The Pros And Cons Of The Untouchables

Over a million people continue to suffer discrimination, degrading treatment, and violence because of caste association. The caste system is based on structural inequalities between high and low cast untouchables involving social isolation and exclusion from participation in social, political, and economic developments of society.Dr. Susan Bayly, an expert in the field, defines caste as not the

Much of human life is “given” to us but we are still placed into systems whether we like it or not. We have it here in America as well in other countries. Traditional Hinduism organized social life according to a caste system. Purity determined hierarchy of castes. The circumstances of birth determined the caste a person was in. The occupations were associated with the level of purity of each class. Brahmin is the highest class, and are the priests. The lowest in the hierarchy are the “untouchables”, who had occupations that excluded from the social life, such as tanning, and scavenging. After 1950, untouchability was outlawed and the name was changed to the “scheduled” class. However, they prefer to prefer themselves as Dalit, the “downtrodden”.

He indicated that this system has recently been practiced much in India and reflect on the Hindu religious belief where the caste system is more than two thousand years old. According to the Hindu belief, there are four major types of castes: The “Brahmans” mostly priests and scholars, the “Kshatriyas” warriors, rulers, and large landholders, the “Vaishyas” merchants, farmers, and skilled artisans, the “Shudras” labourers and unskilled artisans, However, there is an additional group called the “Harijans” Sometimes called "untouchables,” they are ranked so low that technically, they are outside the caste system itself.

Despite this, India had a very rigid structure. The caste system was everything in India. It was above even the state or the ruler, with the Brahmins or priestly class above all, even the warrior caste.

The caste system has been extremely stable in India for over two thousand years. It is only since the more modern, independent state of India was formed that the system has come under any scrutiny at all. It is presently outlawed, but many of the practices, attitudes and traditions remain ingrained in Hindu society (University of Wyoming, 1997).

Make an analysis of how the caste system might function in the life of a particular Hindu individual.

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 began around 1000 B.C.E. to distinguish among the different individuals in early Aryan society, such as the warrior elite, priests, ordinary tribesmen, and conquered subjects. In the caste system there are four groups, reffered to as varna, Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra. The Brahman were priests, the Kshatriya were warriors and officials, the Vaishya were merchants and artisans, and the Shudra were peasants and laborers. Those who were not included in a caste were known as outcastes. These people belonged to no caste due to them either entering this social division later than others or violating rituals and losing their caste status. The outcastes were disdained because they made a living by foul jobs such as dressing

Looking upon Indian society for comparison, it is seen that the primary factor of the caste system is built

Brahmin was treated to be the top of social scale. The second class was Kshatriya, the warriors. They were often listed below Brahmins in social status. In religious terms, they were ranked lower. The third ranked class in Indian society was vaisya (commoner). The vaisya were usually viewed in economic terms as the merchant class. The sudras were not considered fully Aryan. Most sudras were peasants or artisans or worked at other forms of manual labor. They had only limited right in society. At the lowest level of Indian society were untouchable also known as outcastes or pariahs. They were originated as a slave class consisting of prisoners of war, criminals, ethnic minorities, and other groups considered

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

5. Briefly explain the caste system (if you need more information, double click on the word “caste” anywhere in the reading.):

The Untouchables are the ones that are literally untouched by everyone else. They are the homeless beggars that do the worst and dirtiest jobs possible. The Untouchables are disliked by the highest level, the Brahmins so much that even if the shadow of a Untouchable hits their skin they must bathe. Also the Brahmins at the top are considered the embodiment of purity, and then the lowest level, the Untouchables are considered the embodiment of pollution. The next level above the Untouchables are the Shudras.

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

A few disadvantages of India’s social system are that Religion, caste, and language are major determinants of social organizations. According to the US Department of State-Background Notes website, even though the government has declared the caste system as illegal, it still has a presence in occupational and societal hierarchies (The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs, 2010).