Leaving the Indus Valley, the Indian Aryans conquered the country along the Ganges and founded many states here, whose population consisted of two classes, differing in legal and material status.
The new settlers, the Aryans, the victors, seized for themselves in India both land, and honor, and power, and the defeated non-Indo-European natives were plunged into contempt and humiliation, turned into slavery or a dependent state, or, driven back into the forests and mountains, they led there in inaction thoughts of a meager life without any culture. This result of the Aryan conquest gave rise to the origin of the four main Indian castes (varnas).Those original inhabitants of India who were subdued by the power of the sword, suffered the fate of captives, became mere slaves. The Indians, who voluntarily submitted, renounced their paternal gods, adopted the language, laws and customs of the conquerors, retained personal freedom, but lost all land property and had to live as workers on the estates of the Aryans, servants and porters, in the homes of rich people. From them came the caste sudra. "Shudra" is not a Sanskrit word. Before becoming the name of one of the Indian castes, it was probably the name of some people. The Aryans considered it below their dignity to enter into marriage alliances with representatives of the Shudra caste. The Shudra women were only concubines among the Aryans.
Ancient India. Map
Over time, sharp differences in fortunes and professions formed between the Aryan conquerors of India themselves. But in relation to the lower caste - the dark-skinned, subjugated native population - they all remained a privileged class. Only the Aryans had the right to read the sacred books; only they were sanctified by a solemn ceremony: a sacred cord was placed on the Aryan, making him “reborn” (or “twice born”, dvija). This rite served as a symbolic distinction of all Aryans from the Shudra caste and the despised native tribes driven into the forests. The consecration was performed by laying on a cord, which is worn laid on the right shoulder and descending obliquely over the chest. Among the Brahmin caste, a cord could be placed on a boy from 8 to 15 years old, and it is made of cotton yarn; among the Kshatriya caste, who received it no earlier than the 11th year, it was made from kushi (Indian spinning plant), and among the Vaishya caste, who received it no earlier than the 12th year, it was made of wool.
The "twice-born" Aryans over time divided according to differences in occupation and origin into three estates or castes, which have some similarities with the three estates of medieval Europe: the clergy, the nobility and the middle, urban class. The embryos of caste systems among the Aryans existed even in those times when they lived only in the Indus basin: there, from the mass of the agricultural and pastoral population, warlike tribal princes, surrounded by people skilled in military affairs, as well as priests who performed sacrificial rites, already stood out.
At the migration of the Aryan tribes further deep into India, to the country of the Ganges, militant energy increased in bloody wars with the exterminated natives, and then in a fierce struggle between the Aryan tribes. Until the conquests were completed, all the people were engaged in military affairs. Only when the peaceful possession of the conquered country began, it became possible to develop a variety of occupations, it became possible to choose between different professions, and a new stage in the origin of castes began. The fertility of the Indian land aroused the desire for the peaceful pursuit of livelihoods. From this quickly developed an innate Aryan tendency, according to which it was more pleasant for them to work quietly and enjoy the fruits of their labor than to make heavy military efforts. Therefore, a significant part of the settlers (" vichy”) turned to agriculture, which gave abundant harvests, leaving the fight against enemies and the protection of the country to the princes of the tribes and the military nobility formed during the period of conquests. This estate, which was engaged in arable farming and partly in shepherding, soon grew so much that among the Aryans, as in Western Europe, they formed the vast majority of the population. Because the title vaishya"settler", originally designating all Aryan inhabitants in new areas, began to designate only people of the third, working Indian caste, and warriors, kshatriyas and the priests Brahmins("prayers"), who over time became privileged classes, made the names of their professions the names of the two upper castes.
The four Indian estates listed above became completely closed castes (varnas) only when Brahmanism rose above the ancient service to Indra and other gods of nature - a new religious doctrine of Brahma, the soul of the universe, the source of life from which all creatures originated and to which all beings will return. This reformed creed gave religious holiness to the division of the Indian nation into castes, and especially to the priestly caste. It said that in the cycle of life forms passed by all existing on earth, Brahman is the highest form of being. According to the dogma of the rebirth and transmigration of souls, a being born in a human form must go through all four castes in turn: to be a sudra, a vaishya, a kshatriya, and finally a brahmin; having passed through these forms of existence, it is reunited with Brahma. The only way to achieve this goal is for a person, constantly striving for a deity, to exactly fulfill everything commanded by the Brahmins, honor them, please them with gifts and signs of respect. Offenses against the Brahmins, severely punished on earth, subject the wicked to the most terrible torments of hell and rebirth in the forms of despised animals.
Belief in the dependence of the future life on the present was the main pillar of the Indian caste division and the dominion of the priests. The more resolutely the Brahminical clergy placed the dogma of the transmigration of souls at the center of all moral teaching, the more successfully they filled the imagination of the people with terrible pictures of hellish torments, the more honor and influence they gained. Representatives of the highest caste of the Brahmins are close to the gods; they know the path leading to Brahma; their prayers, sacrifices, holy feats of their asceticism have magical power over the gods, the gods have to fulfill their will; bliss and suffering in the Hereafter depend on them. It is not surprising that with the development of religiosity among the Indians, the power of the Brahmin caste increased, tirelessly praising in their holy teachings reverence and generosity to the Brahmins as the surest ways to obtain bliss, suggesting to the kings that the ruler is obliged to have his advisers and make judges of the Brahmins, is obliged to reward their service to the rich. content and pious gifts.
So that the lower Indian castes would not envy the privileged position of the Brahmins and would not encroach on it, the doctrine was developed and vigorously preached that the forms of life for all beings are predetermined by Brahma, and that the progress through the degrees of human rebirths is made only by a calm, peaceful life in a given position, true performance of duties. So, in one of the oldest parts Mahabharata says: “When Brahma created creatures, he gave them their occupations, each caste a special activity: for the brahmanas - the study of the high Vedas, for the warriors - heroism, the vaishyas - the art of labor, the shudras - humility before other colors: therefore, ignorant brahmins, not glorious warriors, are worthy of reproach, unskillful vaisyas and disobedient sudras.
