The Caste System
of India
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
(FAQ)
What did ancient Indian culture value?
 order
 search for the meaning of life (spiritual
values)
What was the caste system?
 a division of society into social classes
 both a social and an economic system
 there were 4 main groups and each had
many subcastes
Brahmins – priests & scholars who study
they Vedas
Kshatriyas – rulers & warriors
Vaishyas – merchants, farmers, and artisans
Shudras – servants and workers
How did the caste system start?
 a probable reason is that when the Aryans
conquered the Indus farmers they took the
best jobs for their families (priests, rulers,
warriors)and reserved those jobs for
themselves forever
 they didn’t want to do the lower jobs
(farmers, workers, merchants) so they
ordered those they conquered and their
families to keep doing those same jobs
forever
Was everyone in the caste system?
 no, there were outcasts and any people who
came from other areas or who broke rules
were also considered to be outcasts or
untouchables
What was an outcast or untouchable?
 these people had almost no status and had to
stay away from the rest of the people, use
special wells at certain times of the day to get
water, if their shadow even fell on a priest the
priest had to go home and wash
Why were they treated so poorly?
 the outcasts did many jobs that might cause them
to catch diseases – ie: barbers (could catch skin
diseases or lice from their clients), people that
tanned hides of dead animals to make leather
(again could easily catch diseases or bacterial
infections from dead animals)
 touching or interacting with an outcast might
cause you to catch the same disease so, even
though they didn’t know about diseases they did
know that being around certain people might
cause disease
How did people get into a caste?
 people were born into a caste (social class




and occupation)
class determined by the job of their family
must stay in that class for life
boys must take the same job as all other
males in their family
girls must marry someone in the same job as
their father
Could you switch castes?
 no, no matter how hard a servant worked
they couldn’t move up to a higher caste
What would happen if someone didn’t do what they
were supposed to do or follow the dharma rules for
their caste?
 they might be thrown out of their caste and
family and would have to go live with the
untouchables
 karma – it means that the bad things / or
good things/you do influence your next
incarnation or life (in other words, not
following your dharma means punishment or
consequences in next life like your soul being
born into an animal)
How were they married?
 grandparents and parents would make
“arranged marriages” where they would
pledge their children to marry someone from
another family that was in the same subcaste
group
What would happen if someone wanted to
marry someone from another caste?
 this was forbidden because it broke the
“order” of the system – for example, if a
farmer married a merchants daughter what
would their children be – farmers or
merchants?
 breaking the dharma rules means you would
be thrown out and become an untouchable
Couldn’t you run away to another town if
you didn’t like your caste job?
 no, if you arrived in a neighboring village
without proof of your family caste you would
be considered as breaking your dharma and
be classed with the outcasts
If you were born into a low caste job like a servant,
why should you work hard if you can never get a
promotion to another job?
 Hindus believed in reincarnation – that the soul
is born many times in a constant cycle of birth,
death, and rebirth (deja-vu)
 after the person dies their soul is judged on its
behavior and reincarnated into a new body and
class
 if the person had followed the dharma it might
be rewarded and reborn into a higher caste
 if the person broke rules they might be reborn
into a lower caste or even as an animal
Hindus believe animals could host souls?
 yes, that is one reason orthodox Hindus do
not eat meat but are vegetarians
 monkeys and cows are especially sacred
Why might cows be so sacred that they
shouldn’t be killed?
 this may be a common sense idea that
became part of the religion – if you kill and
eat the cow you have food for at most a few
days – if you let your cow live it can provide
milk as food for 15-20 years and it can help
with farm work like pulling plows
 in a country that has many poor, killing and
eating your cow was not a good idea
Does India still have castes?
 in 1950 the government outlawed the outcast or
untouchable class, however in the small villages
where most Indians live they are still
discriminated against – very few untouchables
have become important or wealthy
 caste membership is still important, many
families research the background of prospective
brides and grooms, and many marriages are still
arranged by parents
 almost all modern Indian leaders have come
from families in the upper castes
 as India develops more large cities there is more
mixing and it is easier to “pass” in the large cities
How can we compare the cultural values of ancient
Hindu society and modern American? What do we
value?
 US
 Freedom and choices
 Money and material comforts
 Social classes by money and fame
 India
 Order and knowing your place
 Spiritual (priests at the top)
 Emphasize doing your duty and following rules