Download Caste System and Community Resources

A) PRIMARY SOURCES =
Community- The CASTE SYSTEM
a) “In the Bhagavad Gita, Ch.4, Verse 13
The Lord says:
"The fourfold caste has been created
by Me
according to the differentiation of Guna and Karma;"
In the Bhagavad Gita, Ch.18, verse 40
the Lord says:
"There is no being on earth, or again in
heaven among the
gods, that is liberated from the three qualities born of Nature."
Gita Ch. 18, V.41:
"Of Brahmanas, Kshtriyas and Vaishyas, as also the Sudras,
O Arjuna, the
duties are distributed according to the qualities
born of their own nature."
b) The Four Orders of human Beings
From The Mahabharata
Santi Parva, Section
CLXXXVIII
Translated by Sri Kisari Mohan Ganguli
Brigu said, "..... (The Creator created) human beings with their four divisions, viz.,
Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras. The complexion the Brahmanas obtained was
white; that which the Kshatriyas obtained was red; that which the Vaisyas got was yellow;
and that which was given to the Sudras was black."
[The commentator explains that the
words expressive of hue or colour really mean attributes. What is intended to be said is
that the Brahmanas had the attribute of Goodness (Sattwa); the second order had the
attribute of Passion (Rajas); the third got a mixture of the two, i.e., both goodness and
passion (Sattwa and Rajas); while the lowest order got the remaining attribute, viz.,
Darkness (Tamas).].
Bharadwaja said, "If the distinction between the four orders of human beings be made by
means only of colour (attribute), then it seems that all the four orders have been mingled
together. Lust, wrath, fear, cupidity, grief, anxiety, hunger, toil,- possess and prevail over all
men. How can men be distinguished by the possession of attributes?
The bodies of all men
emit sweat, urine, faeces, phlegm, bile, and blood. How then can men be distributed into
classes? Of mobile objects the number is infinite; the species also of immobile objects are
innumerable. How then, can, objects of such very great diversity be distributed into
classes?"
Brigu said,"There is really no distinction between the different orders. The whole world at
first consisted of Brahmanas. Created equal by the Creator, men have in consequence of
their acts, become distributed into different orders. They that became fond of indulging in
desire and enjoying pleasures, possessed of the attributes of severity and wrath, endued
with courage, and unmindful of the duties of piety and worship, - these Brahmanas
possessing the attribute of Passion, - became Kshatriyas.
Those Brahmanas again who, without attending to the duties laid down for them, became
possessed of both the attributes of Goodness and Passion, and took to the professions of
cattle-rearing and agriculture, became Vaisyas. Those Brahmanas again that became fond
of untruth and injuring other creatures, possessed of cupidity, - engaged in all kinds of acts
for a living, and fallen away from purity of behaviour, and thus wedded to the attribute of
Darkness, became Sudras.
Separated by these occupations, Brahmanas, falling away from their own order, became
members of the other three orders. All the four orders, therefore, have always the right to
the performance of all pious duties and of sacrifices. Even thus were the four orders at first
created equal by Brahma (the Creator) who ordained for all of them (the observances
disclosed in) the words of Brahma (in the Vedas). Through cupidity alone, many fell away,
and became possessed by ignorance.”
B) SECONDARY SOURCES =
“The Hindu world is a world of multiple and complex layers of social and communal
categories and classification. There is the caste system, which lays out the four social and
religious categories—Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra—into which people are placed
according to their birth; there is the ashrama system, which articulates four different stages
that a Hindu (male) is to pass through during the course of his life; there are sectarian
affiliations, defined by the god or goddess one follows, and the rituals one performs in
service to this deity.
Four major sects of Hinduism
1. Shaiva
2. Vaishnava
3. Shakta
4. Smarta
It is important to recognize from the outset, however, that the internal divisions in these
"systems" are not nearly so neat as they are often represented in the West. For example,
there are thousands of different subcastes, which often have very subtle shadings and
distinctions. One may identify oneself as a follower of Shiva, a Shaiva, but also worship
forms of Vishnu and the goddesses.
