are distinguished by their qualities of work in accordance wit
h the modes of nature. (Bg.18.41) Herein we can see that there is no mention of b
irth as a determining factor for one s varna or classification. They are ascertain
ed by their qualities of work. Furthermore, By following his qualities of work, e
very man can become perfect. . . By worship of the Lord, who is the source of al
l beings and who is all-pervading, man can, in the performance of his own duty [
or occupation], attain perfection. (Bg.18.45-6)
Herein we can understand that these divisions are created by the Lord so that ev
eryone can be rightly situated in the work and activities that are most suitable
for each person, and in which they can feel most comfortable. Whatever occupati
onal tendency a person may have is determined by the modes of material nature on
e has acquired, or in which he or she associates. Beyond this, these classificat
ions are to organize society in a way that can help in the systematic developmen
t of the spiritual consciousness of all mankind.
In the Vishnu Purana (3.8.9) Lord Parasharama also says, The Supreme Lord Vishnu
is worshiped by the proper execution of prescribed duties in the system of varna
and ashrama. There is no other way to satisfy the Lord. So, by engaging in this
varnashrama system the Supreme Lord can be satisfied with one s occupation. It is
a way of making one s work and activities into devotional service to the Lord. How
ever, it may be pointed out that a person in pure spiritual consciousness is abo
ve all such designations, even though for his service to God he may act in any o
ne of these divisions at any given time. Devotional service to the Lord is never
restricted by any classification of actions. Any activity becomes completely sp
iritual when it is an expression of one s devotion or love of God.
Now we can understand how the Vedic arrangement of varnashrama provides the mean
s for each person in each varna to be able to make spiritual advancement by offe
ring one s activities to the Lord. It is the way a person can directly engage in b
hakti-yoga, or devotional service to the Supreme. Thus, in whatever position one
is in, all of one s duties can become an offering of love to God, which becomes t
he highest level of meditation, intention, or activity.
If everyone engages their talents and tendencies in his or her particular occupa
tion with the idea that it is a service to God, then that occupation becomes the
means for one s worship and thoughts or meditation on the Supreme. If one thinks
like this always, then, by the grace of the Lord, he will be delivered from mate
rial existence. This is the highest perfection of life. In whatever occupation p
eople may be engaged, if they serve the Supreme Lord, they will achieve this hig
hest level of success. It is by this means that the spiritual form of varnashram
a can satisfy the Lord, and everyone makes spiritual advancement. As society pro
gresses in this way, all working together for the satisfaction of the Lord, they
forget who is in what position, or that there seems to be a difference, because
spiritually they are all transcendental. Thus, everyone rises above the materia
l platform by dint of their spiritual work in devotional service. Then the harmo
nious and advanced nature of the mode of goodness, as found in the age of Satya-
yuga, can be invoked even in this dark age of Kali-yuga.
The system of varnashrama exists naturally everywhere because people will always
have the tendencies for what they want to do, or have particular qualities for
occupational skills. And these can invariably be divided into the four above-men
tioned groups. This is natural, and, as we have seen the evidence here, it has b
een formed by the Supreme Creator. Therefore, it will always be in existence in
some shape or form.
This system, however, was never meant to divide people according to materialisti
c classifications. It was meant to unite people in a cooperative society in the
service of God. In Vedic times, even the Shudras had the same rights as those of
the other varnas, and their dignity was preserved without discrimination. In th
is way, everyone would be satisfied materially and work in a way for the Lord s pl
easure. The Vedic culture, ultimately, was for the well-being and spiritual adva
ncement of the whole society. Forced designation or untouchability was never a p
art of the Vedic process. The materialistic system of the present-day casteism h
as deteriorated into a means of dividing society according to mere parentage to
control certain groups, while protecting or expanding the worldly happiness of t
he privileged. Thus, additional groups have been manufactured to accommodate thi
s, such as those who are described as outcastes or untouchables . Actually, there i
s no word as untouchable in any of the Vedic scriptures. This is merely a modern i
nvention.
Logically speaking, if a person is not performing any unhygienic activities, the
n why should he be called a Dalit, or an untouchable, simply because of the fami
ly in which he was born? Even after performing something dirty, one need only wa
sh oneself properly to be clean again. Likewise, to raise one s consciousness to a
higher awareness or frequency of activity, one need only participate in the Ved
ic methods of spiritual advancement, which must be done regardless of one s rank o
r varna, whether Shudra or Brahmana.
On the other hand, I have seen Brahmanas in India who ate eggs, ate meat, and dr
ank alcohol, all considered to be dirty or contaminating things. How does one cl
ean oneself from that if he is considered a clean and pure Brahmana? It means th
at such a person is hardly a Brahmana at all, even if he is born in a Brahmana f
amily. So classification is to be judged by qualities, habits, and the content o
f one s character, not by mere title and birth.
So, as it stands today, the present form of casteism is a great curse on Hinduis
m. It attacks the core of its spiritual philosophy, and has resulted in large nu
mbers of Hindus converting to other religions in an attempt to become free of it
. Therefore, it needs to be replaced by the genuine system of varnashrama, or si
mply thrown out completely. However, there are groups or spiritual institutions
of Vedic followers who have set the proper example and are open to everyone, and
do not divide people or consider them according to their birth. The members all
view each other as equals working together for spiritual cooperation and advanc
ement.
In the Bhagavad-gita (18.42), Lord Krishna explains that the natural qualities o
f the Brahmanas are peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, ho
nesty, wisdom, and knowledge. The Mahabharata (1) also explains that a Brahmana
must be perfectly religious. He must be truthful and able to control his senses.
He must execute severe austerities and be detached, humble, and tolerant. He mu
st not envy anyone, and must be expert in performing religious sacrifices and gi
ving whatever he has in charity. He must be fixed in devotional service and expe
rt in Vedic knowledge. These are the twelve qualifications for a Brahmana. The M
ahabharata (Vana Parva, Chapter 180) also goes on with a quote from Yudhisthira,
that a Brahmana possesses truthfulness, charity, forgiveness, sobriety, gentlen
ess, austerity, and a lack of hatred.
So the point is that, unfortunately, in today s form of casteism, when we see Brah
manas who are proud of their position, or who desire material benefit, or look c
ondescendingly at those of lower castes, they are not really elevated but are ma
terialistic. This means that they have lost the true qualities of Brahmanas. The
y actually help promote contempt throughout casteism. Thus, for those that act t
his way, and not all of them do, only by birth are they called Brahmanas, but th
e necessary qualifications are not found in them. In fact, the very people that
may pride themselves for their high social classifications, and are supposed to
be the spiritual leaders of society (the Brahmanas), only indicate their lack of
qualifications by focusing on the temporary material designations when they are
supposed to be above such things.
A final point in this regard comes from Suta Gosvami who says in the Srimad-Bhag
avatam (1.2.8) that such occupational duties a man performs according to his own
position are only so much useless labor if they do not provoke attraction for t
he message of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This means that the modern mat
erialistic form of casteism that we find today is no longer connected with the V
edic system of varnashrama. It misses the point of helping everyone make spiritu
al advancement by focusing on our spiritual identity of being the soul within th
e body, or to please the Supreme Lord. Thus, the caste system has become simply
a materialistic, useless, and destructive system.