Brahma, the main deity of Brahmanism - the religion that underlies the Indian caste system
This dogma, which attributed to every caste, every profession, a divine origin, consoled the humiliated and despised in the insults and deprivations of their present life with the hope of improving their fate in the future existence. He gave the Indian caste hierarchy religious consecration. The division of people into four classes, unequal in their rights, was, from this point of view, an eternal, unchanging law, the violation of which is the most criminal sin. People have no right to overthrow the caste barriers established between them by God himself; they can achieve the improvement of their lot only by patient obedience. Mutual relations between the Indian castes were clearly characterized by teaching; that Brahma produced Brahmins from his mouth (or the first man Purusha), Kshatriyas from his hands, Vaishyas from his thighs, Shudras from mud-stained feet, therefore the essence of nature among the Brahmins is “holiness and wisdom”, among the Kshatriyas it is “power and strength”, among the Vaishyas - “wealth and profit”, among the Shudras - “service and humility”. The doctrine of the origin of castes from different parts of the highest being is expounded in one of the hymns of the latest, most recent book. Rigveda. There are no caste concepts in the older songs of the Rig Veda. The Brahmins attach great importance to this hymn, and every truly believing Brahmin recites it every morning after bathing. This hymn is a diploma by which the Brahmins legitimized their privileges, their dominion.
Thus the Indian people were led, by their history, by their inclinations and customs, to fall under the yoke of a hierarchy of castes, which turned estates and professions into tribes alien to each other,
Shudra
After the conquest of the Ganges valley by the Aryan tribes who came from the Indus, part of its original (non-Indo-European) population was enslaved, and the rest lost their lands, turning into servants and laborers. From these natives, alien to the Aryan invaders, the Shudra caste gradually formed. The word "sudra" does not come from a Sanskrit root. It may have been some local Indian tribal designation.
The Aryans assumed the role of a higher class in relation to the Shudras. Only over the Aryans was a religious ceremony of laying a sacred thread, which, according to the teachings of Brahminism, made a person “twice-born”. But even among the Aryans themselves, social division soon appeared. According to the nature of their life and occupations, they broke up into three castes - Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas, reminiscent of the three main classes of the medieval West: the clergy, the military aristocracy and the class of small proprietors. This social stratification began to appear among the Aryans during their life on the Indus.
After the conquest of the Ganges valley, most of the Aryan population took up agriculture and cattle breeding in the new fertile country. These people formed a caste Vaishya("village"), which earned its livelihood by labor, but, unlike the Shudras, consisted of legally full owners of land, livestock or industrial and commercial capital. Warriors stood over the Vaishyas ( kshatriyas), and priests ( brahmins,"prayers"). Kshatriyas and especially Brahmins were considered the highest castes.
Vaishya
Vaishyas, farmers and shepherds of ancient India, by the very nature of their occupations, could not equal the upper classes in neatness and were not so well dressed. Spending the day in labor, they had no leisure either for acquiring Brahmin education, or for the idle occupations of the military nobility of the Kshatriyas. Therefore, the vaishyas soon began to be considered people of unequal rights to priests and warriors, people of a different caste. Vaisya commoners had no warlike neighbors to threaten their property. The Vaishyas did not need sword and arrows; they lived quietly with their wives and children on their piece of land, leaving the military class to guard the country from external enemies and from internal unrest. In the affairs of the world, most of the recent Aryan conquerors of India soon lost the habit of weapons and military art.
When, with the development of culture, the forms and needs of everyday life became more diverse, when the rustic simplicity of clothing and food, housing and household items began to not satisfy many, when trade with foreigners began to bring wealth and luxury, many vaishyas turned to crafts, industry, trade, return money in interest. But their social prestige did not rise from this. Just as in feudal Europe the townspeople did not belong to the upper classes, but to the common people, so in the populous cities that arose in India near the royal and princely palaces, the majority of the population were vaishyas. But they did not have room for independent development: the contempt of the upper classes weighed on the artisans and merchants in India. No matter how much wealth Vaishyas acquired in large, magnificent, luxurious capitals or in trading seaside cities, they did not receive any complicity either in the honors and glory of the Kshatriyas, or in the education and authority of the Brahmin priests and scientists. The highest moral blessings of life were inaccessible to the Vaishyas. They were given only the circle of physical and mechanical activity, the circle of material and routine; and although they were allowed, even made obligated to read Veda and law books, they remained outside the highest mental life of the nation. The hereditary chain chained the Vaishya to his father's plot of land or industry; access to the military class or to the Brahmin caste was forever barred to him.
Kshatriyas
The position of the warrior caste (kshatriyas) was more honorable, especially in iron times. Aryan conquests of India and the first generations after this conquest, when everything was decided by the sword and martial energy, when the king was only a commander, when law and custom were kept only by guarding weapons. There was a time when the kshatriyas aspired to become the pre-eminent estate, and in the dark legends there are still traces of memories of the great war between warriors and brahmins, when “impious hands” dared to touch the sacred, God-established greatness of the clergy. Traditions say that the Brahmins emerged victorious from this struggle with the Kshatriyas with the help of the gods and the hero of the Brahmins, frames and that the wicked were subjected to the most terrible punishments.
Kshatriya education
Times of conquest were to be followed by times of peace; then the services of the kshatriyas were no longer needed, and the importance of the military class decreased. These times favored the aspiration of the Brahmins to become the first estate. But the stronger and more resolutely the soldiers held on to the degree of the second most honorable class. Proud of the glory of their ancestors, whose exploits were praised in heroic songs inherited from antiquity, imbued with a sense of dignity and consciousness of their strength, which the military profession gives people, the kshatriyas kept themselves in strict isolation from the vaishyas, who did not have noble ancestors, and looked with contempt on their working, monotonous life.
