An Analysis of the Importance and Social Function of the Caste System in Indian Culture

The social function of the caste system in Indian culture was too ensure that the wealthy and powerful maintained their high social status and standard of living by making sure that the wealth was unevenly distributed. The members of the upper castes were lucky to inherit a perfect system that was started by the Nomadic Aryans who headed south into what is know as India today. They evolved the system with the use of Hinduism to maintain peace in a highly stratified society, which in another time and place would have erupted in massive revolts. It still survives to this day making it thousands of years old, and the longest evidence of oppression in the history of humankind.

One of the major themes since the dawn of civilization has been the separation of society into classes. Karl Marx, the famous sociologist, predicted that society normally separates in two main classes, those whom had the means of production, example land, factories and wealth know as the bourgeoisie, and those whom did not own wealth know as the proletariat. The bourgeoisie had the means to purchase the labor of proletariat, who neither had the means of production or to the ability to purchase the labor of others.

He claimed that the uneven distribution of wealth and power would eventually cause conflict in any society, and could trigger an uprising by the proletariat for more even distribution of wealth (Newman 326). Evidence of this was seen long before Karl Marxs time. In the ancient Roman Empire, where uneven sharing of wealth existed it did not take long for the lower class to revolt and get some more rights.

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The social organization of Rome was separated into two groups the patricians and the plebs. The patricians constituted and aristocratic governing class. Only they could be consuls, other magistrates and senators. They controlled the centuriate assembly and many other facets of Roman life (Spielvogel 133). The plebs consisted of the poor class and small land farmers.

Although they could vote, they did not have the same privileges of the patricians; they could not be elected to government office. This division of power and wealth led to a struggle between the two classes and eventually a change in the laws of Rome, which allowed the plebs to become consuls if they desired and eventually they were permitted to pass laws for all Romans. Similar instances existed in India for thousands of years, but the outcomes of the situations are very different.

The nomadic Aryans who lived in north Eastern Europe started the caste system. They eventually moved south into India between 1500 and 1000 BCE and took over the civilizations that were set up there. The caste was originally based on skin color. The Aryans were of a lighter complexion of the natives of India and hence set up a system whereby only light skinned people could own wealth. Over the centuries, this initial form of discrimination turned into what is commonly called the caste system.

The caste system separates the Indian society in to five different classes each one having a different purpose and function in society. At the top of the social order were the Brahmins. The Brahmins were descended from a class of seers who had advised the ruler on religious matters in Aryan tribal society (Spielvogel 44). The next caste was the Kshatriya. These were descendent of the Aryan warrior class. They were thought to originally rank higher than the Brahmins, but as religion grew i!

n importance so did the Brahmins and the Kshatriya became ranked second on the social scale. The third caste was the vaisyas. This caste was viewed as the merchant caste. Historians believe that they were descended from the rulers of tribal herds who settled in India and moved into commercial pursuits. The fourth caste was the sudras. The sudras represented the great bulk of the Indian population. Many were peasants and or artisans and did manual labor. The rights of this group were very restricted. At the bottom of the social scale was the caste called the untouchables. The untouchables were not even considered a real part of the Indian society. Historians think that the untouchables were descendent from the slave class consisting of prisoners of war and criminals and tribal minorities (Spielvogel 45).

The untouchables were forced to do all the degrading tasks in the Indian society. How could the segregation of a society based only on a persons birth, that caused such uneven! distribution of wealth survive for so long? Karl Marx said that those whom own power have the access to the means necessary to create and promote a reality that justifies their exploitive actions. He said that the bourgeoisie had such influence on the workers view of reality that the workers accepted that reality although it harms them. He called this false consciousness (Newman 323). This false consciousness in the form of religion is what caused the caste system to survive so long in India. The caste system relied heavily on religion, more specifically the main religion of India, Hinduism.

The main laws of Hinduism have to do with one fulfilling ones destiny. The role of religion is perhaps the most controlling factor for the untouchables. In some areas, the population of untouchables was around 25% (Sharma 48). Yet, they continued to live in terrible conditions because of being born into a certain caste. Hinduism is based on the belief in reincarnation. Reincarnation is the idea that the individual soul is reborn in a different form after death and progresses through several on the wheel of life until it reaches it final destination in a union with the Great World Soul known as Brahman (Spielvogel 50). Hinduism places all living creatures on a scale of existence, and whatever point a person might be on that scale is dependent only on how that person lived their previous life. The closest to being united with the Great World Soul are the Brahmins, then come the other castes in descending order, and then the animal kingdom. This idea of moving up the social lad!

der through reincarnation is what gave life meaning for the lower castes. The false belief that in the next life they will be born into a higher caste, and then even higher in the life after that. As long as they perform the duties of their current caste to the best of their ability or fulfill their dharma they will be promoted to the next caste. Dharma is a law in Hinduism that states that one has a duty to perform and whatever that duty is one must perform it to the best of ones ability. Therefore, if for example a person was born as an untouchable then the only way to get out of that caste was to be the best untouchable that that person can be.

Another reason for the survival of the caste system is a lack of power and representation of the lower castes. As India was being influenced more and more by western culture, the resentment of being in a lower caste grew. A study done by Berreman showed that members of the untouchable caste resented being in that position in society but they had few opportunities to express resentment due to economic power held by the high castes (Sharma 49).

There were many instances where the members of the upper castes used their position in society to increase their wealth. Srinivas explained that there was a tendency for the upper castes to get involved in other functions in society, for example politics (9). The caste system also discriminated when it came to education. The members of the lower castes were often left out of the education system, not because of any specific laws, but because of the pressure put on the children of the untouchable caste from those of higher castes. This me! ant that there was very little opportunity for members of the untouchable caste to develop other skills than those that were the traditional ones for that caste.

Perhaps one of the closest thing to the caste system is the slave trade. The slave trade has existed for thousands of years, but still has not had the kind of success that the caste system has had. The earliest of slaves were normally prisoners of war, so they were paying the price for their efforts in fighting the conquering army. However, according to Vogt even in those ancient times there were many slave revolts; Then after the middle of the century, there began a succession of revolts that resulted in long-drawn-out wars (39).

The modern slave trade more closely resembles the caste system because these slaves were made slaves simply because of their ethnicity. The first slaves to arrive in America from Africa were in 1619. The first major revolt was in 1831 when a slave named Nat Turner led his fellow slave to revolt and killed their master and his family. Thereafter there were many slave uprisings and eventually in the 1900s slavery was abolished (History of Slavery in! America).

Hinduism was the single most important reason for the survival of the caste system. It created a false consciousness which is vital for any stratified society to exist in peace. The caste system in India remained unchanged for thousands of years. The upper castes and their heirs lived very comfortably, while the lower castes were treated as slaves.

Works Cited

1. Duiker, William J., and Jackson J. Spielvogel. World History, Volume one: to 1800.
2. California: Von Hoffmann Press, 2000.
3. Newman, David. Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life.
4. California: Pine Forge Press, 1995.
5. Sharma, Ursula. Caste. Philadelphia: Open University Press, 1999.
6. History of Slavery in America. Produced and directed by Rhonda Fabian and
7. Jerry Baber. 30 mins. Schlessinger Video Production, 1994. Videocassette.
8. Srinivas, M. N., The Dominant Caste and other essays. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1987.

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