Caste System in India

Created by: Miss Pinki Purkayastha

Assam University, Silchar
Email:pinkilovesnature@yahoo.in
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 What do you mean by
Caste

• The english word ‘Caste’ sometimes indicates Varna (category)

and sometimes indicate jathi.
• Although many Hindus subscribe to the belief that one is
born into a certain caste this belief is not supported by their
scriptures. The caste system in India has degenerated into a
system falsely recognizing men born in Brahmin families as
Brahmins, even though they don’t exhibit the qualities of
Brahmins. This has caused so many problems.
• Brahmanas, ksatriyas, vaisyas and sudras are distinguished by
the qualities born of their own natures in accordance with the
material modes, O chastiser of the enemy.

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Castes according to indian
texts:
• Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance,
honesty, knowledge, wisdom and religiousness–these are
the natural qualities by which the brahmanas work.
• Heroism, power, determination, resourcefulness, courage in
battle, generosity and leadership are the natural qualities of
work for the ksatriyas.
• Farming, cow protection and business are the natural work
for the vaisyas, and for the sudras there is labor and service
to others.
• So the Vedas recognize different people have different skills
and qualifications, but it is no by birth, it is by guna
[qualification] and karma [work]. So if someone born of a
sudra [worker] father becomes qualified [guna] and works as
[karma] a brahmana he should be accepted as a
brahmana… In the same way if the son of a brahmana
doesn’t have the qualifications of a brahmana or work as a
brahmana then he is not a brahmana. There are so many
examples of this in the Vedic scriptures.

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 Caste in valmiki
Ramayana
• Sri Rama himself was a friend of the Nishada king, Guha, the
Vanara king, Sugreeva and the Rakshasa king Vibheeshana. A
rksha warrior Jambavantha fought side by side with Rama in his
battle against the rakshasa king Ravana,
• Ravana was the son of a brahman father Visrava and a
Rakshasa mother, Kaikasi. Antarjateeya Vivahams or Inter-Jathi
marriages happened a good deal in Sri Rama’s times.
• . Parasurama’s father’s mother, was Satyavati the sister of
Viswamitra, a king who became a brahman by his tapas.
• While the Uttarakanda says that Valmiki was a Brahmarshi and a
Bhargava, much popular lore sees Valmiki variously as a Bhil, a
kirata, a nishada or an adivasi.

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 Caste in Mahabharata..
….Krishna & Caste System
• By the time Sri Krishna lived, every ‘antarjathi’ had acquired a
name, and was disallowed normal priviliges. Authorship and
(All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula)
• The jathi system had become both complex and rigid. for eg
Karna, the adopted son of Adhiratha was called a Suta Putra,
with a Suta being the son of a brahman mother and a
kshatriya father and therefore ineligible to rule a kingdom.
• Sri Krishna was quite fed up. So, He created Four Varnams
(Classes) based on guna (qualities) and karma (action). (See
the Bhagavad Gita and the Vishnu Purana). …. Sri Krishna
himself was a Yadava, a descendant of Yadu (the son of a
brahman mother – Devayani and princely father – Yayati). Yadu
was deprived of the kingdom and it went to his half brother.
• Sri Krishna’s close friend Sudama was a poor brahman and
another friend Vidura was a halfcaste son of a brahman father
Vyasa and a sudra maidservant. Vyasa, himself, was the son of
brahman father and a fishergirl mother. The pandavas were
descended from Devas and Yadavas

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 ….Krishna & Caste
System
• Sri Krishna said that-
• All the brave warriors who fought for the country should be one
caste – the kshatriyas. (No more sutas and yadavas and nagas
and rakshasas and so forth).
• All the learners and thinkers who preserved the knowledge of the
society would be brahmans.
• All the traders would be vaisyas.
• All the skilled engineers, craftsmen, farmers, the mainstay of
society would be the Sudras.
• And all the folks who refused to work, could stay outside the
society.
• Bhishma supported him in this concept as did many thinkers and
rulers of the time.

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 ….Krishna & Caste
System
• Sri Krishna disposed of the word jathi and put in a new
word Varna. And he truly believed that there should and would
be only 4 classes of people based on their nature and their
actions and not 4000 jathis based on genetics. By this count he
too would be kshatriya and not a yadava or a cowherd.
• Sri Krishna was a social reformer…. Sri Krishna said that
knowledge was higher than defence. That defence was higher
than commerce. And that commerce was higher than
production.
• The effect of Sri Krishna ranking the 4 varnas, was that
every jathi liked to register itself as belonging to a ‘higher’
Varna, without letting go of their jathi.

