What Are The Different Castes?

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What Are The Different Castes?
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Remember there are over 30,000 caste sub castes!
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Brahmins
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Brahmins

• Were the priests
• Highest ranking
• They performed rituals for the gods
• There were only a few of them.
• Only Brahman men were allowed to go to school, or
  to teach in schools (Brahman women could not go
  to school).

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Brahmins

• White (sattva truthful)
• Represents the qualities of purity, love, faith,
  and detachment
• Seek true knowledge
• Exists in individuals with a spiritual
  temperament
• Those that belong to this color, belong to the
  Brahmin class

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• Purpose is to help people of other castes fulfill
  their dharma
• Perform rituals and observe vows for the sake of
  others

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Brahman

• Brahmans were considered the scholars and priests
  of the caste system.
• Also frequently cooks because they could only eat
  food prepared by Brahmans
• The highest castes in the system

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• Brahmins
• The first and the highest class intellectuals of
  the nations such as landowners, scholars, and
  priests.
• They are not allowed to do any job of lower
  castes.
• They may receive things from lower castes, but
  they dont give anything in return to them.

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BRAHMAN

• They are the priestly class, who are entitled to
  study the Vedas, which are the sacred scriptures,
  and perform rites rituals for themselves and for
  others.
• They are the men between the gods and the people.
  
• They are expected to show excellent behavior and
  spend their lives in the pursuit of divine
  knowledge and preservation the traditions of
  Hinduism.

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Brahmin Dharma

• That person is called a Brahmin who is
• sanctified by rites
• pure in behavior
• studying the Vedas
• devoted to the six well-known acts (washings
  every morning and evening, silent recitation of
  mantras, pouring rites on the sacrificial fire,
  worshipping the deities, doing the duties of
  hospitality to guests, and offering food to the
  Viswedevas)

• properly observing all pious acts
• never eats food without having offered it first
  to gods and guests
• filled with reverence for his teacher
• always devoted to vows and truth
• a vegetarian diet

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Kshatriyas
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• Kshatriyas
• A class directly follows Brahmins mostly rulers
  and warriors.
• They managed the land, military service, and
  administration.
• They practice strict caste endogamy, marrying
  only within their caste.

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Kshatriya

• Red (rajas energetic)
• Represents the qualities of action, will,
  aggression, and energy
• Seek honor, power, and status
• Exists in people with military and political
  temperaments
• Those that belong to this color belong to the
  Kshatriya class

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• Responsible for leadership of the people
• Often rely on advice from Brahmins

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Kshatriyas

• Rulers or warriors
• A lot of them were in the army, or leaders in
  other ways.
• Women
• could not be
• warriors, but
• they could
• be Kshatriyas
• anyway.

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Kshatriya

• These people are the ruler (kings), warrior
  (military), and landowner of the caste system

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KSHATRIYAS

• They are the warrior class, who are commanded to
  protect the people,  give gifts to the Brahmins,
  offer sacrifices to gods and ancestors, study the
  Vedas, and dispense justice.
• It was their responsibility to protect the caste
  system and the social order and lavish the
  priests with generous gifts at every
  opportunity. 

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Kshatriya Dharma

• That person is called a Kshatriya who is
• engaged in the profession of battle
• studying the Vedas
• giving gifts to Brahmins
• taking wealth from those he protects
• consuming meat and alcohol

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Vaisyas
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Vaisyas

• Yellow (rajas energetic)
• Represents the same qualities as the red color
• Instead, those with this quality seek
  communication, interchange, trade, and business
• Exists in individuals with a commercial
  temperament
• They make up the Vaishya class

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• Vaisyas
• The third class composed of traders, shopkeepers,
  moneylenders, farmers, and artisans trading and
  banking.
• Typically stricter in observing their dietary
  rules and avoiding any kind of ritual pollution.

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Vaisyas

• Farmers, craftspersons, and traders
• Owned their own farms or businesses.
• There were a lot of them

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Vaishya

• These people are the merchants and cultivators of
  the caste system.
• (They feed the people)

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• Shopkeepers who sell products (unlike the Shudra
  who sell services)

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VAISYAS

• They are the merchant and peasant classes, who
  are expected to tend cattle, offer sacrifices,
  study the Vedas, trade, lend money and farm the
  land.
• They had the right to perform and participate in
  certain Vedic rituals but they were not allowed
  to marry women of higher castes. 

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Vaisya Dharma

• That person is called a Vaishya who is
• earning fame from keeping cattle
• employed in agriculture and the means of
  acquiring wealth
• pure in behaviour
• studying the Vedas

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Sudras or Shudras
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Sudras

• Black (tamas inert, solid)
• Represents qualities of ignorance, sluggishness,
  and dullness
• Dependent on the rest of the world for motivation
  and seek nothing
• Exists in those with a submissive disposition
• Make up the Shudra class

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SUDRAS

• The are the laboring class, whose only duty is to
  serve the other three castes. 
• They were not required to observe any Vedic
  rituals.
• They were not allowed to study the Vedas or even
  hear the sacred chants.
• They were not allowed to eat food in the company
  of higher castes or marry their women. 

