1. Prompts 1.What does the word “class” mean to you? 2.What aspects of a person’s life put them in a particular class? 3.What classes exist in the United States? 4.Do Americans have the ability to move into a different class? If yes, how?

2. Supplemental Reading On your own, read and annotate the provided article: India’s Dalits still fighting untouchability (2012) When you are done reading, answer the provided questions. Be prepared to share.

3. Unit 4: South Asia Today’s Topic: The Caste System In your notes...

4. Definition: Social Class a : a group sharing the same economic or social status b : social rank

5. Ancient Social Structure: The Four Varnas India’s Ancient Social Structure: The Four Varnas Brahmins Kshatriyas Vaisyas Sudras Pariahs (Untouchables) Why are there FIVE levels for the FOUR Varnas??

6. India’s Ancient Social Structure 1.Brahmins – Priests 2.Kshatriyas – Warriors/princes 3.Vaisyas – merchants/farmers 4.Sudras – peasants/servants Pariahs – so “unclean” not even part of the system, do the toughest and dirtiest jobs (gravediggers)

7. The Caste System Over many centuries, the Varnas evolved into the Indian Caste System – legally enforced social structure. The word caste comes from the Portuguese word castas, meaning "pure." Everything was decided for you based on your social class: Job Social Grouping Marriage Religious Purity

8. From where does this system originate? The earliest known mention of caste is found in the Aryan’s Vedic hymns of Hinduism, perhaps dating from about 1000 B.C. Vedic Hymns are closest thing to holy book in Hinduism In a famous passage, the metaphor of the human body was used to describe Indian society. This metaphor stresses the idea of hierarchy as well as that of interdependence.

9. Caste Rules No social mobility. Not allowed to marry people from different castes. Couldn’t eat with people from different castes If you broke the rules then you were banned from your home and caste making you an untouchable. The effect of the caste rules was that people only spent time with others from their caste – fragmented society.

10. Caste Rules (cont’d) The rules were meant to 1.maintain the structure of society 2.help people remain spiritually pure according to HINDUISM They would risk pollution if they interacted with a lower caste member. Rules were especially strict for the members of higher castes – Have to stay pure!!

11. On the following slides, you will see several pictures. To which caste did each person belong?

17. Modern Caste System India’s government began passing anti- Caste System laws in 1950s. Thanks Gandhi!    Caste System is gradually relaxing in urban areas. Due to higher education Due to lack of knowledge of rural India’s ways System still very much alive in rural India. Total elimination of caste system seems distant. He was more important than you can imagine. We’ll come back to him later...

18. What observations can you make about this image from India? How does the image represent the Caste System?

19. Current Event: Indian Caste System For homework, use a reliable website to find an article on the Caste System in modern India. When you find the article, create a citation using www.noodletools.com. Write the citation in the correct space in the provided sheet. www.noodletools.com