What Are The Different
Castes?
Remember there are over 30,000 caste & sub castes!
Brahmins
Brahmins
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Were the priests
Highest ranking
They performed rituals for the gods
There were only a few of them.
Only Brahman men were allowed to go to
school, or to teach in schools (Brahman
women could not go to school).
Brahmins
White (sattva = truthful)
•Represents the qualities of
purity, love, faith, and
detachment
•Seek true knowledge
•Exists in individuals with a
spiritual temperament
•Those that belong to this
color, belong to the Brahmin
class
• Purpose is to help
people of other
castes fulfill their
dharma
• Perform rituals
and observe vows
for the sake of
others
Brahman
• Brahmans were considered the scholars
and priests of the caste system.
–Also frequently cooks because they
could only eat food prepared by
Brahmans
• The highest castes in the system
Brahmins
• The first and the highest class;
intellectuals of the nations such as
landowners, scholars, and priests.
• They are not allowed to do any job of
lower castes.
• They may receive things from lower
castes, but they don’t give anything in
return to them.
BRAHMAN
• They are the priestly class,
who are entitled to study the
Vedas, which are the sacred
scriptures, and perform rites
rituals for themselves and for
others.
• They are the men between the
gods and the people.
• They are expected to show
excellent behavior and spend
their lives in the pursuit of
divine knowledge and
preservation the traditions of
Hinduism.
Brahmin Dharma
That person is called a
Brahmin who is
•sanctified by rites
•pure in behavior
•properly observing all pious acts
•studying the Vedas
•never eats food without having offered it
first to gods and guests
•devoted to the six well-known acts
(washings every morning and
evening, silent recitation of mantras,
pouring rites on the sacrificial fire,
worshipping the deities, doing the
duties of hospitality to guests, and
offering food to the Viswedevas)
•filled with reverence for his teacher
•always devoted to vows and truth
•a vegetarian diet
Kshatriyas
• A class directly follows Brahmins;
mostly rulers and warriors.
• They managed the land, military
service, and administration.
• They practice strict caste endogamy,
marrying only within their caste.
Kshatriya
Red (rajas = energetic)
•Represents the qualities of
action, will, aggression, and
energy
•Seek honor, power, and
status
•Exists in people with military
and political temperaments
•Those that belong to this
color belong to the Kshatriya
class
• Responsible
for leadership
of the people
• Often rely on
advice from
Brahmins
Kshatriyas
• Rulers or warriors
• A lot of them were in the army, or leaders in
other ways.
• Women
could not be
warriors, but
they could
be Kshatriyas
anyway.
Kshatriya
• These people are the ruler (kings),
warrior (military), and landowner of
the caste system
KSHATRIYAS
• They are the warrior class, who
are commanded to protect the
people, give gifts to the
Brahmins, offer sacrifices to
gods and ancestors, study the
Vedas, and dispense justice.
• It was their responsibility to
protect the caste system and
the social order and lavish the
priests with generous gifts at
every opportunity.
Kshatriya Dharma
That person is called a Kshatriya
who is
•engaged in the profession of battle
•studying the Vedas
•giving gifts to Brahmins
•taking wealth from those he
protects
•consuming meat and alcohol
Vaisyas
Vaisyas
Yellow (rajas = energetic)
•Represents the same qualities
as the red color
•Instead, those with this quality
seek communication,
interchange, trade, and
business
•Exists in individuals with a
commercial temperament
•They make up the Vaishya
class
Vaisyas
• The third class composed of traders,
shopkeepers, moneylenders, farmers,
and artisans; trading and banking.
• Typically stricter in observing their
dietary rules and avoiding any kind of
ritual pollution.
Vaisyas
• Farmers, craftspersons, and traders
• Owned their own farms or businesses.
• There were a lot of them
Vaishya
These people
are the
merchants and
cultivators of
the caste
system.
(They feed the
people)
• Shopkeepers
who sell
products
(unlike the
Shudra who
sell services)
VAISYAS
• They are the merchant and peasant
classes, who are expected to tend
cattle, offer sacrifices, study the
Vedas, trade, lend money and farm
the land.
• They had the right to perform and
participate in certain Vedic rituals
but they were not allowed to marry
women of higher castes.
Vaisya Dharma
That person is called a Vaishya who is
•earning fame from keeping cattle
•employed in agriculture and the means of
acquiring wealth
•pure in behaviour
•studying the Vedas
Sudras or Shudras
Sudras
Black (tamas = inert, solid)
•Represents qualities of
ignorance, sluggishness, and
dullness
•Dependent on the rest of the
world for motivation and seek
nothing
•Exists in those with a
submissive disposition
•Make up the Shudra class
SUDRAS
• The are the laboring class, whose
only duty is to serve the other three
castes.
• They were not required to observe
any Vedic rituals.
• They were not allowed to study the
Vedas or even hear the sacred
chants.
• They were not allowed to eat food in
the company of higher castes or
marry their women.
Sudras
• Laborers, workers, servants or non-aryans
• Did not own their own business or their own
land
• Had to
work for
other people.
• Largest
Caste
• Each subgroup
of this caste
performs a
specific service.