The caste system is one of the most contested issues in Hinduism and one of the most
consistently misunderstood and misrepresented aspects of Hinduism. The origins of the
caste system are disputed. Many have suggested that it is rooted in the Purusha Shukta
hymn of the Rig Veda, the so-called "Sacrifice of the Primal Man," a text that describes
creation in terms of a sacrifice of the first being. Four classes, or varnas, are described in
this text. Out of this system seems to have developed the concept of jati, or birth, which is a
more accurate description of caste: Hindus (and all humans) are born into particular socioreligious categories, castes (jatis), according to their accumulated karma. Over the
centuries, the jatis have subdivided and multiplied, producing a complex network of
thousands and thousands of different castes.
Brahmin
Kshatriya
Vaishya
Shudra
Castes
(priestly caste)
(traditionally warrior caste)
(traditionally caste of merchants and farmers)
(manual laborers)
One of the most persistent, and some would say pernicious, aspects of the caste system are
the strict rules regarding purity and pollution. The higher the caste, the more pure its
members; and, conversely, the lower the caste, the more impure its members. Thus
members of the lower castes—including the so-called untouchables, or outcastes—
generally do not come into physical contact with members of the upper castes. Indeed,
Hindus who belong to lower castes are often prevented from entering high caste temples—
although this sort of discrimination is illegal in India and is much less common than it has
been in the past—or participating in high caste rituals because their very presence is
considered impure and polluting. Because the theological and philosophical principles
underlying the caste system hold that one's caste is a matter of birth (jati), which is
determined by one's actions in prior lives (karma), one is bound to that caste. Changing
castes is thus impossible.
Some scholars, both inside and outside of India, have seen the development of the caste
system not primarily as a religious but as a social mechanism, one used to control the
population. More positively, castes have been seen as the products of self-organizing by
communities. Caste-members can cooperate to pursue their self-interest. Although caste is
still very much alive in contemporary India, not all Indians subscribe to this form of social
organization.
Indeed, beginning at least as early as the 19th century, some Indians have argued that the
caste system is not even part of Hinduism, citing the Upanishads and the Vedantic
worldview as proof. In the 1950s (and earlier), following Mahatma Gandhi's famous
rebellion against the socially repressive aspects of the caste system, there were attempts to
abolish the caste system altogether, attempts that continue to this day. (It is important to
note here that Gandhi was a caste Hindu and the preeminent Hindu leader of his day, and
he was sharply criticized by Ambedkar and others who saw him as a defender of caste.) At
any rate, caste at once remains a powerful means of social and religious organization in
Hinduism, even as it is a matter of much dispute and tension.
When the ideal of renunciation arose in Hinduism with the Upanishads and their rejection
of Vedic sacrifice, some within the Hindu world perceived a potential social crisis. The
Upanishads advocate abandonment of social life in favor of a life outside of society, spent in
mediation. This idea of the proper religious path threatened to undo the very structure of
life in Hinduism. A kind of compromise was articulated in the early years of the common
era: the Ashrama system. A Hindu (typically, although not exclusively, a male) in this
system was to pass through four stages: student (Brahmacarin or Brahmacari),
householder (Grihastha), forest dweller (Vanaprastha), and renouncer (Sannyasin or
Sannyasi). This was, in part, a way of removing the social disruption of renunciation; one
could renounce, but only at the proper time.
THE FOUR ASHRAMAS
Ashrama (station in life)
Duties
Student
Learn duties of his caste
Householder
Raise a family
Forest dweller
Study sacred texts
Renouncer
Meditate
Hindu communities are organized in part by caste (as well as class, which is more of an
economic than a religious categorization) and in part by sectarian affiliation. There are
Vaishnava Hindus (followers of Vishnu), Shaiva Hindus (followers of Shiva), Shakta Hindus
(followers of the goddesses), Smarta Hindus (non-theistic or pantheistic followers of
Vedanta). But these are only the major sectarian divisions. In reality, there are thousands of
what might be called sub-sects, whose members follower particular, often highly localized
forms of the various gods and goddesses. Furthermore, although a Hindu might identify
him or herself as a member of a particular sect—as a Vaishnava, say—that does not
prevent him or her from worshipping other gods and goddesses who are not strictly
associated with that sect.”
- Jacob N. Kinnard