'Varṇa' (Sanskrit: वर्ण, Hindi pronunciation:['ʋəɾɳə]), in the context of Hinduism,[1] refers to a social class within a hierarchical traditional Hindu society.[2][3] The ideology is epitomized in texts like Manusmriti,[1][4][5] which describes and ranks four varnas, and prescribes their occupations, requirements and duties, or Dharma.[1][6]
This quadruple division is a form of social stratification, quite different from the more nuanced system of Jātis, which correspond to the European term "caste".[8]
The varna system is discussed in Hindu texts, and understood as idealised human callings.[9][10] The concept is generally traced to the Purusha Sukta verse of the Rig Veda. In the post-Vedic period, the varna division is described in the Mahabharata,Puranas and in the Dharmashastra literatures.[11]
The commentary on the Varna system in the Manusmriti is often cited.[12] Counter to these textual classifications, many Hindu texts and doctrines question and disagree with the Varna system of social classification.[13]
In India, communities that belong to one of the four varnas or classes are called savarna Hindus. The Dalits and tribals who do not belong to any varna were called avarna.[14][15][16]
Etymology and origins
The word appears in the Rigveda, where it means "colour, outward appearance, exterior, form, figure or shape".[4] The word means "color, tint, dye or pigment" in the Mahabharata.[4] Varna contextually means "colour, race, tribe, species, kind, sort, nature, character, quality, property" of an object or people in some Vedic and medieval texts.[4] Varna refers to four social classes in the Manusmriti.[4][5]
The Vedas
The earliest application to the formal division into four social classes (without using the term varna) appears in the late Rigvedic Purusha Sukta (RV 10.90.11–12), which has the Brahman, Rajanya (instead of Kshatriya), Vaishya and Shudra classes forming the mouth, arms, thighs and feet at the sacrifice of the primordial Purusha, respectively:[17]
11. When they divided Purusa how many portions did they make? What do they call his mouth, his arms? What do they call his thighs and feet? 12. The Brahman was his mouth, of both his arms was the Rajanya made. His thighs became the Vaishya, from his feet the Shudra was produced.[17]
Scholarly interpretation
Some modern indologists believe the Purusha Sukta to be a later addition, possibly as a charter myth.[18] Stephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton, a professor of Sanskrit and Religious studies, state, "there is no evidence in the Rigveda for an elaborate, much-subdivided and overarching caste system", and "the varna system seems to be embryonic in the Rigveda and, both then and later, a social ideal rather than a social reality".[18]
Ram Sharan Sharma, in his book Śūdras in Ancient India (1990), states:
"the Rig Vedic society was neither organized on the basis of social division of labour nor on that of differences in wealth... [it] was primarily organised on the basis of kin, tribe and lineage."[19]
The Upanishads
The Chandogya Upanishad indicates that a person's varna is determined on the basis of their actions in their previous life.[20][21][22]
Among them, those who did good work in this world [in their past life] attain a good birth accordingly. They are born as a brāhmin, a kṣatriya, or a vaiśya. But those who did bad work in this world [in their past life] attain a bad birth accordingly, being born as a dog, a pig, or as a casteless person.
The Vajrasuchi Upanishad, however, states that the status of brahman is not based on birth, knowledge, or karma, but on the direct realisation of one's own Atman (inner self, soul).[23]
"Who indeed then is a Brahmana? He who has directly realized his Atman is without a second, devoid of class and actions[…] that exists penetrating all things that pervade everything. [He who] is devoid of the faults of thirst after worldly objects and passions… Whose mind is untouched by [pride and egoism], he only is the Brahmana. Such is the opinion of the Vedas, the smritis, the Itihasa and the Puranas. Otherwise one cannot obtain the status of a Brahmana."
