FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ) The Caste System of India

What did ancient Indian culture value? order search for the meaning of life (spiritual values)

What was the caste system? a division of society into social classes both a social and an economic system there were 4 main groups and each had many subcastes Brahmins – priests & scholars who study they Vedas Kshatriyas – rulers & warriors Vaishyas – merchants, farmers, and artisans Shudras – servants and workers

How did the caste system start? a probable reason is that when the Aryans conquered the Indus farmers they took the best jobs for their families (priests, rulers, warriors)and reserved those jobs for themselves forever they didn’t want to do the lower jobs (farmers, workers, merchants) so they ordered those they conquered and their families to keep doing those same jobs forever

Was everyone in the caste system? no, there were outcasts and any people who came from other areas or who broke rules were also considered to be outcasts or untouchables

What was an outcast or untouchable? these people had almost no status and had to stay away from the rest of the people, use special wells at certain times of the day to get water, if their shadow even fell on a priest the priest had to go home and wash

Why were they treated so poorly? the outcasts did many jobs that might cause them to catch diseases – ie: barbers (could catch skin diseases or lice from their clients), people that tanned hides of dead animals to make leather (again could easily catch diseases or bacterial infections from dead animals) touching or interacting with an outcast might cause you to catch the same disease so, even though they didn’t know about diseases they did know that being around certain people might cause disease

How did people get into a caste? people were born into a caste (social class and occupation) class determined by the job of their family must stay in that class for life boys must take the same job as all other males in their family girls must marry someone in the same job as their father

Could you switch castes? no, no matter how hard a servant worked they couldn’t move up to a higher caste

What would happen if someone didn’t do what they were supposed to do or follow the dharma rules for their caste? they might be thrown out of their caste and family and would have to go live with the untouchables karma – it means that the bad things / or good things/you do influence your next incarnation or life (in other words, not following your dharma means punishment or consequences in next life like your soul being born into an animal)

How were they married? grandparents and parents would make “arranged marriages” where they would pledge their children to marry someone from another family that was in the same subcaste group

What would happen if someone wanted to marry someone from another caste? this was forbidden because it broke the “order” of the system – for example, if a farmer married a merchants daughter what would their children be – farmers or merchants? breaking the dharma rules means you would be thrown out and become an untouchable

Couldn’t you run away to another town if you didn’t like your caste job? no, if you arrived in a neighboring village without proof of your family caste you would be considered as breaking your dharma and be classed with the outcasts

If you were born into a low caste job like a servant, why should you work hard if you can never get a promotion to another job? Hindus believed in reincarnation – that the soul is born many times in a constant cycle of birth, death, and rebirth (deja-vu) after the person dies their soul is judged on its behavior and reincarnated into a new body and class if the person had followed the dharma it might be rewarded and reborn into a higher caste if the person broke rules they might be reborn into a lower caste or even as an animal

Hindus believe animals could host souls? yes, that is one reason orthodox Hindus do not eat meat but are vegetarians monkeys and cows are especially sacred

Why might cows be so sacred that they shouldn’t be killed? this may be a common sense idea that became part of the religion – if you kill and eat the cow you have food for at most a few days – if you let your cow live it can provide milk as food for years and it can help with farm work like pulling plows in a country that has many poor, killing and eating your cow was not a good idea

Does India still have castes? in 1950 the government outlawed the outcast or untouchable class, however in the small villages where most Indians live they are still discriminated against – very few untouchables have become important or wealthy caste membership is still important, many families research the background of prospective brides and grooms, and many marriages are still arranged by parents almost all modern Indian leaders have come from families in the upper castes as India develops more large cities there is more mixing and it is easier to “pass” in the large cities

How can we compare the cultural values of ancient Hindu society and modern American? What do we value? US  Freedom and choices  Money and material comforts  Social classes by money and fame India  Order and knowing your place  Spiritual (priests at the top)  Emphasize doing your duty and following rules