The Brahmins, having consolidated their primacy over the Kshatriyas, favored their class isolation, finding it beneficial for themselves; and the kshatriyas, along with lands and privileges, tribal pride and military glory, passed on to their sons and respect for the clergy. Separated by their upbringing, military exercises and way of life from both the Brahmins and the Vaishyas, the Kshatriyas were a knightly aristocracy that, under the new conditions of social life, preserved the militant customs of antiquity, instilled in their children a proud faith in the purity of blood and in tribal superiority. Protected by heredity of rights and class isolation from the invasion of alien elements, the kshatriyas constituted a phalanx that did not allow commoners into their ranks.
Receiving a generous salary from the king, supplied from him with weapons and everything necessary for military affairs, the kshatriyas led a carefree life. Apart from military exercises, they had no business; therefore, in times of peace - and in the calm valley of the Ganges time passed mostly peacefully - they had much leisure to make merry and feast. In the circle of these clans, the memory of the glorious deeds of the ancestors, of the hot battles of antiquity, was preserved; singers of kings and noble families sang old songs to kshatriyas at sacrificial holidays and at funeral dinners, or composed new ones to glorify their patrons. From these songs, Indian epic poems gradually grew - Mahabharata and Ramayana.
The highest and most influential caste was the priests, whose original name was "purohita", "house priests" of the king, in the country of the Ganges was replaced by a new one - Brahmins. Even on the Indus there were such priests, for example, Vasistha, Vishwamitra- about whom the people believed that their prayers and the sacrifices they made had power, and who therefore enjoyed special respect. The benefit of the whole tribe demanded that their sacred songs, their ways of performing rituals, their teachings be preserved. The surest remedy for this was for the most respected priests of the tribe to pass on their knowledge to their sons or disciples. This is how the Brahmin families arose. Forming schools or corporations, they preserved prayers, hymns, sacred knowledge by oral tradition.
At first, each Aryan tribe had its own Brahmin clan; for example, among the Koshalas, the clan of Vasistha, among the Anges, the clan of Gautama. But when the tribes, accustomed to living in peace with each other, united into one state, then their priestly families entered into partnership with each other, borrowed prayers and hymns from each other. The creeds and sacred songs of various Brahmin schools became the common property of the whole association. These songs and teachings, which at first existed only in oral tradition, were, after the introduction of written signs, written down and collected by the Brahmins. So arose Veda, that is, "knowledge", a collection of sacred songs and invocations of the gods, called Rigveda and the following two collections of sacrificial formulas, prayers and liturgical decrees, Samaveda and Yajurveda.
The Indians attached great importance to the fact that the sacrificial offerings were made correctly, and that no mistakes were made in addressing the gods. This was very conducive to the emergence of a special Brahmin corporation. When the liturgical rites and prayers were written down, the exact knowledge and observance of the prescribed rules and laws, which could only be studied under the guidance of the old priestly families, became a condition for the sacrifices and rites to be pleasing to the gods. This necessarily gave the performance of sacrifices and worship to the exclusive supervision of the Brahmins, completely stopped the direct relationship of the laity to the gods: only those who had been taught by the priest-mentor - the son or pupil of a Brahmin - could now perform the sacrifice in the proper way, making it "pleasant to the gods" ; only he could deliver God's help.
Brahman in modern India
Knowledge of the old songs with which ancestors in their former homeland honored the gods of nature, knowledge of the rites that accompanied these songs, became more and more decisively the exclusive property of the Brahmins, whose forefathers composed these songs and in whose genus they were inherited. Traditions connected with worship, necessary for understanding it, also remained the property of the priests. What was brought from the homeland was clothed in the minds of the Aryan settlers in India with a mysterious sacred meaning. Thus the hereditary singers became hereditary priests, whose importance increased as the people of the Aryans moved away from their old homeland (the Indus Valley) and, busy with military affairs, forgot their old institutions.
The people began to consider the Brahmins as intermediaries between people and gods. When peaceful times began in the new country of the Ganges, and concern for the performance of religious duties became the most important business of life, the concept established among the people about the importance of priests should have aroused in them the proud thought that the estate, performing the most sacred duties, spending its life in the service of the gods, has the right to take first place in society and the state. The Brahmin clergy became a closed corporation, access to it was closed to people of other classes. Brahmins were supposed to take wives only from their class. They taught all the people to recognize that the sons of a priest, born in a lawful marriage, possess by their very origin the right to be priests and the ability to perform sacrifices and prayers pleasing to the gods.
Thus arose a priestly, Brahmin caste, strictly isolated from the Kshatriyas and Vaishyas, placed by the power of their class pride and the religiosity of the people on the highest level of honor, seizing science, religion, and all education in a monopoly for themselves. As time passed, the Brahmins became accustomed to thinking that they were as much superior to the rest of the Aryans as they considered themselves superior to the Shudras and the remnants of the wild native Indian tribes. On the street, in the market, the difference between the castes was already visible in the material and form of clothing, in the size and shape of the cane. A Brahmin, unlike a Kshatriya and a Vaishya, left the house with nothing more than a bamboo cane, a vessel of water for cleansing, with a sacred thread over his shoulder.
The Brahmins did their best to put the theory of castes into practice. But the conditions of reality opposed such obstacles to their striving that they could not strictly enforce the principle of the division of occupations between the castes. It was especially difficult for the Brahmins to find means of subsistence for themselves and their families, limiting themselves to only those occupations that specifically belonged to their caste. The Brahmins were not monks who take only as many people as they need into their class. They led a family life and multiplied; therefore it was inevitable that many Brahmin families became impoverished; and the Brahmin caste did not receive maintenance from the state. Therefore, the impoverished Brahmin families fell into poverty. The Mahabharata says that two prominent characters in this poem, Drona and his son Ashwatthaman, there were Brahmins, but due to poverty they had to take up the military craft of the Kshatriyas. In later insertions they are severely reprimanded for this.