Let me first refute the theory that Varnas were by "quality". In those days, the
re were no standardized ways of ascertaining qualities. There were no impartial
ways of making a judgement on the children. There were no common school system.
In order to enter a school system itself, you needed "birth". For example Karna
could not enroll to the schools which the 5 brothers and 100 cousins were able t
o attend just by birth. A person of Viswamitra (or was it Vasista? I do not know
the story well) belonged to a kingly class but to become a brahmin, he had to u
ndergo tough tests! But did the sons of the neighborhood Brahmins go through the
se tests? Nope. Did the failed Brhamin boys become Sudra boys and married Sudra
girls? Nope. Such a system based on qualities did not exist! Practically, it was
not possible. Everything was by birth. HOWEVER, the society might have expected
such qualities from the castes as mere expectations game!
Varnas might have come after the castes (Jathies would have come first actually)
. The Rig Veda is very vivid. It presenta a scenario where Aryans fought and sub
dued Dasus and subjugated them. Dasus were of different color and language. This
is how the castes came and then the Varna came perhaps as a super groupings.

Any great invention has both positive and negative effects like the two sides of
the coin. As long as the positive outweighs the negative, one can safely continu
e to use it, and when the coin (the effect of the invention) flips causing more
damage than good, it has to be discontinued' Now just absorb this and remember t
his through out this answer.
Let's just understand the cause for the development of a society.
Humans have observed that instead of a single person doing all variety of work,
we could collaborate and each of us doing a specialized job lead to a higher eff
iciency and productivity. Now the knowledge a person had acquired during the pra
ctice of the skill during his life-time was passed down. That started the divisi
on of labor. So, in India, the Caste-System was developed to sort people into th
at division of labor, so as to help that knowledge be passed down to the right p
eople (who are having an aptitude for it) and selectively group together so as t
o let a skill develop.
But as it usually happens with all good systems over long periods of time, some
people stopped following the code and tried to steer the system being advantageo
us to them. Initially it was only based on profession and skill. But soon people
(especially those with significantly higher valued skill-set) started to train
their biological off-springs to boost their chances of being in that professiona
l group(caste). Over the decades, it has changed more from an aptitude based pas
sage of skill to a birth based passage skills. There in comes negatives of the s
ystem, the caste group was gradually being majorly conferred to the off-springs
of those who were in the same caste in the previous generation than to those wit
h ancestors of different caste.
Often, our immediate reaction to a sudden crisis helps us save ourselves. Our res
ponse to gradual crises that creep up upon us, on the other hand, may be so adap
tive as to ultimately lead to self destruction. Similarly the Caste-System which
was devised to be beneficial to the society soon started turning into hindrance
for the society. Over the centuries, caste became the tool of oppression.
Now after millenniums of similar changes, soon it turned totally a birth based p
aradigm rather than a work-ability based paradigm.
That is the Indian caste-system in short

I had a Pilipino colleague while I worked in Malaysia. I asked him about his cas
te. He did not know his caste. This is true with most of the countries other tha
n India. He said he is 50% Pilipino, 25% Chinese and 25% Vietnamese. His father
was born out of Chinese, Vietnamese parents who married a Pilipino.
Brahmin is an upper most caste in India.
Traditionally in India, son or a daughter of a Brahmin family automatically is c
onsidered to be a Brahmin.
In olden days, scriptures divided Hindus in to four sects based on their work pr
ofile. They were Brahmin (intellectuals), Khatriya (warriors), Vaishya (merchant
s) and Kshudra (helpers). Marriages were strictly within castes / sub-castes. As
per the scriptures, caste movement from one caste to other, was intended / allo
wed based on the profession of the next generation. This means a Brahmin s son, if
he became a trader will become Vaishya. However, this was not practiced. Who wo
uld like to be demoted? Brahmins wrote interpretation of scriptures in Sanskrit,
a language which was not understood by other castes. Interpretation was conveni
ently done to favour themselves. Lower caste families, in turn were not allowed
to become Brahmins in spite of their being Brahmin by purity of thought, nobilit
y of action. A Kshudra, for instance, was not permitted to become a priest in th
e temple nor conduct a public pooja. Rules were polluted to encourage practice o
f untouchability (to ill treat Kshudras) harmful to the society. In India, Brahmin
s can easily be known based on the family names causing ease of discrimination.
In the recent times, inter caste marriages have become common thing in educated
middle and higher class society. Brahmin boy or a girl marrying a lower caste gi
rl or a boy is initially frowned upon by Brahmin parents but is later being acce
pted as they do not seem to have a choice.
These days, youngsters prefer to go to a profession which is more paying and wil
l quickly improve their standard of living. Thus it s quite common to see a Brahmi
n businessman (doing Vaishya s work) or a Kshudra writer, poet or an artist (doing
Brahmin s work).
It s only because Kshudras historically have for long time, remained poor due to n
ature of the work (less paying), that they continue to be comparatively economic
ally backward. Poverty forces them to terminate education of their children and
make them work for living at lower age, leading to poor literacy and continuing
economic backwardness. They thus still remain in this evil vicious circle. This
is despite Government efforts to offer them concessions in education and jobs.
Time is not far, when the caste lines will become further thinner and eventually
, families will be formed purely on the basis of complementary professions or ec
onomic status, cris-crossing today s hereditary caste lines.
As India moves up the value chain economically, like other developed economies,
Literacy and affluence will improve. This will lead to Kshudras also joining the
inter caste marriage band wagon.
Caste system in India will get diluted with literacy in the years to come.