The Mahabharata, estimated to have been completed by about the 4th century CE, discusses the Varna system in section 12.181.[11]
The Epic offers two models on Varna. The first model describes Varna as colour-coded system, through a sage named Bhrigu, "Brahmins Varna was white, Kshtriyas was red, Vaishyas was yellow, and the Shudras' black".[11] This description is questioned by another prominent sage Bharadwaja who says that colours are seen among all the Varnas, that desire, anger, fear, greed, grief, anxiety, hunger and toil prevails over all human beings, that bile and blood flow from all human bodies, so what distinguishes the Varnas, he asks? The Mahabharata then declares, according to Alf Hiltebeitel, a professor of religion, "There is no distinction of Varnas. This whole universe is Brahman. It was created formerly by Brahma, came to be classified by acts."[11]
The Mahabharata thereafter recites a behavioural model for Varna, that those who were inclined to anger, pleasures and boldness attained the Kshatriya Varna; those who were inclined to cattle rearing and living off the plough attained the Vaishyas; those who were fond of violence, covetousness and impurity attained the Shudras. The Brahmin class is modelled in the epic, as the archetype default state of man dedicated to truth, austerity and pure conduct.[24] Indeed, it goes on to assert that all men are children of Brahmins, which does not make sense, unless understood this way.In the Mahabharata and pre-medieval era Hindu texts, according to Hiltebeitel, "it is important to recognize, in theory, Varna is nongenealogical. The four Varnas are not lineages, but categories."[25]
Bhagavad Gita
The Bhagavad Gita describes the professions, duties and qualities of members of different varnas.
There is no entity on earth, or again in heaven among the Devas, that is devoid of these three Gunas, born of Prakriti.
Of Brâhmanas and Kshatriyas and Vaishyas, as also of Sudras, O scorcher of foes, the duties are distributed according to the Gunas born of their own nature.
The control of the mind and the senses, austerity, purity, forbearance, and also uprightness, knowledge, realisation, belief in a hereafter– these are the duties of the Brâhmanas, born of (their own) nature.
Prowess, boldness, fortitude, dexterity, and also not flying from battle, generosity and sovereignty are the duties of the Kshatriyas, born of (their own) nature.
Agriculture, cattle-rearing and trade are the duties of the Vaishyas, born of (their own) nature; and action consisting of service is the duty of the Sudras, born of (their own) nature.
The Brahma Purana states that acting against both varna and ashrama (stage), which together guide one's dharma, leads to hell.[27] The Brahmanda Purana calls associations between low and high varnas signs of the Kali Yuga, the age of immorality and decline.[28]
The varna system is extensively discussed in the Dharma-shastras.[29] The Varna system in Dharma-shastras divides society into four varnas (Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishya and Shudras). Those who fall out of this system because of their grievous sins are ostracised as outcastes (untouchables) and considered outside the varna system.[30][31] Barbarians and those who are unrighteous or unethical are also considered outcastes.[32]
Recent scholarship suggests that the discussion of varna as well as untouchable outcastes in these texts does not resemble the modern era caste system in India. Patrick Olivelle, a professor of Sanskrit and Indian Religions and credited with modern translations of Vedic literature, Dharma-sutras and Dharma-shastras, states that ancient and medieval Indian texts do not support the ritual pollution, purity-impurity as the basis for varna system.[33] According to Olivelle, purity-impurity is discussed in the Dharma-shastra texts, but only in the context of the individual's moral, ritual and biological pollution (eating certain kinds of food such as meat, urination and defecation).[29] In his review of Dharma-shastras, Olivelle writes, "we see no instance when a term of pure/impure is used with reference to a group of individuals or a varna or caste".[33] The only mention of impurity in the Shastra texts from the 1st millennium is about people who commit grievous sins and thereby fall out of their varna. These, writes Olivelle, are called "fallen people" and impure, declaring that they be ostracised.[34] Olivelle adds that the overwhelming focus in matters relating to purity/impurity in the Dharma-sastra texts concerns "individuals irrespective of their varna affiliation" and all four varnas could attain purity or impurity by the content of their character, ethical intent, actions, innocence or ignorance, stipulations, and ritualistic behaviours.[35]
