Indian Social Structure

Introduction
The Indian social structure is closely linked to the traditional beliefs of the
Indians. Much of the old stuctures have lost their relevance today. Still, keepi
ng in mind that the structure held its relevance for a few thousand years, till
a few decades back, it is worth studying. However different the modern Indian so
ciety might look, it is based on the old systems.
To have a deep understanding of the social structure, it is necessary to underst
and some basic Indian philosophy. What I try to present here is what is agreed u
pon by almost all the systems of philosophy in India. Then we come to the actual
social struture of the past. The breakdown of the old structures and the means
by which India is recovering are slightly touched upon.
1. Immortality of the soul
The soul is immortal. It is the experiencer of the events in life. The body, the
senses, the mind and the intellect are its instruments. The joys and sorrows wh
ich it experiences in the world are due to its misunderstanding that it depends
on the world and its own instruments for joy. It is deluded that it is mortal, t
hough it is immortal. By 'person', we mean the soul. He leads his life in this w
orld by using his instruments of knowledge, cognition, decision and action.
2. Carry-over of experiences
Just as a person grows from childhood to youth to old-age to death, he continues
to grow - from death, to birth and the cycle continues. Every action (which is
always accompanied by experience) of the soul creates two things: a potential fo
r result (Karma), a sub-conscious taste (Samskara). Samskara is also called Vasa
na. The karma decides the environment which the soul will face in future and the
samskara gives a background from which the soul will tend to react to the envir
onment. Independent of these two is the free-will, decides the exact way in whic
h the soul reacts. This in turn generates fresh karmas and samskaras.
Thus, according to the Indian view, there is no place for a destiny independent
of free-will. What a person faces in life is entirely due to the manner he had e
xercised his free-will in the past, and the manner he exercises his free-will no
w decides his future.
3. Aim of human life
The ultimate aim of human life is to realise the freedom of the soul. The soul i
s deluded that it is bound. Just as any other form of delusion, the soul is not
in a position to recognise that it is bound. And, just as any other form of delu
sion, the soul becomes free the moment it recognises the delusion. By going thro
ugh joys and sorrows in the world, the soul recognises the fleeting nature of ph
enonmenal existence and searches for something permanent.To get this initiative,
the soul needs an extent of maturity, which can be gained only by performing ac
tions and facing their fruits. The duty of the society is to keep open the avenu
es for the soul to action and fruits, and thus help in the development of the so
ul.
4. Opportunity to develop
The environment which a soul faces is so designed by nature, that it can reap th
e fruits of some of its accumulated karma. The environment includes the place, f
amily, etc where the soul is born.
5. Graded goals
Moksha as the sole goal of life cannot be appreciated by everyone. This is due t
o the very nature of the delusion, which covers itself. So, intermediate goals a
re defined. The Indian system defines four goals of human life, including the 'u
ltimate' goal.
Dharma: righteousness
Artha: wealth, power and fame
Kama: fulfilment of desires
Moksha: freedom (as mentioned earlier)
The order is vital. The ground line is Dharma. The final goal is Moksha. A perso
n is to gain Artha by exerting himself in righteous ways. He can use the so gain
ed Artha to fulfil his desires within the circle of righteousness. These lead to
the initiative in him to the quest for Moksha, which he strives and attains.

6. Handling differences - the four castes

Every soul is different from an other in five ways:
Janma (birth)
Shakti (strength)
Buddhi (intellect)
Karma (fruits to be reaped)
Samskara (mental tendencies)
The social structure has to provide appropriate opportunities to the souls, insp
ite of the differences.
As we saw before, the environment is decided by nature depending on the karma an
d samskara of the soul. The Indian social structure is a work-back. The society
is sectioned into four divisions or castes. The duties are fixed for each caste,
so that the souls with a particular type of karma and samskara naturally take b
irth into the caste which bests suits its dynamics of development. The four cast
es are described below. The 'Aim' is what the person aspires for. The 'Purpose'
is what the society expects from the person.

Brahmana:
Aim: knowledge
Purpose: repository of arts, sciences, ethics, philosophy and religion study, re
search and teaching
Requisites: highly developed intellect
Kshatriya:
Aim: power
Purpose: administration of the society maintenence of law and order protection f
rom external aggression
Requisites: physical strength and courage capacity of administration
Vaishya:
Aim: wealth
Purpose: management of wealth in the society movement of items within the societ
y trade with other societies
Requisites: capacity of management
Sudra:
Aim: skill
Purpose: catering of products and services production of wealth
Requisites: skill in the particular work
The following are expected from everyone, irrespective of the caste.
Aim: perfection in any undertaking
Requisites: willingness to sacrifice personal interests for the sake of the soci
ety righteousness
By this organisation of the society, the individual aspirations and social expec
tations are fulfilled in a natural way. In this scheme of things, different cast
es aim at different things. So, there is no place for conflicts or competition b
etween castes. Within the same caste, there is competition, which is healthy and
helps in development of the society.
7. Focussing on the ultimate goal - the four stages
By catering to personal interests and to social commitments in this manner, a pe
rson develops naturally according to his own dynamics. As a guideline to this, f
our stages of life (ashramas) are defined. These are common to all castes.

