Caste system is based on the principle that “men neither are nor can be equal. “It is thus system based on inequality among human beings. We may call its philosophy as one based on the principle of heredity occupations, or on segregation, or on the principle of “evaluation than their functions. “In each case, it tantamount to inequality.

The caste system has travelled a long way to reach its present state, the concept of a society having a genus, “Varna” or “Jati” was first given in the Rig Veda, one of the sacred Vedic tests composed around 12001000 B.C. The Vedic people believed themselves to be the members of a single genus named Arya Varna. The concept of inequality emerged when the Vedic man conceived of Vedic gods as belonging to another genus, “Devas Varna” and started offering them sacrifice. This man god relationship created cleavage between god and man along superior/inferior lines. The same cleavage was later extended to man relations.

One of the causes of the origin of any philosophy is man’s desire to make his surroundings better. Throughout history, man has taken the betterment of circumstances to mean his own domination of his environment. The Vedic man tried to improve his circumstances by evolving a relationship with the unknown (the Vedic gods). To ensure his own safety, he offered sacrifice to these gods and elevated them to ensure his own domination over the non-Vedic man. With the latter, he formed a different relationship. NonVedic man was considered the enemy, was enslaved, assigned a lower status and called DasyuVarna (the nonhumans.)

The native dark skinned Dravidians who posed a potential threat to Aryan dominance in India, were treated as a subject race by the Aryans when the latter conquered India around 2000 BC. The Dravidians were either reduced to the status of serfs or slaves, or were left as free men who engaged in manual work and handicrafts. With the Dravidians doing these jobs, the Aryans assumed a pride of race and status. Being keen to preserve this status, they assigned a lower status to the children of mixed marriages and to those engaged in base pursuits, Later, they adopted similar lines of social demarcation among themselves.

The Varna philosophy introduced by the sacred Vedic texts reached its culmination in the classical moral code book (DharmaShastra) of the Manu School, composed. around 200 BC 200 AD. The laws of Manu are regarded by Hindus as the highest authority on social institutions and family laws. According to these, society was divided into four Varnas. Varna, the Hindi word for color, is used to describe the hierarchy that is based on the distinction between the pale skinned conquerors (who belonged to the first three castes) and the dark-skinned Dravidian aborigines who were assigned to the fourth caste of shudras or untouchables.

The four Varnas were as follows:

(1) Brahmins —the highest class consisting of priests and lawgivers.

(2) Kshatriyas —composed of the fighting and ruling classes.

(3) Vaisyas —composed of those engaged in commercial, agricultural and pastoral pursuits.

Article extracted from this publication >>  March 17, 1989