Religion In Water

During ancient India, there was a caste system which is the social hierarchy and is still prevalent today. The Varna is the system that was in the Vedic society consisted of four classes: Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaisyas

This idea that men were the more powerful ones continued through history, during the time of British and American colonialism. In India even before the British arrived, there was oppression occurring towards the women of that nation because of religion. It played a large part in the inequality, because at the time, Islam and Hinduism both required women to play a submissive role in a relationship and left them with little to no rights. Females were seen as lesser human beings and practices such as “Sati...the act burning alive the widow of a Hindu man,...female infanticide, and child marriage” occurred, all of which was detrimental to whichever females were involved. Gender oppression was maintained because of the caste system, which was a patriarchal system that was used all throughout India, giving all power to men,

There are five main social classes in Hinduism, they are as follows: the priest, the warrior noble, the merchant, the peasant, and the untouchable. Theses classes are known as “Brahmins, Kshayriyas, Vaisyas,

As a result of these reviews, the ongoing reconstruction of the social status and roles of Hindu women has brought about many new changes in Hinduism. Some of these changes include changes in education, health measures, problems of early marriages, the positions of widows, and the representation of women in governing bodies (Desai, et al., 1995). For example, within Hinduism now,

Another idea to demonstrate Hinduisms respect for the caste system, are their arranged marriages. Women don’t rank highly in the caste system. They are tolerated in order to produce a male heir. Treatment of the women is not a high priority. This can be exemplified by Das’s treatment of his wife. Das fell in love at first sight with the beautiful Pravati. He bargained with her father and came to an arrangement. Das married Pravati in exchange for helping his father-in-law with tasks around the farm. This included taking care of millet farms and rice patties. Once Das married Pravati, he kept

In the book, Think World Religions by Robson, I connect most with the book characterized the use of water and how valuable it is. We all have been told to drink water. Predominantly we are told this because the body contains 60%. It is safe to say it is a necessary element needed for humans because it provides every cell with the ability to live. Simultaneously it is used in religion to bridge a community of people with their faith. Throughout the history of religion, every doctrine speaks of this element. In religion this colorless liquid made of two parts oxygen and one part hydrogen is known to cleaning, create, and destroy.

The caste system is a “complex system of social divisions that pervades life in India” (The Mauryan and Gupta Empires of India). The Hindu people are spread out among four different varnas and there is also a fifth group of Hindu’s called the untouchables. The four different varnas are called the Brahmins, the Kshatriya, the Vaishya and the Sudra. These four castes all have different labels to describe them. The Brahmins are the traditional priest class, the Kshatriya group is the warrior class, the Vaishya’s are the workers and the Sudras serve the three higher classes. The lowest of the low is the untouchables. It is said that they are dirty and poor from birth and they are assigned jobs to benefit the higher varnas. Each varna is divided into jati which are kinship groups with similar roles within the community and Hindu’s traditionally marry within their own

Vedic society was divided into four different classes, Brahmans, nobles, commoners and the serfs. These classes are part of the cosmic hierarchy and were based on purity. This gave way to the caste systems. Castes are arranged in the following order of the polarity of purity; Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas and the shudras. With a fifth group called the untouchables at the very bottom. They are the untouchables because they are the most impure. The caste of an individual cannot be removed. Each caste has strict rules on caste endogamy.

A third Hindu text says that if the woman aborts her child she will lose her place in the caste system. Hinduism believes that it is a public duty of a woman to have children so the family will continue and there will be new members to the society. Woman will terminate their pregnancy if they are having a girl. Girls have no opportunities for economic support and there are few jobs for woman. This is why this religion has a preference for boys and why woman prefer to have sons. This view and religious belief pressure can lead to an attempt to stop the birth of a girl this is called female foeticide. Since they condemn the act of abortion, women will do other things to terminate the pregnancy. (Murti and Mary ) (Hinduism and abortion)

What are the four major castes? What implications does the caste system have for everyday life? How does the caste system relate to Hindu ideas of spiritual life? “The four major castes of Hindu society are; seers ( brahmins ), administrators ( kshatriyas ), artisans or farmers ( vaishyas ), and followers or servants ( shudras)”( Smith 56). Smith writes, religious leaders, teachers, artists, and philosophers are members of the first caste, brahmins, khatriyas, the second caste, first known as warriors are now managers. The tillers of the land, the makers of bricks, and the builders are part of the third caste, vaishyas. The fourth caste is made up of servants, those who will take care of the other castes’ needs (56)”. While I was working in India, summer of 2001 and there at the invitation of the richest family in India and staying at one of their compounds, some of my co-workers and I were playing snooker. A young boy walked into the room where we were playing. He stopped and talked to us for a few minutes before continuing to bed. Accompanied by a man of about twenty years old, the boy’s shudra, who had been the boy’s personal servant for ten or more years. The shudra’s purpose was to protect and serve his charge’s every need. Although there is inequality between castes, Smith denotes.“ within each caste, there is equality, opportunity, and social insurance ( 57)”. Although the text

An often controversial issue within politics is how woman are viewed and treated in the Hindu religion. The role of woman in Hinduism is often disputed and positions range from quite reasonable to highly antagonistic. An often overlooked aspect is that, Hinduism is more of a way of life then a Religion. This is because Hinduism requires that we see the same reality in all the diversity of creation; that we see the same Self in all beings. Hindu women within this religion would view themselves as an important part of the family, but this is not shown through the contents of the Manusmriti. The Manusmriti directly translated is “Laws of Manu,” or “Institutions of Manu,” is regarded as the foundational

The low status of women and girls is due to cultural beliefs and the material cost they represent to their families. Vanaja Dhruvarajan says that there is a belief regarding the nature of men and women: "Men are ritually pure, physically strong, and emotionally mature; women, on the other hand, are ritually pollutable, physically weak, and lack strong willpower" (30). Because of these

This caste system also allows patriarchal rule, which greatly limits the roles of women in, the Indian society.

Frederick and Mary (2012) documented on their blogs regarding Deepa’s response upon the significance of water in this movie. Deepa said,

The oppression of women is based on false assumption and preconceived notions by the male domination world, has been obvious and responsible for paving the way for serious gender issues to emerge. Due to the narrow realms of activity in society, deprived from essential human rights, restricted educations scope, open to unhealthy physical and mental abuse, this society has not given women the opportunity to rise to their full potential. The impact of gender discrimination has not only affected the future of the women today but it has resulted in the slow progress of human mind in general.