The Caste system of India is perhaps one of the most misunderstood and deplored
societal arrangements of the world today. Many Indians and most westerners perce
ive the caste system as a societal evil that has been instrumental in the highe
r castes exploiting the lower ones through the ages. While it cannot be denied t
hat the caste system in India has been grossly misutilised lately in serving the
ego of the so called 'higher caste' , it is worthwhile investigating how the Ca
ste system came into existence in the first place , how the society was divided
into the various castes, what was the system intended for and most interestingly
, how it facilitated the overall for development of the Vedic society. Let us no
w find out what the vedic scriptures have to tell us about the subject.
Bhagavad Gita, which is regarded as the essence of all vedic literatures, descri
bes the qualities of the people belonging to the four castes:
Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, knowledge, wi
sdom and religiousness these are the natural qualities by which the brahmanas work
.
[B.G. 18.42]
Heroism, power, determination, resourcefulness, courage in battle, generosity an
d leadership are the natural qualities of work for the ksatriyas. [B.G. 18.43]
Farming, cow protection and business are the natural work for the vaisyas, and f
or the sudras there is labor and service to others. [B.G. 18.44]
In addition to this, Krishna also says :
It is better to engage in one s own occupation, even though one may perform it impe
rfectly, than to accept another s occupation and perform it perfectly. Duties pres
cribed according to one s nature are never affected by sinful reactions. [B.G. 18.4
7]
So what makes a person Brahmin, Kshatriya, vaishya or Sudra ? Is it his birth? I
s it his upbringing ? or is it his qualities?
Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that he has created this system:-
catur-varnyam maya srstam
guna-karma-vibhagasahh
tasya kartaram api mam
viddhy akartaram avyayam
Translation- According to the three modes of material nature and the work associ
ated with them, the four divisions of human society are created by Me. And altho
ugh I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the nondoer,
being unchangeable. (Bhagavad Gita 4.13)
So the Vedas recognize different people have different skills and qualifications
, but it is no by birth, it is by guna [qualification] and karma [work]. So if s
omeone born of a sudra [worker] father becomes qualified [guna] and works as [ka
rma] a brahmana he should be accepted as a brahmana. In the same way if the son
of a brahmana doesn t have the qualifications of a brahmana or work as a brahmana
then he is not a brahmana. There are so many examples of this in the Vedic scrip
tures.

A BRAHMANA CAN EASILY FALL DOWN, WHILE A SHUDRA CAN EASILY RISE UP
If a person considers himself to be a Brahmana by birth but engages in [such thin
gs as] taking care of cows, buffalos, goats, horses, camels, or sheep, or acts a
s a messenger, tax collector, businessman, painter [artist], or dancer, he shoul
d be considered as not a real Brahmana, even though he may be very expert or pow
erful.
(BP, 38.36-37)
Brahmanas who have deviated from the path of righteousness as propagated by the s
criptures are to be considered fallen [from their social status], even though th
ey may belong to a very aristocratic family, and have performed all the required
purificatory rituals, and carefully studied the Vedas. No amount of accomplishm
ents gives one the right to justify sinful behavior. (BP, 38.42-43)
Thus, it can be understood how a Brahmana can become a Shudra, a Shudra can becom
e a Brahmana, a Kshatriya can become a Brahmana or a Vaishya, and so on. (BP, 38.
47)
For example, Vyasadeva was the son of a fisherman s daughter, his father Parashara
was born from a woman who was a dog-eater. Shukadeva was born from a female parr
ot, Vashishtha was the son of a prostitute and others sages like Kanada, Shringi,.
Mandapala, and Mandavya all had questionable births, and yet all were highly qu
alified Brahmanas, and recognized as such.

WHEN A BRAHMANA BECOMES LOWER THAN A SHUDRA


According to Svayambhuva Manu, the principal characteristic of a Brahmana is that
he possesses spiritual knowledge, is enriched with the power of penance, and ma
intains a state of purity. According to this understanding, anyone, whether he b
elongs to an upper, middle, or lower caste, if he never indulges in sinful
activities, he must be considered a Brahmana. It is said that an honest and well
-behaved Shudra is better than an arrogant Brahmana, and a Brahmana who disregar
ds the prescribed codes of good conduct is inferior to a Shudra. A Shudra that d
oes not keep wine in his shop or in his house is called an honest Shudra. (BP, 42
.29-32)

In the Srimad Bhagavad Gita ( 4.13 ), the Lord states : According to the three mo
des of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the four divisions of huma
n society were created by Me. And, although I am the creator of this system, you
should know that I am yet the non-doer, being unchangeable. He clearly points out
that this classification is based on not on birth but on the qualities, conscio
usness and abilities of an individual

Caste is a fancy word to legalize Nepotism.


And Nurture it, grow it.
About the system, well, it's an institution. To make sure that people from one g
roup do not threaten the prosperity of the other.

I beg your pardon but caste system WAS not dirty. It was one of the best way to
decide sharing of Duties. People who teach or do sacrificial rites are Brahmin,
people who were in charge of defense and protection of clan are Khsatriya. Peopl
e in the field of commerce were Vaishya and Shudras were people engaged in labor
ious job.
Now understand that it was a time when there were no IIT or other technical inst
itutes.
Now best way to pass on knowledge of certain trait was to pass it on to next ge
neration. It was supposed that the son of a blacksmith was better fit for the ro
le of blacksmith than Goldsmith.
It was all equal. And only one who was above the all four castes was he/she who
had attained supreme knowledge and he/she could be anyone.
The problem aroused when people start to discriminate other for the job they do.
They started thinking themselves superior than others. They also started to sto
p the exchange of talents between castes. And that is the root of all issues.
So you see caste system itself was not dirty, it is human nature which degraded
it in this way.