True, some Brahmins led an ascetic and hermit life in the forest, in the mountains, near sacred lakes. Others were astronomers, legal advisers, administrators, judges, and received a good livelihood from these honorable occupations. Many brahmins were religious teachers, interpreters of sacred books, and received support from their many students, were priests, servants at temples, lived on gifts from those who made sacrifices and, in general, from pious people. But whatever the number of Brahmins who found their livelihood in these pursuits, we see from laws of Manu and from other ancient Indian sources that there were many priests who lived only by alms or fed themselves and their families in occupations indecent to their caste. Therefore, the laws of Manu are diligently concerned to instill in kings and wealthy people that they have a sacred duty to be generous to the Brahmins. The laws of Manu allow the Brahmins to beg, they allow them to earn their livelihood by the occupations of Kshatriyas and Vaishyas. A Brahman can subsist on agriculture and herding; can live "the truth and lies of the trade". But in no case should he live by lending money at interest, or by seductive arts, such as music and singing; should not be hired as workers, should not trade in intoxicating drinks, cow's butter, milk, sesame seeds, linen or woolen fabrics. The law of Manu also permits those kshatriyas who cannot subsist on the art of war to engage in the affairs of the vaisyas, and he allows the vaisyas to subsist on the occupations of the sudras. But all these were only concessions forced by necessity.
The discrepancy between the occupations of people and their castes led over time to the disintegration of castes into smaller divisions. Actually, it is these small social groups that are castes in the proper sense of the word, and the four main classes we have listed - Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras - in India itself are often called varnas. Condescendingly allowing the higher castes to feed on the professions of the lower, the laws of Manu strictly forbid the lower castes to take on the profession of the higher: this insolence was supposed to be punished by confiscation of property and exile. Only a sudra who does not find employment for himself can practice a craft. But he must not acquire wealth, lest he become arrogant against people of other castes, before whom he is obliged to humble himself.
Untouchable Caste - Chandalas
From the Ganges basin, this contempt for the surviving tribes of the non-Aryan population was transferred to the Deccan, where they were placed in the same position as the Chandalas on the Ganges. pariahs, whose name is not found in laws of Manu, became among Europeans the name of all classes of people despised by the Aryans, "unclean" people. The word pariya is not Sanskrit, but Tamil. The Tamils call pariahs both the descendants of the most ancient, pre-Dravidian population, and the Indians excluded from the castes.
Even the position of slaves in ancient India was less difficult than the life of the untouchable caste. The epic and dramatic works of Indian poetry show that the Aryans treated their slaves meekly, that many slaves enjoyed great confidence in their masters and occupied influential positions. Slaves were: those members of the Shudra caste, whose ancestors fell into slavery during the conquest of the country; Indian prisoners of war from enemy states; people bought from merchants; faulty debtors given by judges as slaves to creditors. Slaves and female slaves were sold on the market as a commodity. But no one could have as a slave a person from a caste higher than his own.
Originating in antiquity, the untouchable caste exists in India to the present day.
It will come across, I know many Indian travelers who live there for months, but they are not interested in castes because they are not necessary for life.
The caste system today, like a century ago, is not exotic, it is part of the complex organization of Indian society, a multifaceted phenomenon that has been studied by Indologists and ethnographers for centuries, dozens of thick books have been written about it, so I will publish here only 10 interesting facts about Indian castah - about the most popular questions and misconceptions.
1. What is an Indian caste?
The Indian caste is such a complex phenomenon that it is simply not possible to give an exhaustively complete definition!
Castes can only be described through a series of features, but there will still be exceptions.
Caste in India is a system of social stratification, a separate social group, connected by the origin and legal status of its members. Castes in India are built according to the principles: 1) common (this rule is always respected); 2) one profession, usually hereditary; 3) members of castes enter into only among themselves, as a rule; 4) caste members generally do not eat with strangers, except in other Hindu castes of a significantly higher social position than their own; 5) members of castes can be determined by who they can take water and food, processed and raw.
2. There are 4 castes in India
Now in India there are not 4, but about 3 thousand castes, they can be called differently in different parts of the country, and people with the same profession can have different castes in different states. For a complete list of modern castes by state, see http://socialjustice...
The fact that nameless people on tourist and other near-Indian sites call 4 castes is not a caste at all, these are 4 varnas - chaturvarna - an ancient social system.
4 varnas (वर्ना) is an ancient Indian system of estates. brahmins (more correctly a brahmin) historically are clergymen, doctors, teachers. Varna kshatriyas (in ancient times it was called rajanya) are rulers and warriors. Varna vaishyas are farmers and merchants, and varna shudras are workers and landless peasants who work for others.
Varna is a color (in Sanskrit again), and each Indian varna has its own color: the Brahmins have white, the Kshatriyas have red, the Vaishyas have yellow, the Shudras have black, and earlier, when all representatives of the varnas wore a sacred thread - he was just their varna.
Varnas correlate with castes, but in very different ways, sometimes there is no direct connection, and since we have already delved into science, it must be said that Indian castes, unlike varnas, are called jati - जाति.
More about Indian castes in modern India
3. Caste of the Untouchables
The untouchables are not a caste. In the days of ancient India, everyone who was not part of the 4 varnas automatically found themselves "overboard" of Indian society, these strangers were avoided, they were not allowed to live in villages, which is why they were called untouchables. Subsequently, these untouchable strangers began to be used in the most dirty, low-paid and shameful work, and formed their own social and professional groups, that is, untouchable castes, in modern India there are several of them, as a rule, this is associated either with dirty work or with murder living creatures or death, so that all hunters and fishermen, as well as gravediggers and tanners, are untouchable.
