Here, in this world, there are various systems and differences which lead to discrimination in societies. India's caste system is one of the most popular, older, and rigid systems. This system divides Hindus in mainly 4 categories that are Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras. Here in this article, I will try to answers all of your questions regarding India's caste system.
Caste system in its initial stages?
India's caste system is one of the oldest forms of surviving social stratification accepted to be more than 3000 years old, mentioned in various Hindu Vedas, Purans, Upanishads, and various religious texts. Manusmriti is considered to be the most important and authoritative book of Hindu laws. According to these texts, society was divided into four varnas based on their work or occupation.
The dharma(duty) of each varna is described in various texts like the dharma of a Kshatriya(warrior) is to fight with their enemies and protect the people of their kingdom. The Dharma of a brahman is to teach his students without any discrimination, and education should be given for free. Dharma of each varna is described very briefly and many books have been found providing information about varnas and their dharmas. Caste is also described in one of the holiest books of Hindus that is Bhagwat Gita.
In fact, in the Hindu religion dharma is not only decided for varnas, it is decided for every person like a mother, father, husband, wife, son, teacher, king, and also for various places and various situations. Like, what a person should do on a battlefield? Should he fight or leave the battlefield for the sake of peace. What if the father gives wrong orders to his son, should the son follow the orders?
In its initial stages, the caste system was not rigid as today, one can easily change his caste-like saint Vishwamitra was born as a Kshatriya and changed his caste later to a Brahman, and there are a lot of examples proving that the caste system was not rigid. In simple words, in the caste system, a sweeper would be called a shudra, and his dharma is to respect scientists, warriors and gave them respect. If that sweeper became a scientist, he would become a brahman and would be respected.
Was the caste system useful?
Well... if we talk about the pure caste system or varna system, it is considered useful. Because it teaches everyone to respect teachers, scientists, poets, etc that leads to the development of people and their kingdom. In most ancient Indian kingdoms, teachers and poets were even more respected than kings(although the king has a supreme power) and in some ways, they were also privileged. Even many kings bow their heads in front of scholars. Scholars were given important seats in a king's court, as kings consider it as their dharma.
As result, scholars flourished in Indian kingdoms and kingdoms developed and India was much ahead of other kingdoms. Indian scholars and saints played a significant role in human civilization in every aspect of life like Ayurveda that is still in use after 5000 years ago, yoga also, board games like chess and 'snake and ladder', buttons, shampoo, and cataract surgery, etc. Indian contributed a lot to mathematics in the initial stages by discovering concepts of zero, negative numbers, arithmetic, and algebra. In addition, trigonometry was further advanced in India, and, in particular, the modern definition of sine and cosine were developed there.
India was the biggest economy in the world for 1800 years in last 2000 yrs until British arrived and looted India, maybe because vaishya(traders) knew their dharma very well and they were given appropriate rights for trading by kings.
In contrast, this system balanced the society and ensures rights for everyone according to their work and that's why it is considered useful by many historians.
How it became rigid?
As time passed caste system or varna system became rigid. People start defining caste by the birth of people and start considering the last name as the symbol of caste. People start believing that a son of a brahman would be a brahman, and the son of a shudra would be a shudra. People start considering priests as pure brahman rather than teachers and poets. Even if a person changes his caste by following rituals, he/she was still treated as before. The caste system completely shifted its identity from occupation to birth.
People have different ideas about how it became rigid. Some believe that it was done naturally with the change in time. Some believe that it was made rigid by Britishers under their 'Divide and rule' policy to spread hate among each other in the Indians, as they did with Hindus and Muslims. Still, some believe that the Caste system was even more rigid before Britishers arrived in India like Bhimrao Ambedkar(great social reformer). Some believe that upper caste people like Brahmans and Kshatriyas made it rigid for their personal interests.
How lower caste people suffered?
The caste system became so rigid and worst that lower caste people were not allowed to use a well or even pond and lake that upper caste people use. They were not allowed to enter the house of upper caste people. They can't use the same vessel that upper caste people use. Upper caste people don't touch lower caste people(also anything touched by lower caste people) and consider them as 'untouchables. Inter-caste marriages were not allowed. Lower caste people were not even allowed to have some basic human rights like education.
A famous social reformer raised his voice against this system in the 1930s and 40's named 'Bhaimrao Ambedkar'. He wrote in his autobiography that he came from a lower caste family. He was the only lower caste child in his classroom. He was not allowed to sit with other kids. He had sit in the back of the classroom on the floor. He could drink water only from a pot that was reserved for him and he can't even drink water with his hands. He had to depend on a peon who could feed him water and when the peon didn't come to school, he remained thirsty for the whole day.
How conditions of lower caste people improved?
Various social reformers raised their voices against the caste system and fought for the rights of lower caste people in the 19th and 20th centuries. These reformers published various books and articles highlighting the conditions of lower caste people.
Social reformers like Bhimrao Ambedkar protested against many laws set by upper caste people. Once, he and his followers burnt the book ' Manusmrati '. They drank water from a pond that upper caste people use.
Indian Constitution played a major role in improving the condition of society. It gave equal rights to everyone. Everyone was allowed to go to school. Indian Constitution gave reserves 15-30% seats in government jobs. Approx. 120 seats among 543 total seats are reserved for lower caste people in the legislative assembly of India. People believe that these laws improved the life of lower caste people, and rose them from poverty.
Many upper caste people also oppose this reservation as they believe that this is discrimination against them and there is no equality in these laws.
Condition of lower caste people today?
Well... as a shame on humanity caste system still exist massively. Rural people and uneducated or even less educated people discriminate in the name of caste.
In some areas, people highly believe in the caste system and repeats the history, and in some other areas, people barely believe in the caste system and do very marginal discrimination. Yet, in many urban cities, the caste system doesn't exist.
Definitely, Indian societies have improved a lot and they are continuously improving. There are various factors responsible for this like education. But Inter-caste marriages are still a big problem except in some cities.
Indian society is rapidly changing with the change in generation and hopes it will change soon.
Thank you
by Dhruv Mishra
