The Caste System in India. www.castesysteminindia.

com

Of everything that the western world knows about the caste system in India, much of it happens to be seen in a negative light. The information regarding how the castes were developed and continue to work is highly misinterpreted and misunderstood. Although it is an essential element of the Hindu religion (Sanatan Dharma), much of it has been painted in a bad light over the ages. To understand the setup of the original system, one must cast an eye back into history. This puts forward knowledge of how the structure of castes was developed and the ways in which evolved further. A re-reading of the Indian scriptures reveals no guidelines on which to build a caste system. It is quite possible that this dimension was added to the Hindu social strata in order to create social classes as per spiritual beliefs and actions, rather than through birth. Historians believe that karma (the concept of good deeds and ethics) had a bigger role to play in the creation of castes, which were then bundled into family legacy over the course of centuries. As a result, the system started to face collapse due to the shift of balance towards the priestly caste and their influence over the socio-economic structure of the society. To use the caste system for their own benefits has long been the goal of those wishing to conquer India. As a result, only the extreme qualities of the earlier balanced caste system have been emphasised. In the past, this attitude was adopted rigorously by the British and Christian missionaries to begin their conquest over the lands of India. This lasted for some two hundred years, where the Hindu populace was made to feel inferior because of the so called savageness of their religion. Even after independence, there has been discrimination and widespread abuse of the system by politicians vying for power, communists, fundamentalists, secular historians and even the mainstream media. It is safe to say that the words caste system bring to mind a regime of torturous proportions for the current generations, mostly due to the oversimplification by western thinkers. The sheer amount of racism that has been practised by these societies against the blacks, the Jews and the native tribes is equally terrible in its history. Even with the socio-economic gap that permeates through most of the west, along with their firm footing in crimes of racism, the west continues to target casteism as the ultimate evil. The knowledge provided here will not try to justify how the latter years of the caste system degenerated into widespread abuse and discrimination. It merely provides various facts and discussions regarding the various castes. The fact is that without this system in place, the prosperity of the Hindu civilization would not have been possible, nor would it have withstood the 1500 years of foreign invaders that landed on her shores. Even today, the use of the caste system can be seen in societies that believe in the distribution of labour and do not fall prey to the factors that originally led to the decline. If modern times can accommodate the needs of a cohesive caste structure, then the rationale can once again resurrect the civilization to new heights. To read the full essay on the history, development and the degeneration of the caste system in India please visit the link below. www.castesysteminindia.com