Indian Caste System Whether it is 400 b.c or just yesterday, there has always been a society in everyone's day to day life. Even though it is not as cruel or discriminant today, everyone tries to fit in or be accepted in their social class. However, the ancient Indian Caste System still relates to life as an American today. There are five main classes to the Indian Caste System. At the highest level there are the Brahmans. They are treated the finest having food, leisure time, and they do not have to do laborious work. Second are the Kshatriya or the warriors. The warriors are in charge of protecting Brahmans and keeping them safe. These people must always be healthy and be in shape. The third class is the Vaishya. This class has
Firstly, the caste system reflects the inequality of Indian society. Although religion in India is characterized by a diversity of religious beliefs and practices, majority of Indian population follow Hinduism. Therefore, the dominance of Hinduism beliefs is common in India. There is a belief in caste system, as Brood said, “a system of hierarchical social organization”1. Hindu society is divided into four main classes; the priestly class, the warrior and administrator class, the producer class who is farmers and merchants and the servant class. The remaining group of people who is “outcastes” is called “untouchables” or dalit. Brodd recognizes “dalits continue to suffer terrible oppression, especially in rural communities in India”. I still could not imagine how terrible this bottom class suffers until reading Max Bearak article. All sufferings of Rohith Vemula, from the hardships of growing up poor, interactions with society in caste to scholarship revoke and suicide, happened tragically because he was born in a dalit family. This is the
The caste system initially served to maintain strict social boundaries between the invaders and the previous inhabitants. Through the generations, the origins of the caste system were forgotten and it became the general rule of a single society (University of Wyoming, 1997).
Looking upon Indian society for comparison, it is seen that the primary factor of the caste system is built
Make an analysis of how the caste system might function in the life of a particular Hindu individual.
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
"In addition to these unofficial social classes, Hindus in Bhopal and throughout India adhere to a rigid caste system that further separates people into classes" (15). It is very hard to change caste to a higher standard of living and converse with a higher class. But if some individuals have the desire to change caste, they can through immense effort, talent, and luck; " one may change caste by gaining prominence in a certain occupation" (17). The caste system offers little flexibility in village life, politics, and in marriage. Religion also plays a part in this caste; only Hindus can have caste.
When Indian caste system became stable it suddenly became rigid, and people stayed where they were born. Although hierarchy was rigid in both classical societies, they developed stable social classes that produced various kinds of people: the most important being the farmers.
The priest “performs vedic rituals and acts as a counselor,” the warrior noble “has the role of protecting society,” and the merchant “includes landowners, moneylenders, and sometimes artisans (Molloy 91). The males within these three upper caste systems are considered twice born. This is where gender plays a role within the caste system as well. The peasant “does manual labor and is expected to serve the higher castes,” while the untouchable is the lowest caste system and is expected to do the lowest work, such as “cleaning toilets, sweeping streets, collecting animal carcasses, and tanning animal hides” (Molloy 91). Thus, it is evident that these two lower caste systems
Every member of the caste system is truly happy with their lives, from the lower three castes whose lives consist of meaningless jobs like elevator operators to assembly line workers to the intellectual alpha’s who were the thinkers and consumers of the society.
Macbeth is portrayed to be a very evil character throughout the play of Macbeth. The most back stabbing scene in the play is when Macbeth murders King Duncan, But the real evil genius behind the murder is Lady Macbeth, who forced Macbeth to kill King Duncan, which brings up the argument, whos responsible for the murder of King Duncan? A Lot of people also ask, who’s more evil? Macbeth, or Lady Macbeth?
The caste system in ancient India and citizenship in ancient Greece both have their strengths and weaknesses in their effectiveness concerning social organization in society. India and Greece developed around the same time, within a thousand years of urban revolution as ancient city based civilizations, even so these two societies developed in entirely different ways. (Worlds, 2384) In Ancient India it was the caste system and in ancient Greece it was citizenship, the caste system a group of people who will together, and also marry one another, thus creating groups and then excluding others from these two intimacies. (Worlds, 2435)
According to Indianchild.com the India caste system is a hierarchical society. In the Indian caste system, no matter where you live or what religion you are
The caste system itself is a system of social stratification, based on two concepts, varna and jati. Varna
In ancient India and China a social system was developed to separate the society into levels. This social system is called a caste system. Which caste level you belong to was determined by your occupation and family origin. If you were born the son of a king your life was grand. But, if you were born to a farmer you are a farmer for life. Your birth determines where you fall in the caste system, and you live according to the rules. Both ancient India and China had the caste system. Ancient India and China had similarities and differences in the caste system.
There were three main points that explained the significance of the caste society: religious worship, meals, and marriage. Marriage across caste lines was not allowed, so most people just married within their own jati, which was just a Hindu caste or specific social group. When it was meal time, any of the people could take food from the Brahmins, but if a Brahmin took food from a lower class than them, than they would be considered contaminated, especially if taken from an untouchable (also, if an untouchable drew water from a well, then it was considered polluted and unusable by anyone else). Brahmins, being considered the religious priests of the society,