Hinduism doesn't speak about Caste system. It speaks about the Varna system. Va
rna system was similar to today's class category system(e.g Class 1 officer, Cla
ss 2 officer). There were four Varnas namely..
Brahmins: Consisting of Priests, teachers and Preachers.
Kshatriyas: Consisting of King, governor, warrior and soldiers.
Vaishyas: Consisting of cattle herders, agriculturists, businessmen, artisan and
merchants.
Shudras: Laborers and Service providers.
People belonged to particular Varna according to their profession. A son of a Sh
udra could become a Brahmin and A son of a Kshatriya could become a Vaishya. Thi
s entire system was job oriented. Now take this example...
Will an IAS officer look down upon a laborer?
The answer will be "YES". A person holding High position will never befriend a p
erson who is lower to him.
The same thing happened in ancient times. Brahmins started looking down upon Shu
dras because they held a lower position. This created a rift between different V
arnas. This lead to formation of hierarchy.
Now, all the Priests, Teachers and Preachers belonged to Brahmin Varna. They wer
e supposed to look after the religious practices, scriptures. They were responsi
ble for transferring Vedic scriptures to next generations until they were writte
n down. As they started looking down upon lower Varnas, "some" of them corrupted
some scriptures in their favor. They corrupted religious texts(like Manusmriti)
. Now this corrupted knowledge was transferred from I generation to another. Soo
n it became caste system.
So, basically Varna system was for good purpose but it took a wrong turn. Varna
was allocated according to what we do and not according to whom we were born....

P.S: Try finding out the meaning of you caste in local language. It will most of
the time be associated with a profession...

I'm taking on a unique perspective on the issue of caste. Seeing it in the angle
of many ethnic groups.
As for the many communities in India called castes, they aren't castes. They are
distinct tribal communities with unique histories, cultural and social traditio
ns. Their tasks spanned across the four Varna system. Some major ethnic communit
ies in India are Rajputs, Jats, Ahirs, Brahmins and Banias. Note that these trib
es span across religious, sectarian, linguistic and regional divides. This is wh
y all of the world's 60 million or so Brahmins are all just one tribal community
with different sectarian, religious and linguistic divisions. The Brahmin peopl
e did all tasks from latrine work to scholarly work. These tribal communities ar
e better known as Jati. This division works much like the tribal system of Pakht
uns or Balochis.
Some tribal communities such as the Kamma/Kapu and Reddy people of Andhra Prades
h and Telangana or the Mudaliar and Pillai or Tamil Nadu are tribes withing the
Tamil and Telugu ethnicities. Some tribes, such as the Rajput people, are so big
they are ethnicities unto themselves.
Punjabi is an ethnic community with tribes like Jats and Khatri. Bengali are an
ethnic community while Kayastha and Brahmins are tribal communities that fall un
der the Bengali ethnicity.
Doing a campaign of promoting inter-caste/tribe marriage would amalgamate all of
India's unique cultures and traditions into one. This would be a disaster. Rath
er to stop the discrimination, we should treat the SC communities such as the Ch
amar, Valmiki, Bhangi, Mahar, Mazhabi, etc with respect. This isn't a social cla
ss discrimination. This is selective violence against certain ethnic groups that
has to stop.?
I am a an ethnic Tamil and tribally Brahmin whose sect is the Sri Vaishnava ideo
logy. I am not taking this perspective to uphold a superiority complex. I don't
hold such supremacist thoughts. I am expressing concern for how intercaste marriag
e is being promoted. Intercaste marriage will not solve discrimination. Rather, ac
knowledging the discrimination and violence the downtrodden tribal communities f
ace and stopping such incidences from occuring will solve the discrimination, vi
olence and torture the downtrodden Dalit communities face.

Manusmriti .. I guess .. Divided people into 4 varnas .. Caste system was not f
ound in India earlier, we had only varnas..Caste came into existence after the B
ritish occupation of INdia. Caste - derived from the italian word Castos or Cost
os !! Varna's were earlier change able and people used to change from one to oth
er.. Also there was no up and down among varnas all the 4 classes were treated e
qually..

Hundred and thousands of year back, there were no caste and religion.
Initially, rulers divided people on the basis of work to run their administratio
n well.
Some were given to study and were called pandit/ bramins.
Some were given to cultivate land and they were called as bhumiyar.
One who make foot wear were called chamar, etc
And there next generation did the same work and there work later became caste.

It comes from a deep sense of correlation between a person's job and their intri
nsic worth in society. Casteism takes it a notch further and entire families are
put into one caste (thereby making job and status hereditary). Casteism makes i
t difficult for lower income lower case jobs to me move up. It's highly anti mer
itocratic.
In my ancestral home, my eldest aunt hired a maid from a lower caste and she had
been around for almost 40 years. Pretty much every one in my parent's generatio
n treated her like shit. I respected her a lot, her work ethic inspired me. Indi
a has a custom to touch an elders feet as a sign of respect. I touched her feet
during a festival. She was startled, higher caste people never touch a lower cas
te person's feet. My parents flipped out and later disciplined me and many elder
s chastised me. I stopped respecting the vast majority of them and never touched
any elderly relatives feet from then on.
Indians are deeply entrenched in this worldview, and this kind of behavior is co
nsidered normal. I hope this explains the concept.

