1. The Indian Varna/Caste System

2. Aryan invaders
Around 1500 B.C.E., the Indus culture were conquered by the
Aryans.

3. Interesting Fact
A new marriage tradition introduced by the Aryans. The red dot on an Indian woman’s forehead goes back to the Aryan tradition of having a groom apply a spot of his blood on his bride’s forehead, as a sign of marriage.

4. Aryans vs Dasas
Oral tradition talks of war between the Aryans (light skinned) and Dasas (dark skinned) people.
Aryans pushed the Dasas into central and southern India.
This marked the beginnings of varna

5. Overview The Varnas divide society
Hindus are born into their Varna & Caste
The Varnas divide society
Members did not socialize between castes
Did not intermarry
Did not eat with each other

6. What is it and when did it start?
India’s caste system is perhaps the world’s longest surviving social hierarchy
Hierarchy- a system of ranking (ex. Upper class, middle class, lower class)
It is supposedly more than 2000 years old.
The caste system is part of the Hindu religion.
Does our culture believe in social mobility (movement)?

7. The Classes Hindu society divided into four classes Overview Castes
Purity
Dalit
Current
Business
The Classes
Hindu society divided into four classes
Brahmins – Priests and Spiritual Teachers
Ksatriya – Warriors and Rulers
Vaisya – Farmers, Merchants, Artisans
Sudra – Laborers, Servants
Dalit – Untouchables
Source:

8. Jati Each varna is subdivided into many jatis or castes (sub-classes)
Overview
Castes
Purity
Dalit
Current
Business
Jati
Each varna is subdivided into many jatis or castes (sub-classes)
Your Jati is based on a particular occupational specialization within your Varna

9. Brahmins – Priests and Teachers of Religion
Overview
Castes
Purity
Dalit
Current
Business
Brahmins
Brahmins – Priests and Teachers of Religion
Highest order caste
Provide religious education
and spiritual guidance
to society
Usually vegetarian (but
some ate meat)

10. Ksatriya – Warriors and Rulers
Overview
Castes
Purity
Dalit
Current
Business
Ksatriya
Ksatriya – Warriors and Rulers
Second order caste
Member of the military, kings, warriors, soldiers
Provide order, security & safety to society

11. Vaisya – Farmers, Merchants, Artisans
Overview
Castes
Purity
Dalit
Current
Business
Vaisya
Vaisya – Farmers, Merchants, Artisans
Third order caste
Comprises of merchants,
farmers, landowners,
and artisans
Provide materials, food
and resources to society

12. Sudra – Laborers, Servants
Overview
Castes
Purity
Dalit
Current
Business
Sudra
Sudra – Laborers, Servants
Lowest order caste
– still considered “clean”
Provide labor for society

13. Dalit – The “Untouchables”
Overview
Castes
Purity
Dalit
Current
Business
Dalit – The “Untouchables”
Outcast – they fall outside of the four castes according to the Laws of Manu
Considered spiritually “Unclean”
Live in poverty, little education, “forgotten”
Persecution is based on the belief that a Dalit’s soul committed a great sin in a previous lifetime
Born into Dalit class as a punishment of karma

14. Purity vs. Pollution?
High caste status is associated with purity (hence white garments for Brahmins)
If a Dalit comes into physical contact with another, a Brahmin can perform a cleanliness ritual which involves bathing in flowing water and changing clothes
Dalit perform unclean jobs like burying corpses, killing animals – must live outside villages on “reservations” to prevent the “pollution” of the rest of the people

15. Reincarnation
the philosophical basis of this belief is the consideration that if individual souls (jivas) are eternal, where did they come from?
The spirit is independent of the body and the situation the spirit is in.
Passage from the Gita:
"Worn out garments are shed by the body; worn out bodies are shed by the dweller.".
1. At the subhuman level the passage is almost automatic up the chain of being..
2. At the human level comes consciousness which implies freedom, responsibility, and effort..
3. The consequences of your past decisions have determined your present state.

16. Reincarnation As per Hinduism, the life on earth is not a discrete one time event. It is just one episode in the play. There would be multiple appearances (births) before the soul finally takes leave from the cycle.
The birth is not just limited to being born as human, it includes the births as the animals, plants, even as the divines who rule the parts of nature !
The appearance of the soul in any of such forms is called reincarnation.
After so many births when the soul is freed of any more reincarnation, it is in the state of mukti or liberation. This is the ultimate state.

17. Karma
As the soul moves from one body to another, it carries forward something along with it, which is nothing but what it has accumulated performing various deeds.
This can be thought of as a global account that each soul is associated with, irrespective of the place it is in currently. This account would have both the logs of good and bad deeds it performed similar to the credit and liabilities.
This account is what is called karma.

18. Law of Karma – The moral law of action and reaction
The present condition of your soul (confusion or serenity) is a product of your past decisions. You have made yourself what you are.
Your present thoughts, decisions, and actions determine your future states. ("Unsettled state" = "bad karma.")  Karma can be altered through natural and moral decision and action.
Every person gets what that person deserves--even though decisions are freely arrived at, there is no chance in the universe. Karma is the middle way between determinism and indeterminism.
The assumption is that we will not change the world in any significant way--the world is the training ground for Atman-Brahman.
There is no randomness or accident in the universe. "There are no lost traces."  Karma is not fate or strict causality.