CASTE SYSTEM

India’s Caste System What is a Caste? social group that someone is born into and cannot change How many of you have felt excluded from a group of people at one time or another? How did that make you feel? Why were you excluded?

Rules, rules, rules… Being in a caste means that you have no say in: the job you have whom you can marry who your friends can be Nobody in India called the system a caste- they call it jati. Many jati still exist in India’s society today.

Brahmins Top varna Made up of priests Only people who could perform a religious ceremony

Kshatriyas 2nd varna Made up of warriors Ran the government and the army

Vaisya: merchant varna

Sudras Lowest varna Manual laborers and servants Had very few rights Most people in India belonged to this varna

The Untouchables One group of people who did not belong to any caste Called “the Untouchables” Collecting trash, skinning animals, handling dead bodies Very hard life Most people thought living near an untouchable was bad for them, so they lived apart from most of society Had to tap two sticks together when they traveled so everyone could hear them coming

Why was a caste system created? Caste systems were probably created because of skin color. Aryans had lighter skin than the native Indians (darker skin). Caste systems were probably created to keep the Aryans in power(1500-500 bce). Because the Aryans had more people, they made the caste to stay in charge of all the smaller groups. Could also control everyone’s behavior and make rules this way. Think Hunger Games (Districts)!

How did the belief in reincarnation/karma/dharma uphold the caste system? Three beliefs are necessary to understand why the caste system was so influential in India. Reincarnation Dharma Karma