• Jobs include
gardeners,
potters, and
clothes washers
Shudra Dharma
That person is called a Shudra who
is
•eating every kind of food
•engaged in doing every kind of work
•impure in behavior
•not studying the Vedas
•engaged in conduct that is unclean
Harijan or Untouchables or
Dalits
Oppressive Caste System
Untouchables of India
National Geographic, June 2003
Untouchables / Dalits
Cannot:
• possess any wealth
• get an education
• enter a Hindu temple
• drink from public wells/water systems
• Marry outside their caste
• Touch anyone from a higher caste!!
• Argue or disobey upper caste
demands.
Untouchables Dharma
Untouchables
•polluting people
•their dwellings were at a
distance from the settlements
•were not allowed to touch
people from the four Varnas
•were not allowed to enter
houses of the higher Varnas
•were not allowed to enter the
temples
•were not allowed to use the
same wells used by the
Varnas
•were compelled to sit at a distance
from the four Varnas
•even contact with their shadow
was seen as polluting
•deal with the bodies of dead
animals or unclaimed dead
humans
•tanning leather, from dead
animals, and manufacturing leather
goods
•clean up human and animal waste
The Caste System
• Untouchables/Outcastes
• this not officially a caste but would rank
below the shudra
• consist of people who are considered
unclean
• typically uncleanliness is related to
occupation
• may also relate to a disease such as
Leprosy
• Belong to no caste
• Expected to do the
“dirty” jobs
• Come in contact
with animal skins,
dead bodies and
human feces
• Avoid contact with
“caste” Indians for
fear of “pollution”
HARIJAN also called
Untouchables
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Even their shadow was considered
impure and seeing an untouchable
was considered bad luck.
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So they lived mostly on the edges of
society, unknown and uncared for,
and working in graveyards or as
hunters, butchers and professional
cleaners of human waste.
Entrenched Irony
Members of the Untouchable Dhobi caste beat the impurities out of
clothes on the banks of the Yamuna River in Delhi. Life's "unclean"
tasks, such as cleaning latrines and digging graves fall to those born
into one of the hundreds of Untouchable castes. They face a lifetime of
discrimination and brutality, prejudice that endures even though
Untouchability is officially banned by the Indian constitution.
Laundry Yard
Her fate scripted by Hindu law, an Untouchable girl can imagine little
else than working along the Yamuna River in Delhi as a Dhobi.
Members of this clothes-washing caste handle items 'polluted' by blood
or human waste.
Water Rights
Across India members of upper castes often refuse to share water with
Untouchables, convinced that any liquid will become polluted if it comes
in contact with an Untouchable. In the countryside Untouchables are
often forbidden to use the same wells and ponds as upper caste
villagers.
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
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Overcoming numerous social and
financial obstacles, Ambedkar
became one of the first untouchable
to obtain a college education.
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar spent his whole
life fighting against social
discrimination of the caste system.
Who was Ambedkar?
• BHIMRAO RAMJI AMBEDKAR (1891-1956)
• Born into a Dalit family
• By virtue of his brilliance became a Barrister at
Law
• Was the first Law Minister of Independent India;
drafted the constitution; major disagreements
with Congress leaders, Nehru and Gandhi
• Converted to Buddhism in 1956 (along with
thousands of other Dalits)
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Ambedkar’s theses on caste
• He disproved both dominant theses on caste
• The Laws of Manu
• The orthodox thesis that Sudras were born out
of the feet of ‘God’
• The modern thesis that they were non-Aryan
indigenous peoples inferior to the other three
castes who were of Aryan descent
• He argues that they are of the same ethnicity
and the Sudras were pushed to a lower status
because of their growing power and conflict
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Ambedkar’s philosophy
His two main thesis were:
• The issue is not only to accept inequality and
end discrimination, but to establish political and
social structures which are premised on the
fundamental equality of all
• Justice can not be given from above (i.e. those
who are privileged). It has to be secured by
those who were victims of injustice
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What happened at Independence
• The constitution was drafted by Dr.
Babasaheb Ambedkar.
• It became illegal to discriminate on the
basis of caste or religion
• Untouchability was abolished by law
• Untouchables came to be categorized as
Scheduled Castes
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Quotes from Ambedkar (1)
– It is mischievously propagated by Hindu
scriptures that by serving the upper
classes the Shudras achieve salvation.
Untouchability is another appellation of
slavery. No race can be raised by
destroying its self-respect. So if you
really want to uplift the Untouchables,
you must treat them in the social order
as free citizens, free to carve out their
destiny.
– From ambedkar.org
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Quotes from Ambedkar (2)
What you have lost others have gained. Your
humiliations are a matter of pride with others.
You are made to suffer wants, privations and
humiliations not because it was pre-ordained
by the sins committed in your previous birth,
but because of the overpowering tyranny and
treachery of those who are above you. You
have no lands because others have usurped
them; you have no posts because others have
monopolised them. Do not believe in fate;
believe in your strength.
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Quotes from Ambedkar (3)
• Caste cannot be abolished by inter caste
dinners or stray instances of inter caste
marriages. Caste is a state of mind. It is a
disease of mind. The teachings of the
Hindu religion are the root cause of this
disease. We practice casteism and we
observe Untouchability because we are
enjoined to do so by the Hindu religion. A
bitter thing cannot be made sweet. The
taste of anything can be changed. But
poison cannot be changed into nectar.
from ambedkar.org
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