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Sudras

• Laborers, workers, servants or non-aryans
• Did not own their own business or their own land
• Had to
• work for
• other people.
• Largest
• Caste

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• Each subgroup of this caste performs a specific
  service.
• Jobs include gardeners, potters, and clothes
  washers

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Shudra Dharma

• That person is called a Shudra who is
• eating every kind of food
• engaged in doing every kind of work
• impure in behavior
• not studying the Vedas
• engaged in conduct that is unclean

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Harijan or Untouchables or Dalits
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Oppressive Caste System
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Untouchables of India

• National Geographic, June 2003

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Untouchables / Dalits

• Cannot
• possess any wealth
• get an education
• enter a Hindu temple
• drink from public wells/water systems
• Marry outside their caste
• Touch anyone from a higher caste!!
• Argue or disobey upper caste demands.

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Untouchables Dharma

• Untouchables
• polluting people
• their dwellings were at a distance from the
  settlements
• were not allowed to touch people from the four
  Varnas
• were not allowed to enter houses of the higher
  Varnas
• were not allowed to enter the temples
• were not allowed to use the same wells used by
  the Varnas

• were compelled to sit at a distance from the four
  Varnas
• even contact with their shadow was seen as
  polluting
• deal with the bodies of dead animals or unclaimed
  dead humans
• tanning leather, from dead animals, and
  manufacturing leather goods
• clean up human and animal waste

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The Caste System

• Untouchables/Outcastes
• this not officially a caste but would rank below
  the shudra
• consist of people who are considered unclean
• typically uncleanliness is related to occupation
• may also relate to a disease such as Leprosy

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• Belong to no caste
• Expected to do the dirty jobs
• Come in contact with animal skins, dead bodies
  and human feces
• Avoid contact with caste Indians for fear of
  pollution

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HARIJAN also called Untouchables

• Even their shadow was considered impure and
  seeing an untouchable was considered bad luck.
• So they lived mostly on the edges of society,
  unknown and uncared for, and working in
  graveyards or as hunters, butchers and
  professional cleaners of human waste.

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Entrenched Irony

• Members of the Untouchable Dhobi caste beat the
  impurities out of clothes on the banks of the
  Yamuna River in Delhi. Life's "unclean" tasks,
  such as cleaning latrines and digging graves fall
  to those born into one of the hundreds of
  Untouchable castes. They face a lifetime of
  discrimination and brutality, prejudice that
  endures even though Untouchability is officially
  banned by the Indian constitution.

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Laundry Yard

• Her fate scripted by Hindu law, an Untouchable
  girl can imagine little else than working along
  the Yamuna River in Delhi as a Dhobi. Members of
  this clothes-washing caste handle items
  'polluted' by blood or human waste.

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Water Rights

• Across India members of upper castes often
  refuse to share water with Untouchables,
  convinced that any liquid will become polluted if
  it comes in contact with an Untouchable. In the
  countryside Untouchables are often forbidden to
  use the same wells and ponds as upper caste
  villagers.

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Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

• Overcoming numerous social and financial
  obstacles, Ambedkar became one of the first
  untouchable to obtain a college education.
• Dr. B.R. Ambedkar spent his whole life fighting
  against social discrimination of the caste system.

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Who was Ambedkar?

• BHIMRAO RAMJI AMBEDKAR (1891-1956)
• Born into a Dalit family
• By virtue of his brilliance became a Barrister at
  Law
• Was the first Law Minister of Independent India
  drafted the constitution major disagreements
  with Congress leaders, Nehru and Gandhi
• Converted to Buddhism in 1956 (along with
  thousands of other Dalits)

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Ambedkars theses on caste

• He disproved both dominant theses on caste
• The Laws of Manu
• The orthodox thesis that Sudras were born out of
  the feet of God
• The modern thesis that they were non-Aryan
  indigenous peoples inferior to the other three
  castes who were of Aryan descent
• He argues that they are of the same ethnicity and
  the Sudras were pushed to a lower status because
  of their growing power and conflict

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Ambedkars philosophy

• His two main thesis were
• The issue is not only to accept inequality and
  end discrimination, but to establish political
  and social structures which are premised on the
  fundamental equality of all
• Justice can not be given from above (i.e. those
  who are privileged). It has to be secured by
  those who were victims of injustice

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What happened at Independence

• The constitution was drafted by Dr. Babasaheb
  Ambedkar.
• It became illegal to discriminate on the basis of
  caste or religion
• Untouchability was abolished by law
• Untouchables came to be categorized as Scheduled
  Castes

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Quotes from Ambedkar (1)

• It is mischievously propagated by Hindu
  scriptures that by serving the upper classes the
  Shudras achieve salvation. Untouchability is
  another appellation of slavery. No race can be
  raised by destroying its self-respect. So if you
  really want to uplift the Untouchables, you must
  treat them in the social order as free citizens,
  free to carve out their destiny.
• From ambedkar.org

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Quotes from Ambedkar (2)

• What you have lost others have gained. Your
  humiliations are a matter of pride with others.
  You are made to suffer wants, privations and
  humiliations not because it was pre-ordained by
  the sins committed in your previous birth, but
  because of the overpowering tyranny and treachery
  of those who are above you. You have no lands
  because others have usurped them you have no
  posts because others have monopolised them. Do
  not believe in fate believe in your strength.

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Quotes from Ambedkar (3)

• Caste cannot be abolished by inter caste dinners
  or stray instances of inter caste marriages.
  Caste is a state of mind. It is a disease of
  mind. The teachings of the Hindu religion are the
  root cause of this disease. We practice casteism
  and we observe Untouchability because we are
  enjoined to do so by the Hindu religion. A bitter
  thing cannot be made sweet. The taste of anything
  can be changed. But poison cannot be changed into
  nectar.
• from ambedkar.org