India’s Caste System
I. Caste=Rigid social system.
15% of India’s population=160 million Indians are…
A. Origin of the Caste System
1. The cattle rearing Aryans invaded
India in 1500 B.C.
2. The Aryans (fair-skinned, blue
eyed foreigners) dominated the
Dravidians (darker skinned, original
residents), making them subservient.
Aryan priests divided society into four parts, putting their
class at the top as earthly gods.
3. “When the gods 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 Brahmin was his mouth,
of his arm was made the warrior,
his thighs became the Vaisya,
of his feet the Sudra was
born.”~Vedic Poem.
Brahmins=Mouth
Kshatriyas=Arms
Vaisyas=Thighs
Sudras=Feet
The Untouchables
The four original castes subdivided and over 3000 castes exist
4. Social Hierarchy
Brahmin
Priests
 = Non- Aryans
Kshatriyas
Warriors
Vaisyas
Herders, land owners,
merchants, craftspeople
Sudras
Farm workers, servants, laborers
UNTOUCHABLES: Polluted Laborers
A High-Caste Brahmin
Wedding
B. The Caste System is
supported by Hinduism.
1. 82 % of India is Hindu
2. Obeying caste rules=
Reincarnation into a higher
caste.
Lower-Caste Women
Work all day picking weeds for a wage as low as 50 cents/day.
C. Jobs of the Untouchables
1. Jobs that involved ending a life.
2. Kill/dispose of dead cattle.
3. Any contact with human emissions.
Blind man playing flute through nose
A typical low-caste village family may have only one sari for
all its women. While one woman wears the sari, four other
women must wait inside.
Reform Movements
D. Many Groups unsuccessfully
tried to reduce the rigidity of the
caste System”
Siddhartha Gautama (563-483 B.C.), founder of
Buddhism.
Muslim rule (1206-1862).
Gandhi (1869-1948)
Christianity and Judaism.
E. Gandhi: The caste system is
"inherent in human nature, and
Hinduism has simply made a science
of it."
1. Creed: passive resistance against
injustice.
2. Frequently jailed for his protests.
3. Assassinated by a Hindu
Fundamentalist.
F. The Caste System Today
1. Caste discrimination is illegal!
2. With education & industrialization the
caste system is slowly disappearing.
3. Unfortunately, religious discrimination
still exist.
Brahmins paint their homes Blue.
The caste system identity still plays a major role in
Indian society. Blue is traditionally a color of the
Brahmins.
Elephants need baths too!
Social Distinctions Still Exist
A Brahmin physician wraps a Sudra’s wrist with a cloth
before taking his pulse, so he will not to be "defiled" by
touching the Sudra's skin.
Low-caste people are forbidden to use the wells in villages
that high-caste Brahmins use for fear they will pollute the
water.
A low-caste family is refused the right to bury a family
member near their village, where both high and low castes
live, because of the belief that the person's ghost will
haunt the high-castes.
Migrants flock to the
outskirts of cities to find
work.
4. The Reservation System: Entitles a
percentage of government jobs, elected
offices, and positions in college to go to
the lower caste people.
5. This reverse discrimination is similar
to the U.S. system of…
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
Pots line up next to a dry public water tap. Most towns in India have
Internet access, but do not have water and sewage systems
Amit is a 17-year-old boy in New Delhi, India’s
capital. He takes pride in being a member of
India’s highest caste – the Brahmins. He lives in a
middle-class neighborhood, where he rides a
motorcycle, wears stylish clothes and
listens to rock music. He also takes yearly
vacations with his entire family. Amit plans to
study art next year in the south
Indian State of Tamil Nadu and travel
on his school breaks.
Shushma is a 14-year-old girl who lives outside
Delhi. She is an Untouchable, the outcastes of
India’s traditional social structure. Last year her
father decided to leave his ancestral village and move
closer to the city in hopes of getting more work.
Shushma shares a mud hut with her parents, four
sisters, and one brother. There is no electricity. She
is not allowed to play
with the upperclass children living
nearby. She too
would like to study
Art but as a lowcaste girl, she has few
options for the future.
Students like Amit fear that
he be “discriminated” against.
“We
Brahmins feel cheated because of the
special privileges other castes have been
given,” says Amit. “This is not the sort of
system you should have in a democracy.”
The quota system has caused tension. The
competition for jobs and education is
intense in India. Middle class Indians say the
quota system has given low-caste Indian
opportunities at their expense.
Higher-class Indians even pretend to be
“backward” castes in order to land
government jobs and college acceptance.
Outraged by the wage and land-reform demands of Untouchables, the
Ranvir Sena, a militia led by landowners, has been implicated in the
massacres of more than 500 Untouchables.
The attackers have gone largely unpunished.
A woman prepares dinner on the
street
Questions to Ponder
1. List three Characteristics of the Caste System.
a.
b.
c.
2. How does the caste system provide a sense of order?
3. Why are the untouchables excluded from the Social
Pyramid?
4. Who can untouchables be compared to in other
civilizations?
5. Why do you think it is more difficult to combat the Caste
System more so than other types of racism?
6. What are some suggestions you could offer the Indian
Government to help stop this problem?