Brahmacharya: This is the learning phase. The person lives as a student in the t
eacher's house. The teacher, as mentioned before, is a Brahmana. He learns vario
us arts, sciences, philosophy and religion. The teacher is materially supported
by the society and not by the pupils.
Grhasta: This is the phase where he serves actively in the society, as expected
by his caste. He acquires the necessary skills needed for his trade from the oth
er practitioners of his trade. Then, he practises and develops the trade. This i
s the stage which caters to the material needs of all the other stages.
Vanaprasta: This is the phase where he serves as the link between the past and t
he coming generation of people. In this stage, he does not contribute to the soc

iety in terms of products or regular services. He transfers the professional kno

wledge and experience gained to the coming generation.
Sannyasa: In this stage, the person is free from all other duties, except the pu
rsuit of spiritual wisdom. This pursuit is not exclusive to this stage, but this
stage is exclusive for this pursuit. The rest of the society supports him with
the bare necessities of life.
The caste distinctions apply only to the Grhasta and Vanaprasta stages. This is
because, the aim of the person in the other two stages is the same for all caste
s. Persons of any caste, who fulfil some stringent requirements, can skip the Gr
hasta and Vanaprasta stages and take to Sannyasa after Brahmacharya, in the excl
usive pursuit of spiritual attainment.
8. Entry into the social structure - Upanayana
When a person is born, he is taken care of by his parents. The day he enters int
o the first Ashrama - the Brahmacharya marks his acceptence into the general str
eam of the society. This is the ceremony of Upanayana. This marks the social and
spiritual birth of the person. It is indicated to the person that his aim is to
attain Moksha through service to the society. He is given a thread, which he we
ars. This is cut when he enters the Sannyasa Ashrama, whenafter the society does
not expect any returns from the person, or when he attains Moksha, whichever oc
curs earlier.
9. Breakdown of the caste system
When the soul is not given proper orientation towards the final goal, it assumes
Kama as the goal. Also, the soul starts yearning for means other than its natur
al course of development. As the result, the same soul strives after knowledge,
power and wealth. This results in the greying of the demarcation between the cas
tes. Thus, the person cannot be fixed to a particular caste. Though a person is
born as a Brahmana, he may pursue after wealth. A Vaisya-born may pursue after p
ower. This causes confusion in the society and caste loses its relevance, as we
see it now. With the breakdown of the caste system, the society faces the danger
of losing its scientific, technical and spiritual heritage. This has been made
up to a large extent by the establishment of modern universities and religious i
nstitutions. But, the absence of their close inter-relation creates unbalanced d
evelopment in the individuals, which is a big hinderance to the development of t
he Indian society.
10. Breakdown of the ashrama system
The stage of a Grhasta is as important to the society, as is the stage of Sannya
sa. The restriction towards a person entering into Sannyasa straight from Brahma
charya has to be very stringent. The failure of this during the late Buddhist pe
riod has resulted in a national decay, out of which India is still recovering. T
he absence of stringency to Sannyasa leads to half-baked sannyasins, which leads
to their downfall, which uproots the faith of the rest of the society in Sannya
sins, which strip the genuine Sannyasins from their source of bare necessities f
or life. As a measure of recovery from this decay, India has adopted the foundin
g of Sannyasin institutions. It has been a good success, and as the result the w
hole of India is recovering.
11. Modern forms of initiation and vanaprasta
With the course of time, the ceremony of Upanayana lost its spiritual importance
. Then it lost its social importance also. The traditional ceremony of Upanayana
is conducted by a few Indians only, mostly just as a ritual. The spiritual init
iation has been revitalised by a few spiritual institutions. They give initiatio
n to anyone who wants to follow the spiritual path. The vanaprasta system is rep
laced by a concept called Karma Sannyasa, which is given by some institutions.
12. Conclusion
Thus, the age old systems of India are giving way to new developments. The India
n society faced one phase of dark ages around the 6th century and another during
the 19th century. Now, it is on a forward march with a modern approach based on
its experience accumulated over a few thousand years.
REFERENCE: Dube, S.C. 1990. Indian Society New Delhi: National Book Trust, Indi
a.