Olivelle states:
Dumont is correct in his assessment that the ideology of varna is not based on purity. If it were we should expect to find at least some comment on the relative purity and impurity of the different vamas. What is even more important is that the ideology of purity and impurity that emerges from the Dharma literature is concerned with the individual and not with groups, with purification and not with purity, and lends little support to a theory which makes relative purity the foundation of social stratification.[36]
The first three varnas are described in the Dharmashastras as "twice born" and they are allowed to study the Vedas. Such a restriction of who can study Vedas is not found in the Vedic era literature.[37]
Manusmriti assigns cattle rearing as Vaishya occupation but historical evidence shows that Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Shudras also owned and reared cattle and that cattle-wealth was mainstay of their households. Ramnarayan Rawat, a professor of History and specialising in social exclusion in the Indian subcontinent, states that 19th century British records show that Chamars, listed as untouchables, also owned land and cattle and were active agriculturalists.[38] The emperors of Kosala and the prince of Kasi are other examples.[7]
Tim Ingold, an anthropologist, writes that the Manusmriti is a highly schematic commentary on the varna system, but it too provides "models rather than descriptions".[39]Susan Bayly states that Manusmriti and other scriptures helped elevate Brahmin in the social hierarchy and these were a factor in the making of the varna system, but the ancient texts did not in some way "create the phenomenon of caste" in India.[40]
Buddhist texts
Ancient Buddhist texts mention Varna system in South Asia, but the details suggest that it was non-rigid, flexible, non-hierarchal, and with characteristics devoid of features of a social stratification system.[41]
Digha Nikaya provides a discussion between Gotama Buddha and a Hindu Brahmin named Sonadanda who was very learned in the Vedas.[42][43] Gotama Buddha asks, "By how many qualities do Brahmins recognize another Brahmin? How would one declare truthfully and without falling into falsehood, "I am a Brahmin?"[42] Sonadanda initially lists five qualities as, "he is of pure descent on both the mother's and the father's side, he is well versed in mantras, he is of fair color handsome and pleasing, he is virtuous learned and wise, and he is the first or second to hold the sacrificial ladle".[42][43] Buddha then asks the Brahmin, "If we omit one of these qualities you just listed, could not one be still a true Brahmin?" Sonadanda, one by one, eliminates fair colour and looks, then eliminates Varna in which one was born, and then eliminates the ability to recite mantra and do sacrifices as a requirement of being a Brahmin.[42][43] Sonadanda asserts that just two qualities are necessary to truthfully and without falling into falsehood identify a Brahmin; these two qualities are "being virtuous and being learned and wise".[42][43] Sonadanda adds that it is impossible to reduce the requirement for being a Brahmin any further, because "for wisdom is purified by morality, and morality is clarified by wisdom; where one is, the other is, the moral man has wisdom and the wise man has morality, and the combination of morality and wisdom is called the highest thing in the world".[42] Brian Black and Dean Patton state Sonadanda admits after this, "we [Brahmins] only know this much Gotama; it would be well if Reverend Gotama would explain meaning of the two [morality, wisdom]".[44]
Peter Masefield,[41] a Buddhism scholar and ancient Pali texts translator, states that during the Nikāya texts period of Buddhism (3rd century BC to 5th century AD), Varna as a class system is attested, but the described Varna was not a caste system. The Pali texts enumerate the four Varnas Brahmin, "Kshatriya",Vessa (Vaishya) and Sudda (Shudra).[41] Masefield notes that people in any Varna could in principle perform any profession. The early Buddhist texts, for instance, identify some Brahmins to be farmers and in other professions. The text state that anyone, of any birth, could perform the priestly function,[41] and that the Brahmin took food from anyone, suggesting that strictures of commensality were as yet unknown. The Nikaya texts also imply that endogamy was not mandated in ancient India. Masefield concludes, "if any form of caste system was known during the Nikaya period - and it is doubtful that it was - this was in all probability restricted to certain non-Aryan groups".[41]
Jain texts
