FORMATION OF CASTE SYSTEM IN INDIA

In Indian society, people are divided on the basis of caste. A caste of person is decided based on the family in which he is born. With ignorance rooting in the minds of the men, caste division is sprouting in every spheres of life. People belonging to lower caste, aren’t provided with privilege of basic amenities, similar, to those enjoyed by the people of higher caste. Though, such disparities are not visible in cities and towns, in villages such differences are still observed. More severe are the cases involving inter-caste dispute, usually, inflicting pain on minority lower caste by the majority higher caste.

To observe the formation of caste system, we need to have a glimpse on the Aryan Civilization or Early Vedic Civilization, which started around 1500 – 500 BC.

Early Vedic life was organized in the form of a clan or vis. A clan includes group of members including men, women and children. Members of the clan will be associated through closer or broader relationships. Assembly or sabha is the committee which includes all the members of the clan. The assembly elects a chief or raja who is responsible for the well beings of the clan. The chief’s activities are monitored by the Assembly members. The main occupation of the early Vedic civilization was cattle rearing, which, includes rearing of sheep, goat, cow, etc. Cattle were considered as important resource and exchange of goods were done by exchange of cattle. Agriculture was in its infancy stage and shifting agriculture was practiced. Every clan had an army, headed by the chief. Usually, the army includes members of the clan. The armies, along with chief, frequently attack neighbour clans to acquire more cattle and other resources. The resources gained by such fight or attack will be equally shared by all the members of the clan.

Another group of members of the clan form the priest community or purohits. The perform sacrifices or prayers for the well being of the clan. Special sacrifices were performed to invoke divine blessing for the success in war. The form of living or politics was egalitarian, that is, every member was considered equal in status.

As the years followed, Iron was introduced into the Aryan society and this helped in sedentary agriculture method. Now, fertile lands were considered as important resource for living. More attacks were performed by chief and this improved his prestige or position. The priest performing sacrifices became pivotal for success in warfare. This practice added value to the priest category. The other clan members who were performed agriculture, pottery, carpentry, cattle rearing, etc., attained status based on their success in living. Those, who were successful became higher category, while, those who failed, became lower category. Thus, Varna system of categorizing people came into existence. The purohits or priest form Brahmana category, the chief or army members formed the Kshatriya category, the successful members in agriculture (they are also traders) became Vaisya category, and the failed members in society living as carpenters, farmers, etc., became Shudra category.

This analysis shows that division of caste is time imposed or situation based. Intellectually analyzing will show that we are fruit from same tree. People, who enjoy taste of sweet fruit remark, “The nature of the single fruit from a tree is sufficient to judge the quality of all the fruit from the tree.”

We should imbibe in life with motto of “No Caste, and no division in people.”