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Caste in Mahabharata..
• In the Santhi Parva, Bhrigu Maharshi attributes the creation
of the varnas to Brahma and assigns colours to them.
• But Bharadvaja argues that all humans have the same
physiology and emotions, so why this difference of
varnas even?
• In the Vanaparva of the Mahabharata it is said that it is
pointless to talk of a person’s jathi because of the huge
intermixing.
• It says that cultured behaviour is more important than
breeding. It says that a brahmana is one who
possesses virtuous conduct and has nothing to do with
birth at all. Since everyone is born from the creator Brahma,
all are brahmans.
• Sukraniti also supports this view.
• Sri Krishna says that such a virtuous and devout person
(Brahmana) is a representative of himself and must be
respected. (Even as today we respect our cultured
professors and gurus.) …. In the Shanthi Parva, Parasara,
Vyasa’s father says that every person should strive to be
virtuous to be called a human being and it does not
matter to whom they are born.
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Caste in Bhagvad Gita

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• In Gita we see, Sri Krishna said-
• In the Bhagavad Gita, Ch.4, Verse 13
The Lord says:
"The fourfold caste has been created by Me
according to the differentiation of Guna and Karma;"
• In the Bhagavad Gita, Ch.18, verse 40
the Lord says:
"There is no being on earth, or again in heaven among the
gods, that is liberated from the three qualities born of Nature."
• Gita Ch. 18, V.41:
"Of Brahmanas, Kshtriyas and Vaishyas, as also the Sudras,
O Arjuna, the duties are distributed according to the qualities
born of their own nature.“

• It is described in this age of Kali almost everyone is a

sudra. We can actually see society is now so degraded that
practically everyone must work as a sudra by serving an
employer.

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 Caste in Upanishad

• In the story of Satyakama Jabali, we learn that, whoever is

truthful, is worthy of being initiated into vedic studies even if her
has no known father and no known lineage.(Satya Sarada
Kandula)

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 Problems assosiated to
the Caste
• These days, in Kali-yuga, the samskaras are generally not
performed or not properly performed and the gurukuls, the
training schools for the boys, are no longer in operation… So
there is generally no training and also no purificatory
ceremonies… So these sons of Brahmins who have no
brahminical training have to be called “dvija-bandhus” or friends of
the Brahmins… Unless they actually have the qualities of
Brahmins and work as Brahmins they can’t be called a Brahmin.
You may even be qualified as a lawyer educationally but if you
don’t practice, if you don’t work as a lawyer, no one will accept
you as a lawyer.
• The qualities of a Brahmin are given in the Bhagavad-gita:
• samo damas tapah saucam
ksantir arjavam eva ca
jnanam vijnanam astikyam
brahma-karma svabhava-jam
• “Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty,
knowledge, wisdom and religiousness–these are the natural
qualities by which the brahmanas work.” (Bhagavad-gita 18.42)
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 If my father belongs to a given
caste, I know that, that caste is
my own.
• Yes. That is there. But because one’s father is a supreme court
judge one is not automatically a supreme court judge… He may
have a good opportunity to become one. His father can help him,
all the reference books are in his house, he is hearing about the
law all the time… But he has to become qualified, he has to go to
school, study the books, pass the exams, work as an apprentice
under a qualified judge… If you just let any son of any supreme
court judge sit in the supreme court that would be the end of the
supreme court…
• If someone, on the other hand, has a businessman as his father
but he develops an interest in the law, attends the university,
passes the exams, etc. If he develops the qualities and works as
a lawyer, then one has to accept him as a lawyer, even though
his father is a businessman. It is his guna [qualities] and karma
[work] that are important, not his birth

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 Is caste useful any longer as an organizing

principle for society ?

• Yes. There are three modes of material nature, [goodness,
passion and ignorance] and everyone of us is associating with
material nature in a certain way. It is that mixture of our
association with the modes of nature that determines our
“caste”. It is undobutedly influenced by our parents guna and
karma, but we can change it… One in the mode of goodness
is a Brahmin, one in the mode of passion is a ksatriya, one in
the mixed modes of passion and ignorence is a vishya and
one in the mode of ignorance is a sudra. This system is
everywhere, even in America. Unless it is recognized social
interaction and the smooth running of a society become very
difficult. It is true that certain people are suited to performing
certain tasks… Someone has a very good brain, he can think
analytically very nicely, so he can advise the government, he
can be a judge in a court of law…

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• But if you put someone with no brain and little analytical thinking
ability in that position he will not be very successful… Society
will suffer…
• This is one of the main problems in our society now [both in
India and in the US]… No one knows who is who and so many
jobs which should be being performed by Brahmins and
ksatriyas are being done by sudras… It is said kalo sudra
sambhavah, “In the age of Kali everyone is a sudra.” So it is a
very difficult time. Mostly people are sudras, there may be a few
vaisyas [businessmen] but almost no ksatriyas or Brahmins…
This is the problem. We are not training them. The intelligent
people are available, but instead of training them as Brahmins
and ksatriyas we are training them as technologists. But these
are sudra jobs…

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References:

• http://satyask.wordpress.com/caste-system /
• Indian Caste System: Then and Now: Jati,
Varna, Kula(Authorship and Copyright Notice:
All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula)
• Sanskrit Dictionary at Hindunet.org
• Encyclopaedia of Historiography By M.M. :Rahman
• Mantras-Sacred fire :www.Vrat-resolution.com
• Atheist Centre 1940-1990 Golden Jubilee
International Conference Souvenir

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THANK YOU

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