Ādi purāṇa, an 8th-century text of Jainism by Jinasena, is the earliest mention of Varna and Jati in Jainism literature.[45] Jinasena does not trace the origin of Varna system to Rigveda or to Purusha Sukta, instead traces varna to the Bharata legend. According to this legend, Bharata performed an "ahimsa-test" (test of non-violence), and those members of his community who refused to harm or hurt any living being were called as the priestly varna in ancient India, and Bharata called them dvija, twice born.[46] Jinasena states that those who are committed to ahimsa are deva-Brāhmaṇas, divine Brahmins.[47]
The text Adi purana also discusses the relationship between varna and jati. According to Padmanabh Jaini, a professor of Indic studies, Jainism and Buddhism, the Adi purana text states "there is only one jati called manusyajati or the human caste, but divisions arise account of their different professions".[48] The varna of Kshatriya arose when Rishabh procured weapons to serve the society and assumed the powers of a king, while Vaishya and Shudra varna arose from different means of livelihood in which they specialised.[49]
Sikh texts
Sikhism is a late 15th-century religion that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. Sikh texts mention Varna as Varan, and Jati as Zat or Zat-biradari. Eleanor Nesbitt, a professor of Religion and specialising in Christian, Hindu and Sikh studies, states that the Varan is described as a class system in 18th- to 20th-century Sikh literature, while Zat reflected the endogamous occupational groups (caste).[50][51]
The Sikh texts authored by the Sikh Gurus and by non-Sikh Bhagats such as the Namdev, Ravidas and Kabir, states Nesbitt, declared the irrelevance of varan or zat of one's birth to one's spiritual destiny. They taught that "all of humanity had a single refuge" and that the divine teaching is for everyone.[50] Sikhism teaches a society without any varan.[52] In practice, states Harjot Oberoi, secondary Sikh texts such as the Khalsa Dharam Sastar in 1914 argued that the entry of certain Sikh castes into major Sikh shrines should be barred.[53] Similarly, in practice and its texts, the Gurus of Sikhism did not condemn or break with the convention of marrying (and marrying off their children) within the jati, and all the Sikh Gurus were Khatri, had Khatri wives and practiced arranged marriages within their zat.[50][54][55] According to Dhavan, the Rahit-namas and other prescriptive Sikh texts from mid-18th century onwards accommodate and affirm the "natal and marriage traditions of different caste groups within the Sikh community".[56]
Ravidassi Sikhs and Ramgarhia Sikhs follow their own textual and festive traditions, gather in their own places of worship.[50][57][58] These are varan-based (caste-based) religious congregations that emerged from Sikhism, states Nesbitt.[59] The Ravidassia group, for example, emphasizes the teachings of Bhagat Ravidas – a poet-saint born in a family whose traditional untouchable occupation related to dead animals and leather.[60][57] They consider the teachings of living Gurus and the texts of Ravidass Dera as sacred and spiritually as important as the historic Sikh Gurus. This is rejected by Khalsa Sikhs. The disagreements have led the Ravidassia Sikhs to launch the Ravidassia religion movement which, amongst other things seeks to replace the Guru Granth Sahib in their Gurdwaras with the texts of Ravidas.[57][61]
The terms varna (theoretical classification based on occupation) and jāti (caste) are two distinct concepts. Jāti (community) refers to the thousands of endogamous groups prevalent across the subcontinent. A jati may be divided into exogamous groups based on the same gotras. The classical authors scarcely speak of anything other than the varnas; even Indologists sometimes confuse the two.[62]
Kalki, also called Kalkin, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. According to Vaishnava cosmology, Kalki is destined to appear at the end of the Kali Yuga, the last of the four ages in the cycle of existence (Krita). His arrival will mark the end of the Kali Yuga and herald the beginning of the Satya Yuga, the most virtuous age, before the ultimate dissolution of the universe (Mahapralaya).
Kshatriya is one of the four varnas of Hindu society and is associated with the warrior aristocracy. The Sanskrit term kṣatriyaḥ is used in the context of later Vedic society wherein members were organised into four classes: brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya, and shudra.
Brahmin is a varna (caste) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra. The traditional occupation of Brahmins is that of priesthood at Hindu temples or at socio-religious ceremonies, and the performing of rite of passage rituals, such as solemnising a wedding with hymns and prayers.