The modern caste system in India, which has rightly been outlawed in India,is a
perversion of the original Vedic social system.
Many secular people like to judge the original Vedic social system according to
the values and prejudice, they have been taught in the Western culture they grew
up in. But the Vedic social system - varnashram dharma - is to be found all ove
r the world.
Krishna says:
According to the three modes of material nature and the work associated with the
m, the four divisions of human society are created by Me. And although I am the
creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the nondoer, being unchang
eable. (Bg. 4.13)
In all human societies one can observe four types of human beings - the worker-t
ype (skilled or unskilled), the merchant and business-type, the worrior and stat
esman-type, and the intellectual, priest or philosopher-type.
These four human types are to be found in all societies, and the varnashram soci
al system, or the caste-system as it is infamously called, is merely a scientifi
c description and organization of these different human types in society.
It is noteworthy, that Krishna says that the different human types are not to be
determined by birth, but by one's ability and bodily tendency. Besides, before
the Americans after WWII replaced the old traditions with their Coca-cola and Ho
llywood culture, people in Europe followed the varnashram system. The Church gav
e direction and defined the moral and ethics. The king ruled and enforced. The m
erchants and farmers traded, grew food, and created economy, and the worker, art
ist, and musician worked and entertained.
That the Church by time became corrupt and abused its power, is a different matt
er. The same thing happened in the Varnashrama social system in India, where the
brahmins began to misuse and distort the system.
In an ideal society, the state governs in accordance with the directions of the
sages and priests. But modern society is being run by the economy. It's the merc
hants who rule society and establishes its values and norms. That's why modern s
ociety is on its way over the brink.
Society can be likened to a body. The brahmins (the intelletual, the philosopher
, the sage, the priest, and the teacher) are the head of the body. The Kshatriya
s (the warrior, the king, the politician, military, and police) are the arms. Th
e vaishyas (the farmer, the merchant, and the banker) are the belly; and the shu
dras (the worker, the skilled worker, the artist, the musician, the actor, and e
veryone who serves the other castes) are the legs.
The body is meant to be directed by the head. The function of the arms is to pro
tect the body. The stomack's function is to nourish the body and distribute ener
gy, and the function of the legs is to move the body here and there.
The modern Coca-cola society is a culture that is run by the belly. The merchant
s are in charge. It ought to be the head, but the modern society is more or less
head-less. Or the head is governed by money. The present social body is bereft
of a goal in life and long term-vision. It just stumbles along according to the
dictation of its senses. Such a society, harmful and destructive as it is, natur
ally won't be allowed to dominate the world for long.
Nature is quite capable of regulating herself. That's why at the present moment,
the modern western civilization is in the process of being demolished by nature
. It is too harmful and destructive to nature and her inhabitants to be allowed
to go on.
Krishna says:
This material nature, which is one of My energies, is working under My direction
, O son of Kunti, producing all moving and nonmoving beings. Under its rule this
manifestation is created and annihilated again and again. (Bg. 9.10)

In Indian Mythological literature like PURANA and Samhita's..


There are 18 Purana's
And numerous samhita's and Upanishada's
There is one Samhita called Manusamhita..
This samhita gives details of four varna and how they come to existance etc..etc
..
Moral of the story..
One writer who claims his name Manu in the past is solely responsible for starti
ng this varna and Ashram's..
There are some evidences of this system in other purana,Geeta, Mahabharat Ramaya
na as well...
On basis of this some people has started the caste system..
May be it was as per businesses but later it was established by birth..
Totally ridiculous system and nobody having brain can digest this type of filth
given in this literature..
In the name of sanatan dharma they are trying to continue this..
There is one good book in Gujarati literature written by Sachchidanand Swami ( D
antali vala)..you can read regarding benefits and disadvantages of caste system.
.

In addition to all the excellent answers given here, I would like to add one mor
e citation from our sastras which is the following hymn:
Janmana jayate sudrah
Samskarat dwij ucchte
Ved pathanat bhavet viprah
Brahma jnana iti brahmanah
Which means that, by birth every one is of a lower caste and after that your cas
te will be upgraded based on your thoughts and deeds. If your thoughts and deeds
are noble you are determined as upper caste.
In the process of evolution of Caste system, as said by Balaji Viswanathan, the
caste system may be built upon the profession of the people to which they belong
.

I recommend reading Louis Dumont, Homo Hierarchicus, a historical treatment of t


he caste system, reflecting the reality until the 1950's (and for comparison, hi
s Homo Aequalis is equally of interest)

The prevalence of group identities referred to as castes. The word as used in mo


dern European languages comes from a root meaning pure and reflects what is term
ed as VARNA.
Varna according to VEDAS is formulaic and orderly, dividing Society into four gr
oups arranges in a hierarchy - The Brahman (Priest), Kshatriya (Warrior aristoc
rat), Vaishya (Cultivator and Trader) and Shrudra (who labour for the others), t
he fifth being the untouchable and therefore beyond the table.
However, there have been other ways of looking at the origins and functioning of
caste society. A concept used equally frequently for caste is JATI. It is deriv
ed from a root meaning BIRTH . The number of JATIS are listed by name and are too n
umerous to be easily counted. The hierarchical ordering of JATIS is neither cons
istent not uniform, although hierarchy cannot be denied. Sometime the concept of
JATI and VARNA overlap. Now the question is how caste society evolved?
Some scholars believe the earliest division in the society was based on VARNA an
d JATI is the subdivision of VARNA. This is found in VEDIC corpus. According to
VEDIC literature there is four division of society BRAHMAN, KSHARTIYA, VAISHYA a
nd SHUDRA.

In today s world - when we try to understand an ancient system we should understan