4. When did the Indian castes appear?
Normatively, that is, legislatively, the cast-jati system in India was fixed in the Laws of Manu, which date back to the 2nd century BC.
The varna system is much older, there is no exact dating. I wrote more about the history of the issue in the article Castes of India, from Varnas to the Present
5. Castes in India are abolished
Castes in modern India are not abolished or banned, as is often said.
On the contrary, all castes in India are recalculated and listed in the appendix to the Indian constitution, which is called the Table of Castes. In addition, after the census, changes are made to this table, as a rule, additions, the point is not that new castes appear, but that they are fixed in accordance with the data indicated about themselves by the census participants.
Only discrimination based on caste is prohibited, this is written in article 15 of the Indian Constitution, see the test at http://lawmin.nic.in...
6. Every Indian has a caste
No, this is also not true.
Indian society is very heterogeneous in its structure, and apart from the division into castes, there are several others.
There are caste and non-caste, for example, representatives of Indian tribes (natives, Adivasis), with rare exceptions, do not have castes. And the part of non-caste Indians is quite large, see the results of the census at http://censusindia.g...
In addition, for some misconduct (crimes), a person can be expelled from the caste and thus deprive him of his status and position in society.
7. Castes are only in India
No, this is a delusion. There are castes in other countries, for example, in Nepal and Sri Lanka, since these countries developed in the bosom of the same huge Indian civilization, as well as on. But there are castes in other cultures, for example, in Tibet, and the Tibetan castes do not correlate with the Indian ones at all, since the class structure of Tibetan society was formed from India.
For the castes of Nepal, see Ethnic Mosaic of Nepal
8. Only Indians have castes.
No, now it is not so, you need to delve into history.
Historically, when the overwhelming majority of the population of India professed, all Hindus belonged to some kind of caste, the only exceptions were the pariahs expelled from the castes and the indigenous, tribal peoples of India, who did not profess Hinduism and were not part of the Indian society. Then other religions began to spread in India - India was invaded by other peoples, and representatives of other religions and peoples began to adopt from the Hindus their class system of varnas and the system of professional castes - jati. Now there are castes in Jainism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Christianity, but they are different from the Hindu castes.
It is curious that in northern India, in the modern states of Pradesh, the caste system of Buddhists is not of Indian, but of Tibetan origin.
It is even more curious that even Europeans - Christian missionaries-preachers - were drawn into the system of Indian castes: those who preached the teachings of Christ to noble Brahmins ended up in the Christian "Brahmin" caste, and those who communicated with the untouchable fishermen became Christian untouchables.
9. You need to know the caste of the Indian with whom you communicate and behave accordingly.
This is a common misconception, replicated by tourist sites, it is not known for what, it is not based on anything.
It is impossible to determine which caste an Indian belongs to only by his appearance, by his occupation - often too. One acquaintance worked as a waiter, although he came from a noble Rajput family (that is, he is a kshatriya). I managed to identify a familiar Nepalese waiter by his behavior as an aristocrat, since we had known each other for a long time, I asked and he confirmed that this was true, and the guy did not work because of a lack of money at all.
My old friend started his career at the age of 9 as a handyman, cleaning up rubbish in a shop... do you think he is a sudra? no, he is a brahmin (brahmin) from a poor family and 8 children in a row ... 1 more brahmin friend sells in a shop, he is the only son, you have to earn money ...
Another acquaintance of mine is so religious and bright that one would think that he is the real, ideal Brahmin. But no, he is just a shudra, and he was proud of this, and those who know what seva means will understand why.
And even if an Indian says what caste he is, although such a question is considered indecent, it will still not give anything to a tourist, a person who does not know India cannot understand what and why is arranged in this amazing country. So you should not be puzzled by the caste issue, because sometimes it is difficult for India to even determine the gender of the interlocutor, and this is probably more important :)
10. Caste discrimination in our time
India is a democratic country and, in addition to the prohibition of caste discrimination, has introduced benefits for members of the lower castes and tribes, for example, there are quotas for admission to higher educational institutions, for positions in state and municipal bodies.
discrimination against people from the lower castes, Dalits and tribal people in India is quite serious, casteism is still the basis of life for hundreds of millions of Indians outside of large cities, it is there that the caste structure and all the prohibitions arising from it are still preserved, for example, in some temples in India Shudra Indians are not allowed in, it is there that almost all caste crimes take place, for example, quite a typical crime
Instead of an afterword.
If you are seriously interested in the caste system in India, I can recommend, in addition to the articles section on this site and publications in the Hindunet, to read major European Indologists of the 20th century:
1. Academic 4-volume work by R.V. Russell "and the castes of the central provinces of India"
2. Louis Dumont's monograph "Homo hierarchicus. Experience in describing the caste system"
In addition, in recent years, a number of books on this topic have been published in India, unfortunately I did not hold them in my hands.
If you are not ready to read non-fiction - read the novel "The God of Small Things" by a very popular modern Indian writer Arundhati Roy, it can be found in RuNet.
Many Europeans, Americans, and also our compatriots believe that Eastern culture is much more sublime and more humane than the values of the pragmatic Western world. However, they forget that it was in India that one of the harshest forms of social stratification arose - caste, dooming millions of people and their descendants to a lifetime of poverty and lawlessness, while a select minority is surrounded by honor and has access to all the benefits of civilization.