Shudra or Shoodra is one of the four varnas of the Hindu class and social system in ancient India. Some sources translate it into English as a caste, or as a social class. Theoretically, Shudras constituted a class like workers.
Khatri is a caste originating from the Malwa and Majha areas of Punjab region of South Asia that is predominantly found in India, but also in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Khatris claim they are warriors who took to trade. In the Indian subcontinent, they were mostly engaged in mercantile professions such as banking and trade. They were the dominant commercial and financial administration class of late-medieval India. Some in Punjab often belonged to hereditary agriculturalist land-holding lineages, while others were engaged in artisanal occupations such as silk production and weaving.
Untouchability is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups. Although comparable forms of discrimination are found all over the world, untouchability involving the caste system is largely unique to South Asia.
Reddy is a Hindu caste predominantly found in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in South India. They are classified as a forward caste.
Lohana are a trading or mercantile jāti mostly in India and also in Pakistan.
The Smartatradition, also called Smartism, is a movement in Hinduism that developed and expanded with the Puranas genre of literature. It reflects a synthesis of four philosophical strands, namely Uttara Mīmāṃsā, Advaita, Yoga, and theism. The Smarta tradition rejects theistic sectarianism, and is notable for the domestic worship of five shrines with five deities, all treated as equal – Ganesha, Shiva, Shakti, Vishnu and Surya. The Smarta tradition contrasted with the older Shrauta tradition, which was based on elaborate rituals and rites. There has been a considerable overlap in the ideas and practices of the Smarta tradition with other significant historic movements within Hinduism, namely Shaivism, Brahmanism, Vaishnavism, and Shaktism.
Arora is a community of Punjab and Sindh, comprising both Hindus and Sikhs. The name is derived from their ancestral place Aror, Sindh. In 712, the Arora people are said to have left Aror and started to settle in the cities of Punjab, mainly in South Punjab. However, according to W. H. McLeod, many Aroras originally came from the Pothohar area in North Punjab.
Who Were the Shudras? is a history book published by Indian social reformer and polymath B. R. Ambedkar in 1946. The book discusses the origin of the Shudra Varna. Ambedkar dedicated the book to Jyotirao Phule (1827–1890).
The caste system in Kerala differed from that found in the rest of India. While the Indian caste system generally divided the four-fold Varna division of the society into Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras, in Kerala, that system was absent. The Malayali Brahmins formed the priestly class, and they considered all other castes to be either shudra or avarna. The exception to this were the military elites among the Samantha Kshatriyas and the Nairs, who were ritually promoted to the status of Kshatriya by means of the Hiranyagarbha ceremony. This was done so that the Samanthans and Nairs could wield temporal ruling powers over the land, as they constituted the aristocratic class. Over time, the dominance of the "upper caste" Brahmin and Nair nobles gradually declined due to social and political changes.
Dvija means "twice-born". The concept is premised on the belief that a person is first born physically and at a later date is born for a second time spiritually, usually when he undergoes the rite of passage that initiates him into a school for Vedic studies. The term also refers to members of the three varnas in the traditional Hindu social system, or social classes — the Brahmins, Kshatriyas (warriors), and Vaishyas — whose samskara of the Upanayana initiation was regarded as a second or spiritual birth.
The caste system in Goa consists of various Jātis or sub-castes found among Hindus belonging to the four varnas, as well as those outside of them. A variation of the traditional Hindu caste system was also retained by the Goan Catholic community.
The Vanniyar, also spelled Vanniya, formerly known as the Palli, are a Dravidian community or jāti found in the northern part of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
The caste system in India is the paradigmatic ethnographic instance of social classification based on castes. It has its origins in ancient India, and was transformed by various ruling elites in medieval, early-modern, and modern India, especially in the aftermath of the collapse of the Mughal Empire and the establishment of the British Raj. It is today the basis of affirmative action programmes in India as enforced through its constitution. The caste system consists of two different concepts, varna and jati, which may be regarded as different levels of analysis of this system.
Ambashtha or Ambastha is a caste or sub-caste or a community of Hindus in India. According to Hindu scriptures, the term Ambastha refers to the offspring of a Brahmin father and a Vaishya mother, whose traditional occupation was the practice of medicine.