d the situation existing at the ancient time as well. What is misleading in all
the answers for this question is people are trying to show that there was a coun
try called India for thousands of years and this caste system was existing in th
e land - which is utter stupidity. Also please understand the difference between
the mythology and history while looking at this kind of topics. Many of the ans
wers given in this thread, seems to confuse both of it.
The present day country India found its demography only after 1947 and around th
at time period - when many European colonial powers left Asian continent. The la
nd mass in the present day India was never was called as India in any period of
time. The term was used to refer this part of the continent. It is a westerners
perception that there is a country called India which was rich in spices and other
riches, that they were sailing around to find it. But they were acutally lookin
g for a subcontinent filled will many countries as diverse as Europe or even mor
e diverse than it. So the point I am trying to make here is, the caste system we
are discussing here, do not belong to a country or a region but it belonged to
a belief system . The belief system is written in a particular language - Sanskrit
- therefore it belonged to the people who spoke it and believed in that system.
The history, origin, migration, nativity of this language and its migration is h
ighly debatable. To date, there is no other languages spoken in the world, inclu
ding other languages spoken in India, have been reported to have the concept of
belief system described in Sanskrit. The Sanskrit literature such as Vedas, Upan
ishads, etc., were not translated to other languages until this century. The peo
ple who claimed to own the rights of the language - self proclaimed to be the to
p of the caste pyramid - as described in their own belief system and placed othe
rs under them.
Unless we find the actual origin and route of Sanskrit language, we cannot deter
mine if the caste system belong to this land mass. There is no archaeological pr
oof in India for any of the mythological stories mentioned in this belief system
which makes it difficult to judge where this system come from. All the religiou
s places found in India, said to be the places mentioned in the mythological sto
ries, have much younger age calculated by carbon dating - mostly built after 10th
century. This only indicates that most of the places were built for a religious
cause and remembrance of incidents mentioned in mythology.
The kingdoms ruling various countries in this region, where the kings, accepted
the belief system adopted the recommendations made in the belief system. So it w
as brought and imposed by the believers through the political system just like h
ow it is done in other religious movements across the world.
At the moment, the Republic of India, make all citizens to be equal, so anyone i
mposing this caste based belief system is strictly illegal. Indian constitution
has drawn a plan to slowly remove this system from the people who are following
it. People advocating these fundamentalism and barbaric ideology can be consider
ed as anti-nationals.

I want to make it more humble, even before 2000 years ago.. In the gurukula syst
em the guru was the person who choose the caste to a person, caste was not by bi
rth..
by guru how was the caste choosen?
The person who was physically strong was chosen to be kshatriya.(to protect dhar
ma)
The person who mentally very strong with knowledge was chosen to be brahman(to c
heck the welfare of the society and guide them in proper way)
The person who was not that mentally strong but was capable of knowledge was cho
sen to be vaishya(in trade to complete the needs of society)
The person who was not mentally or physically strong was sent to the shudras whe
re he would serve the rest of the people.(to create a balance in the society)

caste was never by birth, bitter truth..

Later after Mughals invaded india, this caste system became intense due to the c
onversion methods of kings and gap grew larger in the society.

The caste system was a system to catagorise people on their skills. It was an an
cient Vedic system of knowing a persons trait. It was never hereditary, and not
like the system we know it today. The word cast is not even Indian it is Portuge
se. When the Eurpoeans came they saw the system we had and classified it on the
standard they believed, a class system.
This was never the way the system worked, but, as with all ideas given to us by
the colonialists we took it to another level and made it our own and felf that p
rivaledge and systems to catagorise people were for the best. This worked well f
or the British to hold onto India to keep a division between the people. As with
Indian culture we are very good at absorbing culture and ideas and integrating
it within our own culture whether it be good or bad.

Every society has their shares of fools, So do we, Some Hindus quote Manusmriti
as divine law given by Manu, but they are just Idiots who knew nothing about Hin
duism.
Manusmriti is a Puranic period text, with no religious significance, composed by
some unknown author using the name of Mythical character Manu.
The character Manu was mentioned in very few puranic period texts.
Manu was a central character in Puranic period mythical story of The great flood ,
as progenitor of the mankind, The flood story was told in Mahabharat (Mahabharat
containing 100000 verses is Puranic period edition of original Jaya-Bharat whic
h has just 8000 24000 verses compiled during Vedic period)
The myth of the great flood can be found in every part of the word on every cont
inent in every culture, Its origin is unknown, but one can not deny the fact tha
t no such flood story is mentioned in any of the Vedic texts.
None of the Vedic texts - Rigveda, Yajurveda, Athavaveda, Samvaveda, Samhita, Br
ahmana, Aranyaka, Upnishads, Vedanta, Vedanga etc. - Ever mentioned Manu, Even R
emotley there is no reference of Manu.
Smriti texts has no religious significance, they are just authors views on thing
s or his interpretation or commentaries, and can be changed according to the sit
uation or you can write your own Smriti.
Varna is different from Caste system
Varna is determined by your Karma, whereas Caste divides people by birth.
Varna system -
When doing my service to the society I m shudra,
When earning for my family and contributing to the society I m vaishya,
When defending my nation, protecting my people, fighting against injustice, help
ing others I m khastriya
In knowledge I m Brahmin
Caste system -
The Practice of Caste system started with the decline of Vedic theology and its
Varna system during the Puranic Period and rise of Puranic theology, Initiated b
y some corrupt Brahmins and Brahminical institutions who colluded to maintain th
eir superiority and dominance in the social system and to further secure it for
their future generations. To support this various mythical scriptures were writt
en in the form of Puranas and Smritis.
These Puranas and Smritis were Influenced by Dominating Elite class, Religious S
ects and Cults, Local folklore's and Legends.
New Deities were created with a mythical stories to promote their policy of domi
nance and schemetically degrading of the Vedic Gods again with the help mythical
stories as they are threat to their ploy and existence.
Various corrupt social practices came to existence like Casteism, Superstition,
Rituals, Changes in cultural Norms, Customs and Traditions.

In the beginning, the indian caste system was based on occupation and for easy a
dministration. But later on, people started following the caste system mainly fo
r the benefits that one can get by using the name of their caste.
Traditionally the people from higher castes(kings,etc.) were given more benefits
than the people in the lower castes. Later when the government was set up, it g
ave benefits to the traditioanlly discriminated groups in two ways:
1. Weak preferential treatment- This gives the people of the traditionally discr
iminated group an advantage over equally qualified memebers of the other groups
2. Strong preferential treatment- This gives the people of the traditionally dis
criminated group an advantage over more qualified memebers of the other groups
The caste problem wont be over until all these preferential treatments are stopp
ed. But if that happens, many of the politcians and people in power will lose th
eir positions because they all have used this preferential system to acquire the
ir power. So they will try their best to keep this system going.

