A process of placing people in occupational groups Dictates the type of job a person can pursue and the social interactions that they may have Four main classes (also called varnas ) based originally on personality, profession, and birth People in a caste were not allowed to climb “higher”

Priests who study the Vedas Viewed as middle men between gods and men Expected to show exemplary behavior Spend life in the pursuit of divine knowledge

Members of the warrior class Commanded to protect the people Able to dispense justice when needed

Merchant and peasant class Expected to tend to the cattle and cultivate the land Had the right to participate in certain Vedic rituals Not allowed to marry anyone of a higher class

Labor class Duty was to serve the needs of the higher three classes Not allowed to study the Vedas or even hear the sacred chants Could not eat food in the presence of a member of a higher caste

Lived mostly on the edges of society Lived mostly on the edges of society Could not walk the street at the same time where someone of a higher caste walked Could not walk the street at the same time where someone of a higher caste walked Their shadows were thought to be “unpure” and site of them was considered a bad sign Their shadows were thought to be “unpure” and site of them was considered a bad sign Worked in graveyards, butchers, hunters, or cleaners of “waste”. Worked in graveyards, butchers, hunters, or cleaners of “waste”.