The division into castes (or, as they are called in India, "varnas") arose in the era of the decomposition of the primitive communal system, when property inequality appeared. The first written mention of the caste system dates back to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. The Rigveda tells about the appearance of four varnas that exist in India to this day:
- Brahmins are a caste of priests. These days the Brahmins are also engaged in religious rites, often they are officials or teachers;
- Kshatriyas are the warrior caste. Today kshatriyas not only serve in the army and police, but also occupy important positions in the state administration;
- vaishyas are farmers and merchants. Many Vaishyas could even surpass the upper castes in wealth and influence. In modern India, the Vaishyas continue to engage in trade and agriculture, as well as credit and banking operations;
- Sudras - a semi-subordinate caste of peasants and workers, usually in the service of representatives of the higher castes. Despite the low prestige of this caste, many Shudras could accumulate solid wealth and have large plots of land.
There is also a separate group of the population, including all those who are not included in the four above-mentioned castes - the untouchables or Dalits. Anthropologists and historians believe that the untouchable caste arose during the Aryan conquest of India (XII-VII centuries BC). The conquerors who came to the new lands wanted to keep the local Dravidian peoples in subjection, so they came up with a social system in which the natives could not normally integrate into society and take any significant position in it. So, all the Aryan invaders became members of one or another caste (depending on their occupation), and all the vanquished were declared untouchable. The Dalits did the dirtiest work. They dressed leather, removed dead animals from the streets, and cleaned toilets. They were strictly forbidden to enter the courtyards of representatives of other castes and use public wells. Although the untouchables were despised by everyone, these people also had a certain amount of power. It was believed that the untouchable could defile a person from a higher caste. The most dangerous such defilement was for a Brahmin. The mere touch of a Dalit on a Brahmin's garment meant years of trying to purify his karma for the latter.
The life of a representative of each varna is clearly regulated. Caste determines what clothes a person can wear, what he can eat, how he should communicate with others. Representatives of different castes, with rare exceptions, are forbidden to marry each other. Children born in a certain caste can no longer change their social position. Officially, the transition from one caste to another is possible only with a lowering of status. It is impossible to move to a more prestigious caste. However, many Hindus resort to tricks that allow them to go beyond the strict varna system. First, since each caste has its own set of surnames, it is possible to bribe an official and take a high-caste surname. Secondly, one can abandon Hinduism and adopt a religion where there is no caste division. Some Hindus then return to Hinduism again, but at the same time they declare that before the change of religion they were Brahmins or Kshatriyas.
Religious explanation of human inequality
The caste system follows from the religious ideas of the Hindus. According to the Rig Veda, the entire cosmos was created from the body of the first man Purusha. Purusha was sacrificed by the gods for the creation of the world. From separate parts of his body arose: earth, air, wind and heavenly bodies. In addition, Purusha gave rise to the entire human race. Brahmins arose from his mouth, kshatriyas from his hands, vaishyas from his thighs, and sudras from his feet.
The doctrine of reincarnation also aims to perpetuate the existing social inequality in India. According to Hindu ideas, a person who strictly observes all the rules of his caste, after death, can be born in the body of a representative of a higher varna.
Caste division today
Despite the fact that the division into castes seems cruel and undemocratic to a Westerner, in modern India, castes have not only not disappeared, but have become more structured. Each caste today is divided into additional subgroups - jati. There are more than 80 different jati in total. Although there are no documents that would prescribe a person's belonging to one or another varna, caste division is strictly protected by religion and traditions.
The largest caste of modern India are the untouchables - about 1/5 of the entire population of the country. Dalits live in special ghettos where unemployment and crime flourish. Untouchables cannot receive a normal education or quality medical care. They are not allowed to enter shops, pharmacies, hospitals, temples and public transport used by members of other castes. Like thousands of years ago, these people are engaged in the dirtiest and hardest work.
Attempts to establish social equality were made by many Indian civil rights activists, including Mahatma Gandhi. They were able to ensure that the constitution of India recognized the equality of the untouchables with representatives of other castes, however, in fact, the attitude towards Dalits in modern India remains the same as 4,000 years ago. The courts are lenient with criminals who commit illegal acts against the untouchables, Dalits receive lower salaries compared to members of other castes.
Despite the fact that today India is open to Western liberal ideas, the untouchables have never dared to rebel. The centuries-old habit of being submissive and the fear of polluting karma prevent these people from starting the fight for freedom and equality.
The untouchable caste in India is a phenomenon that cannot be found in any other country in the world. Originating in antiquity, the caste division of society exists in the country at the present time. The lowest rung in the hierarchy is occupied by the untouchable caste, which has absorbed 16-17% of the country's population. Its representatives make up the "bottom" of Indian society. The caste structure is a complex issue, but nevertheless we will try to shed light on its individual aspects.
Caste structure of Indian society
Despite the difficulty of recreating a complete structural picture of castes in the distant past, it is still possible to single out groups that have historically developed in India. There are five of them.
The highest group (varna) of Brahmins includes civil servants, large and small landowners, and priests.
Next comes the Kshatriya varna, which includes the military and agricultural castes - Rajaputs, Jats, Maratha, Kunbi, Reddy, Kapu, etc. Some of them form a feudal stratum, whose representatives further replenish the lower and middle links of the feudal class.
The next two groups (Vaishyas and Shudras) include the middle and lower castes of farmers, officials, artisans, and community servants.
And finally, the fifth group. It includes castes of community servants and farmers, deprived of all rights to own and use land. They are called untouchables.
"India", "caste of the untouchables" are concepts that are inextricably linked with each other in the minds of the world community. Meanwhile, in a country with an ancient culture, they continue to honor the customs and traditions of their ancestors by dividing people according to their origin and belonging to any caste.
History of the Untouchables
The lowest caste in India - the untouchables - owes its appearance to the historical process that took place in the Middle Ages in the region. At that time, India was conquered by stronger and more civilized tribes. Naturally, the invaders came to the country with the aim of enslaving its indigenous population, preparing it for the role of servants.
To isolate the Indians, they were settled in special settlements, built separately according to the type of modern ghettos. Civilized outsiders did not allow natives into their community.
