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Discrimination of Castes What is necessary for people to live together equally without any discrimination and difference in peace and in harmony? Since the human beings started to live together, they have formed some rules and systems, which help to support the peace in the society and facilitate the social life. The feudal system in Middle Ages that classifies the nobles, priests and villagers differently, and the democratic system of current time are some examples of these kinds of rules and systems. The most interesting example between them is the caste system, which has existed for thousands of year in India. The caste system, which has existed for thousands of year in India, is a system that divides the society in classes, in castes and obstructs the social relations between these castes. The society in India is divided into castes according to their economic and social status such as the priests “Brahmans”, the rulers “Ksatriyas”, etc… In the major social categories like culture, gender and environment, it can be seen the divider effect of the caste system. This caste system is originated from the Varna philosophy of Hinduism, for this reason Indian people accept this social discrimination as a consequence of their religion without any objection. This system based on religion, impedes the sociological development of India and causes the inequality among its people. Firstly, I want to give some information about the caste system. Caste is defined as a rigid social system in which a social hierarchy is maintained for generations and allows little mobility out of the position to which a person is born (Encarta Encyclopedia). In Sanskrit, the word for caste is "Varna" which means color. Caste means generally the class. The term caste was first used in the 16th century by Portuguese travelers who came to India. Caste comes from the Spanish and Portuguese word "casta", which means "race", "breed" (Quigley, 1993). Many Indians use the term "jati" for caste and subcastes. There are 3,000 castes and 25,000 subcastes in India. Each has a specific occupation. There are five different levels of the system: Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra, and Harijans. The highest caste is the Brahmans, which are the priests and teachers. Second is the Kshatriyas that represent the rulers and warriors. They are responsible to protect and govern the country. Then, there are the Vaishyas, which are the merchants and traders. Finally, there are shudras that presents the peasants and workers. In additional to these four main castes, there are the Harijans or Untouchables, which are not in the social order and they don’t belong to a caste (http://www.beyondbooks.com/wcu91/6g.asp). The duties relating to each adopted vocation are also listed in the Gita (Ch. 18 - verses 42, 43 & 44). For example: [42] The works of a Brahmin are peace; self-harmony, austerity, and purity; loving-forgiveness and righteousness; vision and wisdom and faith.[43] These are the works of a Kshatriya: a heroic mind, inner fire, constancy, resourcefulness, courage in battle, generosity and noble leadership (Barnett, Fruzzetti, and Östör. 1992). The caste system doesn’t only give the explanation of the occupations of the castes. It also explains the ritual habits and the relation between members of different castes. The Indian caste was hereditary, every people born in the caste that their parents belong and until the death, they remain in the same class. Upward mobility is very rare in the caste system. They can marry with a person who is also from the same caste. If a person marries a person with different caste, they become untouchables and they are rejected from the society (http://krishna.org/ctfote/varnash.html). Their children also, without fault, born as untouchable. According to beliefs, these people are perceived as dirty. Untouchables have separate entrances to homes and must drink from separate wells. They are considered to be the state of impurity. They can’t touch and even approach to the other pure people. There is also the concept of respect in the caste system. Any contact with another caste was prohibited. The lower class can’t be stand beside the higher class. They accept this rule, the way of life as the way to keep society from disintegrating to chaos. In addition, it’s helpful to look at the Hinduism and how the caste system appeared in India related to Hinduism to understand better the importance of the caste system. Aryans had migrated from Central Europe and settled in the Indus Valley in the second millennium BC. Aryans were very clever population. They applied the division of labor in their society and they started to categorize people according to their duties. They implemented the concept of priests, warriors etc. As the Aryans were very clever, they found ways to keep the people doing what they had been doing by the religious beliefs (Quigley, 1993). In Hindu philosophy, the God, Brahma, created every creature in this world. Brahmins are created from the mouth of Brahma to symbolize teacher groups, which represents the wisdom. Kshatriyas are created from the arms of Brahma to symbolize warriors. Vaishyas are created from the lap of Brahma to symbolize a mother feeding her baby. And Sudras are created from the feet of Brahma to symbolize a weight bearer (http://krishna.org/ctfote/varnash.html) Therefore, the Brahmins are the uppermost caste of society. The source for proof for this setup is the " BHAGVAD GITA", one of the holy books of Hindu religion. When they divided the Man, Into how many parts did they divide him? What was his mouth, what were his arms, What were his thighs and his feet called? The Brahman was his mouth, Of his arms was made the warrior His thighs became the vaisya, Of his feet the sudra was born. (from the “Hymn of the Primeval Man,” Rig Veda X:21 Barnett, Fruzzetti, and Östör. 1992) It’s obvious that Hindus were seeing these divisions as a part of their religion. Another reason for this acceptation and no objection is the varna philosophy of Hinduism. Hindus believe in reincarnation and they want to acquire the salvation, moksha, by the reincarnation. To achieve this salvation, there are duties and the ways to fallow for people. Firstly, there is the idea of Dharma (http://www.religioustolerance.org/hinduism2.htm.). When you born, your destiny was determined according to your caste. It’s your Dharma and you can’t change it. If you don’t reject your Dharma and you live and behave as your Dharma says, when you die, your Karma also will be good. Karma is your value after the death. According to Hindu beliefs, when your Karma is good, your next life, your “reincarnation” will be better in the upper caste until the salvation (http://www.religioustolerance.org/hinduism2.htm.). For example, if you’re a shudra and if you do all the necessities of being Shudra, in your next life, you can be a Vaishya. It can be seen that because of these religious beliefs, people accept the discrimination of the caste system very natural and obey it without rejection. The effect of Hinduism is very huge on the caste system. This caste system’s negative effects can be seen in social categories like gender, culture and environment. In most of the villages in India, the caste system imposes the inferiority of women as a separate subgroup. Women and men are seen to occupy separate physical and psychological dimensions of existence according to Hinduism (Bagwe, 1995). The Vedic texts, which are sacred for Hindu people, have a lot of stories that set men apart from women in terms of courage, dominance, skill and overall superiority. They are subject to different work roles and ritual functions (Bagwe, 1995). For example, women can’t work and they must care of the house life. If we look to the environment concept, the physical structure of the villages of India reflects their social structure (Béteille, 1996). The distribution of population isn’t random, but is constructed on a plan. People who are close to each other in the social system live side-by-side and people who are in different social positions live apart. The villages have certain territorial divisions and the social values are attached to these. For example, Brahmins tend to live close the rivers because of the sacredness of them (Béteille, 1996). In every part of the life of the Hindus, we can see the social discrimination. We said that lower castes couldn’t stand beside the higher castes; they must stand on a lower level of position.
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