1. As Hindu belief goes there were 8400000 total species ( yonis) from which sou
ls could take birth.
2. You start your journey from the lowest level in terms of intelligence and bod
y size, gain experience and ascend upward s.
3. When you reach the stage where you are human. God decide to teach 4 ways of l
iving.
4. First he puts you in shudra form. You have to learn different Kala or skills
like artist, musician, artisan, dancing, craftsman. This is your part of cultura
l building.
5. Then you come to be known as vaishyas. The people related to business and sex
. God teaches you how to earn money in abundance.
6. Then you become Kshatriya. The warrior and king. You now have skills and know
the art to earn money. It is your time to start defending dharma with artha or
money. Money must be used now as protector of dharma.
7 Now you become bhramin. You know how to protect dharma.It is time to preserve
and maintain it, preach and spread it.Nullify a dharma and seek for higher realm
s.
8. You now become vairaggi ( sadhu and sanyaasi), who now has to transcend back
to god and regain the soul form of knowledge like god, and introspect all his pr
evious births.
This is the original message of varna system, which is given by spiritually real
ized and god, which is distorted as human creation. The varnas are different sta
ges of human advancement towards realizing god as human is the best form to do t
hat. But it is true that some times you transcend even before being human.

1)Yes,it is a social system,which ensures to identify the man based on the ident
ity of his family occupation.
2)But,as per hindu sashtra one can not change their occupation. If it is changed
,it is considered crime, and the person envicted for penelisation as per manu sm
urati.
3) now a days, person can change his occupation,due to the implementation of mod
ern constituion of india. But his old identity, based on their forefather occupa
tion remains intact,this identity is caste.
4)based on caste identity those who belongs to service profession,they are restr
icted to study and they are discriminated based on their caste.
5)here,inter caste marrieges are not allowed as per hindu scriptures.they are co
nsidered varna-sankar.means intermingling of race.

According to Hindu mythology, there were originally four major castes based on t
he body parts of Purusha, mankind s original father-figure. The hymns of the Rig-V
eda state:
When they divided Purusha how many portions did they make?
What do they call his mouth, his arms? What do they call his thighs and feet?
The Brahman [the highest caste] was his mouth, of both his arms was the Rajanya
made.
His thighs became the Vaisya, from his feet the Sudra was produced.
Thus, the priestly Brahmans, the highest caste, were supposed to have originated
from Purusha s mouth, his highest part. The governing, or warrior, class (Kshatri
ya or Rajanya) came from his arms. The merchant and farmer class, called the Vai
sya, or Vaishya, originated from his thighs. A lower caste, the Sudra, or Shudra
, or laborer class, resulted from the lowest part of the body, his feet.
Over the centuries even lower castes came into existence, the outcastes and the
Untouchables, or as Mahatma Gandhi called them more kindly, the Harijans, or pers
ons belonging to the god Vishnu. Although untouchability has been illegal in Indi
a since 1948, the Untouchables still have a very hard existence.
In the course of time, the castes multiplied to match just about every professio
n and artisanship in Indian society. This ancient caste system, which keeps ever
yone in his or her social place, is in reality also racial and includes distinct
racial types varying from what is known as the [light-skinned] Aryan to the [dar
ker-skinned] pre-Dravidian stocks. Varna, or caste, means color. The first three cas
tes were Aryans, the fairest people; the fourth caste, that comprising the dark-
skinned aborigines, was non-Aryan. (Myths and Legends Series India, by Donald A. Ma
ckenzie) It is a fact of India s life that the caste system, fortified by the reli
gious teaching of Karma, has millions of people locked into perpetual poverty an
d injustice.

Why is the world so obsessed with India s caste system?


There is an obsessive tendency to project the caste system as a form of social e
xclusivism found only in India. Clearly, not enough attention is being directed
to the history of social hierarchies and exclusions in the western world, nor is
the peculiar development of India s social stratification under British coloniali
sm being fully apprec.
The lines of caste became more rigid on account of various factors such as forei
gn invasions and the British policy of divide and rule . Until the British carried
out a wide-ranging survey from 1881 to list down various surnames into separate
castes, most Indians were not aware of the placing of various castes. Typically,
some family names were affiliated with a particular caste in one village and wi
th a different caste in another village. Suddenly, hard lines of division were d
rawn with the survey. The sense of caste identity emphasized by the British whic
h was aimed at preventing natives from uniting and resisting foreign occupation
created deep schisms within Indian society. The placing of several scheduled cas
tes and tribes into criminal categories by the British also caused the hardening
of the caste lines with disastrous consequences for free India. Funnily, even a
s the class and caste practicing British codified the Indian castes, they did no
t allow English women to marry Indian men, while they had no qualms in taking on
Indian women as concubines.
It must be remembered that the stigmatising and hardening of India s loosely-struc
tured, occupation-based jaati system was a part of the strategy of the Christian
missionaries. When Governor-General John Shore became a member of the evangelic
al Clapham Sect, missionary activity in India increased substantially. Hindus we
re declared to be the most enslaved portion of the human race on account of their
superstitious religion. William Wilberforce, the anti-slavery champion who was a
lso a member of the Clapham Sect declared in the House of Commons in 1813 that e
mancipating Hindus from their religion was as much the sacred duty of every Chri
stian as emancipating Africans from slavery.
No country in the world is free from inequalities. A constant human endeavour fo
r more money and more power ensures that. A discriminatory system has been wides
pread, whether it worked against non-Christians, non-Muslims, blacks, homosexual
s, women, AIDS patients or lepers. The racism that was historically prevalent in
western societies and continues in various forms today is also a kind of pernic
ious caste system. The holocaust has been blamed on Nazism and anti-Semitism, bu
t few have noticed the caste system in which it was embedded Even the United Nat
ions Security Council has its own caste system with just five permanent members,
which have veto powers. The graduates from Ivy League universities and members
of exclusive clubs enjoy their own caste privileges.
It can be argued that India has put together the world s biggest affirmative actio
n plan called Reservations to help the historically disadvantaged castes. With res
erved slots in government schools and colleges, positions in government services
and seats in electoral constituencies, there has been a massive effort to be in
clusive. Whether the effort has yielded results or has resulted in a reverse cast
e system is something that needs to be examined.
The modern stratification of caste-identity in India and its bizarre expressions
is an outcome of the institutionalized policies of the British and Indian gover
nments abetted by the Marxists and minorities, as well as poverty and lack of op
portunities for growth. It is not due to any imagined perversity of the original
classification of society in Hindu traditions.
It is high time the world and Indians themselves stopped typecasting India as th
e land of the caste system and made an effort to understand its beginnings as we
ll as the socio-economic hierarchies in every part of the globe. Having been the
subject of sociological and anthropological studies of the western researchers
for so long, the Indians have begun to believe that like laboratory specimens, t
heir place is under the microscope. It is time to reverse the lenses. There is a
whole world outside India waiting to be examined and understood from an Indian
perspective.