It is assumed that it was the descendants of these tribes that later formed the caste of the untouchables. It included farmers and servants of the community.
True, today the word “untouchables” has been replaced by another - “Dalits”, which means “oppressed”. It is believed that "untouchables" sounds offensive.
Since Indians often use the word "jati" rather than "caste", it is difficult to determine their number. But still, Dalits can be divided according to the type of activity and place of residence.
How do the untouchables live
The most common Dalit castes are Chamars (tanners), Dhobi (washerwomen) and pariahs. If the first two castes have in some way a profession, then pariahs live only at the expense of unskilled labor - the removal of household waste, cleaning and washing toilets.
Hard and dirty work - such is the fate of the untouchables. The lack of any qualification brings them a meager income, allowing only
However, among the untouchables, there are groups that are at the top of the caste, for example, the Hijra.
These are representatives of all kinds of sexual minorities who are engaged in prostitution and begging. They are also often invited to all kinds of religious rituals, weddings, birthdays. Of course, this group has much more to live on than an untouchable tanner or laundress.
But such an existence could not but arouse protest among the Dalits.
Protest struggle of the untouchables
Surprisingly, the untouchables did not resist the tradition of division into castes implanted by the invaders. However, in the last century the situation changed: the untouchables under the leadership of Gandhi made the first attempts to destroy the stereotype that had developed over the centuries.
The essence of these speeches was to draw public attention to caste inequality in India.
Interestingly, the Gandhi affair was picked up by a certain Ambedkar from the Brahmin caste. Thanks to him, the untouchables became Dalits. Ambedkar ensured that they received quotas for all types of professional activities. That is, an attempt was made to integrate these people into society.
Today's controversial policy of the Indian government often causes conflicts involving the untouchables.
However, it does not come to rebellion, because the untouchable caste in India is the most submissive part of the Indian community. Age-old timidity in front of other castes, ingrained in the minds of people, blocks all thoughts of rebellion.
Government of India and Dalit policy
The untouchables... The life of the most severe caste in India evokes a cautious and even contradictory reaction from the outside, since we are talking about the centuries-old traditions of the Indians.
But still, at the state level, caste discrimination is prohibited in the country. Actions that offend representatives of any varna are considered a crime.
At the same time, the caste hierarchy is legalized by the country's constitution. That is, the untouchable caste in India is recognized by the state, which looks like a serious contradiction in government policy. As a result, the modern history of the country has many serious conflicts between individual castes and even within them.
The untouchables are the most despised class in India. However, other citizens are still madly afraid of Dalits.
It is believed that a representative of the untouchable caste in India is able to defile a person from another varna by his mere presence. If the Dalit touches the clothes of a Brahmin, then the latter will need more than one year to cleanse his karma from filth.
But the untouchable (the caste of South India includes both men and women) may well become the object of sexual violence. And no defilement of karma happens in this case, since this is not prohibited by Indian customs.
An example is the recent case in New Delhi, where a 14-year-old untouchable girl was kept by a criminal for a month as a sex slave. The unfortunate woman died in the hospital, and the detained criminal was released by the court on bail.
At the same time, if an untouchable violates the traditions of their ancestors, for example, dares to publicly use a public well, then the poor fellow will face an immediate reprisal on the spot.
Dalit is not a sentence of fate
The untouchable caste in India, despite the policy of the government, still remains the poorest and most disadvantaged part of the population. The average literacy rate among them is just over 30.
The situation is explained by the humiliation that children of this caste are subjected to in educational institutions. As a result, illiterate Dalits are the bulk of the country's unemployed.
However, there are exceptions to the rule: there are about 30 millionaires in the country who are Dalits. Of course, this is minuscule in comparison with 170 million untouchables. But this fact says that Dalit is not a sentence of fate.
An example is the life of Ashok Khade, who belonged to the leatherworking caste. The guy worked as a docker during the day, and studied textbooks at night to become an engineer. His company is currently closing deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
And there is also an opportunity to leave the Dalit caste - this is a change of religion.
Buddhism, Christianity, Islam - any faith technically takes a person out of the untouchables. This was first used at the end of the 19th century, and in 2007, 50 thousand people immediately converted to Buddhism.
Formally, caste discrimination in India disappeared almost seventy years ago - in 1950, when the equality of castes was enshrined in the constitution; now even talking about them in the country is considered indecent. But in real life, discrimination still pervades Indian society from top to bottom. Writer and journalist Prayag Akbar tells how things really are.
In October 2016, a young man crossed the threshold of a windmill in Uttarakhand. He was a Dalit, a relatively new word for those who were called untouchables in the caste system. A brahmin teacher present in the mill (and in the caste system the brahmins were the highest elite) accused the young man of having defiled all the flour here with his mere appearance. When the Dalit tried to protest, the teacher took out a knife and slit his throat.
The story made it into the national press. Dalits in Uttarakhand held several protests. The teacher was arrested and convicted - along with his brother and father, who threatened to kill the victim's family if they tried to contact the police. And it soon began to seem that this blatant cruelty referred to some distant retrograde world that had almost disappeared. And then everyone just forgot about her. There has never been a discussion that the codes and beliefs that made this aggression possible are much more deeply rooted in society than it seems.
When the Dalit tried to protest, the teacher took out a knife and slit his throat.
The American documentary Meet the Patels (2014), directed by siblings Geeta and Ravi Patel, shows yet another sign of caste that Indian society prefers to ignore. The film shows how 30-year-old Ravi decides to leave his European girlfriend and do what his parents expect him to do - marry a girl from his caste (we are talking about a small caste of Patels - small landowners, where everyone has the same last name). Ravi lives in America, he has assimilated and, it would seem, has long since left the conventions of traditional Indian society. But the pressure of this society is so strong that he is ready to give up everything that is dear to him and obediently look for a "suitable" wife. He travels to special gatherings where young Patels - boys and girls - can get to know each other. He lets his parents arrange dates for him. He even goes to astrologers. And not for a moment does he wonder what right his parents demand from him. The film clearly explains how adherence to the caste system is passed on from generation to generation, how a caste, without the slightest coercion - simply out of fear of disappointing parents - reproduces itself even far from India.