Baidya or Vaidya is a Bengali Hindu community located in the Bengal region of Indian subcontinent. A caste (jāti) of Ayurvedic physicians, the Baidyas have long had pre-eminence in society alongside Brahmins and Kayasthas. In the colonial era, the Bhadraloks were drawn primarily, but not exclusively, from these three upper castes, who continue to maintain a collective hegemony in West Bengal.
Bengali Kayastha is a Bengali Hindu caste originated from the Bengal region of Indian subcontinent, and is one of the main subgroups of the Kayastha community. The historical caste occupation of Kayasthas throughout India has been that of scribes, administrators, ministers and record-keepers; the Kayasthas in Bengal, along with Brahmins and Baidyas, are regarded among the three traditional higher castes that comprise the "upper layer of Hindu society". During the British Raj, the Bhadraloks of Bengal were drawn primarily, but not exclusively, from these three castes, who continue to maintain a collective hegemony in West Bengal.
Buddhism arose in India in the 5th century BC, when the predominant religion in the region was Sanatan, a predecessor of modern-day Hinduism. Hinduism not supported a religiously and socially motivated caste system, which continues to play a significant role in the society of India today. Due to differing metaphysical and ethical doctrines, Buddhist attitudes towards caste have historically diverged from and rejected those of casteism in several ways.
↑ Bayly, Susan (2001), Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age, Cambridge University Press, pp.9–11, ISBN978-0-521-26434-1
↑ Rawat, Ramnarayan (2011). Reconsidering untouchability: Chamars and Dalit history in North India. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp.53–63. ISBN978-0-253-22262-6.
↑ Ingold, Tim (1994). Companion Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Routledge. p.1026. ISBN978-0-415-28604-6.
↑ Bayly, Susan (2001), Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age, Cambridge University Press, p.29, ISBN978-0-521-26434-1
1 2 3 4 5 6 Walshe, Maurice (1995). The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A translation of the Dīgha Nikāya. Boston: Wisdom Publications. pp.129–131. ISBN978-0-86171-103-1.
↑ Black, Brian; Patton, Dean Laurie (2015). Dialogue in Early South Asian Religions: Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain traditions. Burlington: Ashgate. pp.245–246. ISBN978-1-4094-4013-0.
1 2 3 4 Nesbitt, Eleanor (2005). Sikhism – A very short introduction (1sted.). Oxford New York: Oxford University Press. pp.116–120. ISBN978-0-19-280601-7.
↑ Judge, Paramjit (2014), Mapping Social Exclusion in India: Caste, Religion and Borderlands, Cambridge University Press, pp.179–182, ISBN978-1107056091
↑ Nesbitt, Eleanor (2016). Sikhism – A very short introduction (2nded.). Oxford New York: Oxford University Press. pp.112–113. ISBN978-0198745570.
↑ Dumont, Louis (1980), Homo Hierarchicus: The caste system and its implications, University of Chicago Press, pp.66–67, ISBN0-226-16963-4
Bibliography
Bayly, Susan (2001), Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age, Cambridge University Press, ISBN978-0-521-26434-1
Jaini, Padmanabh (1998). The Jaina Path of Purification. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN978-81-208-1578-0.
Sri Aurobindo (1970). The Human Cycle, The Ideal of Human Unity, War and Self-Determination. Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust. ISBN81-7058-014-5.
Kane, Pandurang Vaman (1975). History of Dharmasastra: (ancient and medieval, religious and civil law). Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1962–1975.
Sarkar, Prabhat Raijan (1967). Human Society-2. Ananda Marga Publications, Anandanagar, West Bengal, India.
Ghanshyam, Shah (2004). Caste and Democratic Politics in India.
Welzer, Albrecht (1994). Dwivedi, R.C. (ed.). Credo, Quia Occidentale: A Note on Sanskrit varna and its Misinterpretation in Literature on Mamamsa and Vyakarana". In: Studies in Mamamsa: Dr Mandan Mishra Felicitation Volume. Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