After few 100 years their will be castes like


-CEO
-Manager
-Team Lead
-Developer
-Fresher
-Intern
I think in similar way the castes system evolved though it's significance is man
ipulated by the people for their own
profit.
In rural areas people tries to be Brahmins to get worthless respect from others
and in urban areas people tries to be of lower caste to get reservations.

Dwapar Yuga i.e the one in which Mahabharata happened was the beginning of the V
arna system gradually turning into caste system,for instance the injustice and h
umiliation Karna and Eklavya faced.
Satya yuga i.e during Lord Rama's rule,there was an interesting system in which
you got your caste according to your merit in Gurukul.And that's the reason we s
ee 'some' Bramhins even nowadays speaking ill of Lord Rama.Because even Raavan w
as a Brahmin......
Now as Kalayuga started and is reaching it's peak this caste system is becoming
more and more concrete and our dear politicians are using it for their vote bank
s by spreading hate for other castes,or by providing reservations for some caste
s.

I really doubt whether the concept of VARN is correctly understood. People alway
s consider caste or religion and sometimes equates this to VARN. Other someone e
quates this to the work done by person. NO! VARN is different. Every person is s
eparate individual. Caste (jaati) is some thing which got documented and declare
d which may not correct. You would always surprised to see someone documented sh
udra but clever , documented as kshatriya but timid, documented as vaishya but n
ot in business , documented as brahman but not so clever. This uniqueness of a p
erson can be proved by VARN which is present in your 'Janmkundali'. Because a do
cumented (caste) shudra could be of a Brahman varn and vise varsa. So caste term
inology is not correct. And this 'varn' terminology need not to be considered as
measure of superiority or inferiority, but for self realisation, and progress o
f life as individual and of society and to create win-win situation. Because the
important 4 are equally important for all - dharma, artha, kaam and moksha. Hen
ce varn need to be considered and not some documented category. At the max caste
can be considered as workstream. That's why earlier there were 'Gurukuls' where
pupils had to serve ashram and learn without considering any workstream concept
. Later this documentation got introduced due to wrong belief that son of king a
s next king & gurukuls vanished. And now a days there are hell lot of workstream
s aka castes with lot of differences like veg-nonveg n general lifestyle. And th
ere is a war happening with aggressive marketing and senseless publicity for res
pective workstreams. Hence reservations came for so called minorities to show fo
olist things as correct ones.
When the varn is identified as in your Janmkundali, all things would get answere
d and you will get answers of many chaotic questions in the life. So next time w
hen you come across to some contradiction, try to get the info of varn from janm
kundali. Of course other factors are there to interfere but this is main. :)
Do you know concept of blood group? So there are different groups. A family may
have ppl with diff blood groups. None is considered superior or inferior to othe
r and I never seen any incident of burning the book of blood analysis or unneces
sary tension. VARN is similar. Let's see how many generations it will take to un
derstand this simple thing.

In Maharashtra castes are based on the people's profession


People was living near mountain meru so they were called as meruhatthe
it is transformed into maratha
After that they started identifying each other by their profession like
profession caste
gold(sona) sonar
flowers and gardening mali
iron(loha) related works lohar
cloth stitching shinpi
Mud pots kumbhar
kshatriya and saviors Maratha
and so on...

the arrival of caste system as we know it today had happened with the avent of b
rahminism .
the dharmic religion was bending towards the budhist and jain doctrines away fro
m the structure where the brahmins held power over the society .
this caused major concerns to the brahmin oligarchy . they started to use their
influence to aid the brahministic kings against the non brahministic ones .
the shivite vaishnavite conflict helped them spread their influence through prox
i wars against jain kings
as for the caste system , the misinterpretation of the varna system was used as
an excuse for the oligarchy to strengthen its power-base
this spread of castism reduced the strength of the indian society which played r
ight into the hands of the oligarchy . the era of the puppet kings began .
this finally caused the destruction of the subcontinent in the form of lack of u
nity within our society when barbarians began to invade our lands

It didn't - it's just tribalism, and somehow during British rule the english wor
d "caste" was applied to it. Many status-conscious Indians love to ape others an
d adopt words coined by them. When India's film industry grew, we wanted to call
it "Bollywood" in order to imitate the famous Hollywood film industry. During B
ritish rule, we wanted to ape our British masters in every way, so that when the
y boasted of their feudal system we then tried to boast of our "caste system" --
really just petty tribalism dressed up with a fancy phrase. The British have si
nce left, and we are left with the folly of our imitative adopted phrases, which
we're too complacent to challenge, and which have in the meantime been co-opted
for class warfare purposes.

Caste system started as an occupational indicator in ancient India (pre-vedic ti


mes) and became rigid with time.
Yes, of course it is holding India back - before independence discrimination and
ill-treatment of the so-called lower castes ensured that they did not get oppor
tunities needed for progress. Now after 1947, extreme affirmative action in the
form of reservations are blocking the deserving from opportunities.

I agree with Shubhankar, that cast system should be benefit for the society but
now a days cast system in India is only used to take advantage of reservation.

Bhagwad Gita wanted Varna System but Brahmins made into a caste system in order
to consolidate their position in Varna system, they misused their position and
caste system became a part of our hindu culture.
it should be abolished just like Untouchability by out Constitution;Article 17A
should be proposed to do this.Hope Modi does it as soon as possible

I didn't read that best seller but I posses some idea about the development of t
he caste system.. What I believe is that like today there are professors, politi
cians, administrative officers, business men, clerks and other lower category wo
rkers are there, the caste system was no different than that.. You will find in
most of the cases doctor's son will become doctor, professor's son also becomes
professor, this way for some generation Brahmans became brahmans which is nothin
g but a higher post like professor or minister.. later some people started this
as a caste system for their own benefit..

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