It seems that neither the authors of the film, nor the numerous Indian viewers even realized that this is a film about caste. Since the world considers castes to be evil, the representatives of the "higher" castes have invented many ways to refer to the caste without naming it - using the words "community" and "origin". Endogamy (the norm prescribing marriage within a certain social or ethnic group. - Approx. ed.) important to preserve the community (few Indians these days would venture to admit that they want to preserve the caste). Another useful word is “others”: representatives of the “lower” castes are masked behind it. These euphemisms, the true meaning of which everyone is well aware of, are used in a variety of situations - from job interviews to choosing tenants.
It must be explained here that the general idea of what caste is in India has been formed for the most part from the descriptions of Western authors. Even the word “caste” itself was coined for this system by Portuguese traders in the 16th century (“caste” in Portuguese is “race”, “breed”). Merchants from France, Holland, and Great Britain who came to India explained the local social divisions in terms of their own ideas of racial purity. They sent home detailed descriptions of the Indian social order (as they themselves understood it), and on the basis of these stories, scientists (from Karl Marx to Max Weber) built theories about social life in India. The most famous of these belongs to Louis Dumont: he viewed the Indian caste system as an unchanging hierarchy in which everyone assumes their position by default. Based on classical Hindu texts, Dumont described, in fact, varnas - the concept of estates, including brahmins (scholars), kshatriyas (warriors), vaishyas (merchants and farmers) and shudras (peasants and unskilled workers). Plus the untouchables, who are so insignificant that they are outside the caste system.
This is how everyone usually understands castes, but in reality the division is much more complicated. Inside the varnas there are jati - numerous groups that differ in the type of activity and other parameters. Each group - with its own rules, rituals and regulations, and most importantly - with a clear understanding of how its members are supposed to pray, whom to marry and what food to eat. There are thousands of such groups in India: no one knows exactly how many.
Varnas today do not play the same role as before, but the influence of the jati is still strong.
Endogamy within groups is still observed much more strictly than it might seem. "Love marriages" (a euphemism for inter-caste or inter-religious unions), even in recent decades, often led to physical violence from the brothers, fathers and mothers of the newlyweds. Newspapers in their editorials condemned domestic violence - and on the following pages they published marriage announcements based on the concept of jati. Now all this has moved to the Internet: there are many dating sites for specific jati. The stratification has not disappeared even in cyberspace.
So when an Indian says that the caste system is a long time ago, he only means that the varnas today do not play such a role as they used to. He is well aware that the influence of the Jati is still strong, but he considers this a positive phenomenon that does not destroy society, but connects modern India with its ancient traditions. However, even the varna system is still in effect: attacks on Dalits for “inappropriate” behavior, according to representatives of the “higher” castes, are still not that rare.
After the independence of India in 1947, caste discrimination became taboo not only in conversation but also in research. The Indians declared (and believed it themselves) that the republic had successfully solved the problem of castes in the very first years of its existence. The mistake was that if the varna system may have weakened, then no one thought to fight the jati system, simply not considering it to be caste. Thanks to this, the castes successfully moved from the colonial state to the modern republic.
But in 1990, it became impossible to hush up the problem any longer. At this time, the government introduced regular quotas that provide Dalits with vacancies in the civil service and places in educational institutions. This caused violent protests. The privileged castes have not come to terms with quotas even now: every now and then you can hear that quotas take away educational places from "more deserving" students.
The "upper" classes are consolidated around an ideology that protects traditions and customs.
The “non-existent” caste system manifested itself especially brightly in politics. For decades after the declaration of independence, it was dominated by the Congress party, almost entirely composed of representatives of the elites. It took a long time for the "lower" castes to finally nominate their own leaders, to start participating in the political process, to declare their rights and problems out loud, but in the end they managed to become a significant political force. In response, the "upper" classes consolidate around an ideology that defends traditions and customs. Hence, according to many political scientists, the strengthening of Indian nationalism: a return to ancient traditions means a return to the “good old” hierarchy.
It is appropriate to draw a parallel here with the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States, which was able to break the years of silence on racial discrimination by the police. Everyone has known for years that this discrimination exists, it has been played up in jokes and pop culture a million times, but only a massive wave of protests on social networks forced the mainstream media to recognize the problem. However, in the long run, this has contributed to increasing support for Donald Trump - a clear picture of how elite groups are rallying against demands for equality and justice.
The Indian caste system has an enormous influence on society, but it is even more firmly connected with the person and his body. Even the food that people are allowed or forbidden to eat divides Indian society into many different groups. There is still a taboo regarding the exchange of drinking water. In the houses of the "higher" castes, you will still find separate sets of dishes and cutlery for servants today; visiting workers also drink from glasses that the family does not use.
Even the food that people are allowed or forbidden to eat divides Indian society into many different groups.
A study conducted in 2012 in the seven largest cities of India is indicative. The authors tried to find out how isolated people with caste and economic differences live from each other. It turned out that segregation by caste is much stronger than by socio-economic. Rich and poor members of the same caste get along better than two rich (or poor) families from different castes. This segregation is facilitated by unspoken rules not to rent or sell apartments to "strangers", which, although contrary to the law, in practice greatly helps the geographical concentration of castes.
The caste system has proven to be a strong institution that has managed to survive all the twists and turns of Indian history over the past three millennia. So it is unlikely that she took and disappeared in half a century. Instead, it has changed, and society must recognize and track these changes. And do not pretend that the caste system has been defeated while hierarchy and division permeate the life of every Indian family.
