59 The Caste System
Learning Objective
- Explain the history of the caste system
Key Points
- The institution of the caste system, influenced by stories of the gods in the Rig-Veda epic, assumed and reinforced the idea that lifestyles, occupations, ritual statuses, and social statuses were inherited.
- Aryan society was patriarchal in the Vedic Period, with men in positions of authority and power handed down only through the male line.
- There were four classes in the caste system: Brahmins (priests and scholars), Kshatriyas (kings, governors, and warriors), Vaishyas (cattle herders, agriculturists, artisans, and merchants), and Shudras (laborers and service providers). A fifth group, Untouchables, was excluded from the caste system and historically performed the undesirable work.
- The caste system may have been more fluid in Aryan India than it is in modern-day India.
terms
jatis
The term used to denote the thousands of clans, tribes, religions, communities and sub-communities in India.
varnas
The four broad ranks of the caste system in the Indo-Aryan culture, which included Brahmins (priests and scholars), Kshatriyas (kings, governors and warriors), Vaishyas (cattle herders, agriculturists, artisans, and merchants), and Shudras (laborers and service providers).
Caste systems through which social status was inherited developed independently in ancient societies all over the world, including the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. The caste system in ancient India was used to establish separate classes of inhabitants based upon their social positions and employment functions in the community. These roles and their importance, including the levels of power and significance based on patriarchy, were influenced by stories of the gods in the Rig-Veda epic.
Origins
The caste system in India may have several origins, possibly starting with the well-defined social orders of the Indo-Aryans in the Vedic Period, c. 1750-500 BCE. The Vedas were ancient scriptures, written in the Sanskrit language, which contained hymns, philosophies, and rituals handed down to the priests of the Vedic religion. One of these four sacred canonical texts, the Rig Veda, described the origins of the world and points to the gods for the origin of the caste system.
The castes were a form of social stratification in Aryan India characterized by the hereditary transmission of lifestyle, occupation, ritual status, and social status. These social distinctions may have been more fluid in ancient Aryan civilizations than in modern India, where castes still exist but sociologists are observing inter-caste marriages and interactions becoming more fluid and less rigid.
Structure
The classes, known as varnas, enforced divisions in the populations that still affect this area of the world today. By around 1000 BCE, the Indo-Aryans developed four main caste distinctions: Brahamin, consisting of priests, scholars, and teachers; Kshatriyas, the kings, governors, and warriors; Vaishyas, comprising a