THE FORMATION OF THE CASTE SYSTEM IN INDIA. Before the SANSKRIT speaking ARYANS arrived , INDIA was already the home of several cultures, including one advanced civilisation, that of the HARAPPAN people of the INDUS VALLEY. The light skinned ARYANS, who conquered and colonized the northern portion of the sub-continent before 1000 B. C. , had little respect, for the dark skinned natives whom they defeated in battle. Though, illiterate and initially nomadic, the ARYANS felt superior because of their military might. The HARAPPAN PEOPLE, with their planned cities and irrigated fields, their scripts, arts and crafts, were far more sophisticated,-- but they were no match for the hard riding, fort destroying invaders and so the ARYANS enslaved them. And it was out of this new multiracial INDIA, that there gradually emerged a complex caste structure which still exists. When they took over INDIA, the ARYANS were already divided into 3 castes,-- the BRAHMANS (priests and scholars ),the KASHTRIYAS ( kings, warriors and nobles ) AND THE VAISYAS (MERCHANTS AND WORKERS ). The pre-ARYANS, who became cultivators of the soil and ordinary workers now comprised a fourth major caste,- the SUDRAS. Members of the original ARYAN castes were the only people entitled to be “twice born “—the highest of all states, in which physical birth is followed by symbolic birth—initiation into upper caste .As the system evolved and grew increasingly complex, a great number of human beings whose primitive way of life was considered” unclean “, found themselves at the bottom of the heap and these literally “ out castes “—that is UNTOUCHABLES. There was a racial background for this hierarchy and that its origin must have lain in skin colour in the SANSKRIT word for caste, “VARNA “, Meaning colour. The knowledge of early ARYANS society in INDIA , comes from the “RIG VEDA “, a collection of sacred hymns compiled around 1000 B, C. The “RIG VEDA”, reflect the ARYAN culture during the centuries when it was merging with those of the HARAPPAN and other conquered people. It was handed down orally through many generations of BRAHMANS, UNTIL IN THE 14th century A. D. , when it became written literature. Modern HINDUS, refer to it as the fountain head from which later INDIAN philosophy and religion flowed. The VEDIC hymns tell us in details about the life of the ARYAN TRIBESMAN who enjoyed gambling and drinking and glorified in their swift horses, light chariots and prowess in battle. With the help of the slave SUDRAS, many of whose gods they adopted, the ARYANS took to settled farming, cattle rearing. The sacred status of the cow in modern HINDUS, dates back to ancient VEDIC times. As custodians of the “RIG VEDA “, The BRAHMANS imparted holiness to the hereditary caste system, of ARYAN dominated INDIA. By the beginning of the WEST’S, CHRISTIAN ERA, 1000 years after the original compiling of the “RIG VEDA”, members of the three upper castes could no longer be distinguished simply by their complexions, interbreeding with dark skinned locals had blurred such distinction .Racially mixed castes emerged, the system became more and more firmly based upon vocations and the people Who did the most dirty works,-- collecting or disposing of dead animals,-became the UNTOUCHABLS.A vast network of sub-castes ( jati ), DEVELOPED. A person’s JATI, became more important for purpose of identification than his caste ( varna ). Now, it became an accepted fact of INDIAN life that the members of a caste did the same sort of work and that they alone did it. Ideally, they might marry only one another. And, if strict, they would eat only food prepared by other belonging to their caste. But, far from producing a static, closed society, this vertical division of the population made it easier in later centuries for INDIA, to assimilate new ethnic people. Every new group took on the characteristics of a separate sub-caste and was thereby fitted into the larger caste structure. Even when certain groups broke away, they simply ended up as new castes. When ISLAM , reached INDIA, early in the 13th century, it appealed to many of the under privileged as a casteless religion. In practice, though many MUSLIMS observed caste restrictions and there are MUSLIM castes in INDIA, today. Similarly, JEWISH and CHRISTIAN population in the sub-continent have formed bodies similar to castes. Most remarkably, parliamentary democracy in INDIA , actually reinforced the ancient systems because caste organization were set up to influence politics in their own particular members’ interests. So far, the system has not been destroyed and the BRAHMANS have maintained their position at the top of the ladder, with the lowest rung just as firmly,- in the possession of the UNTOUCHABLES.-who were called the HARIJANS by the great GANDHIJI, meaning “children of god “ Once these HARIJANS, were not allowed to draw water from the village tank, the village barber will not shave them, the village washer woman will not wash their clothes-such was the miserable condition of the UNTOUCHABLES. ( With the help of: QUEST FOR THE PAST ) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted on: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 02:46:26 +0000