caste

1. India’s Caste System
I. Caste=Rigid social system.

2. 15% of India’s population=160 million Indians are…

3. A. Origin of the Caste System
1. The cattle rearing Aryans invaded India in 1500
B.C.
2. The Aryans (fair-skinned, blue eyed
foreigners) dominated the Dravidians
(darker skinned, original residents),
making them subservient.

4. Aryan priests divided society into four parts, putting their
class at the top as earthly gods.
3. “When the gods divided the Man, into
how many parts did they divide him?
What was his mouth, what were his arms,
what were his thighs and his feet
called?
The Brahmin was his mouth,
of his arm was made the warrior,
his thighs became the Vaisya,
of his feet the Sudra was born.”~Vedic Poem.

5. The four original castes subdivided and over 3000 castes exist
Brahmins=Mouth
Kshatriyas=Arms
Vaisyas=Thighs
Sudras=Feet
The Untouchables

6. Vaisyas
Herders, land owners,
merchants, craftspeople
Brahmin
Priests
Kshatriyas
Warriors
Sudras
Farm workers, servants, laborers
UNTOUCHABLES: Polluted Laborers
 = Non- Aryans
4. Social Hierarchy

7. A High-Caste Brahmin
Wedding

8. B. The Caste System is supported by
Hinduism.
1. 82 % of India is Hindu
2. Obeying caste rules= Reincarnation
into a higher caste.

11. Lower-Caste Women
Work all day picking weeds for a wage as low as 50 cents/day.

12. C. Jobs of the Untouchables
1. Jobs that involved ending a life.
3. Any contact with human emissions.
2. Kill/dispose of dead cattle.

13. Blind man playing flute through nose

15. A typical low-caste village family may have only one sari for all
its women. While one woman wears the sari, four other women
must wait inside.

23. Reform Movements
D. Many Groups unsuccessfully
tried to reduce the rigidity of the
caste System”
Siddhartha Gautama (563-483 B.C.), founder of
Buddhism.
Muslim rule (1206-1862).
Gandhi (1869-1948)
Christianity and Judaism.

24. 1. Creed: passive resistance against injustice.
2. Frequently jailed for his protests.
3. Assassinated by a Hindu Fundamentalist.
E. Gandhi: The caste system is "inherent in
human nature, and Hinduism has simply made a
science of it."

36. F. The Caste System Today
1. Caste discrimination is illegal!
2. With education & industrialization the caste system is
slowly disappearing.
3. Unfortunately, religious discrimination still exist.

38. The caste system identity still plays a major role in
Indian society. Blue is traditionally a color of the
Brahmins.
Brahmins paint their homes Blue.

40. Elephants need baths too!

41. Social Distinctions Still Exist
A Brahmin physician wraps a Sudra’s wrist with a cloth before taking his pulse,
so he will not to be "defiled" by touching the Sudra's skin.
Low-caste people are forbidden to use the wells in villages that high-caste
Brahmins use for fear they will pollute the water.
A low-caste family is refused the right to bury a family member near their
village, where both high and low castes live, because of the belief that the
person's ghost will haunt the high-castes.

42. Migrants flock to the
outskirts of cities to find
work.

43. 4. The Reservation System: Entitles a percentage of
government jobs, elected offices, and positions in college
to go to the lower caste people.
5. This reverse discrimination is similar to the U.S.
system of…
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

44. Pots line up next to a dry public water tap. Most towns in India have
Internet access, but do not have water and sewage systems

46. Amit is a 17-year-old boy in New Delhi, India’s capital. He takes
pride in being a member of India’s highest caste – the Brahmins.
He lives in a middle-class neighborhood, where he rides a
motorcycle, wears stylish clothes and listens to rock music.
He also takes yearly vacations with his entire family. Amit plans to
study art next year in the south Indian State of Tamil
Nadu and travel on his school breaks.

47. Shushma is a 14-year-old girl who lives outside Delhi. She is an
Untouchable, the outcastes of India’s traditional social structure. Last
year her father decided to leave his ancestral village and move closer to
the city in hopes of getting more work. Shushma shares a mud hut with
her parents, four sisters, and one brother. There is no electricity. She is
not allowed to play with the upper-class children living
nearby. She too would like to study Art but as a low-caste
girl, she has few options for the future.

48. Students like Amit fear that
he be “discriminated” against. “We Brahmins feel
cheated because of the special privileges other castes have
been given,” says Amit. “This is not the sort of system you
should have in a democracy.”

49. The quota system has caused tension. The competition for
jobs and education is intense in India. Middle class Indians
say the quota system has given low-caste Indian opportunities
at their expense.
Higher-class Indians even pretend to be “backward” castes in
order to land government jobs and college acceptance.

50. Outraged by the wage and land-reform demands of Untouchables, the
Ranvir Sena, a militia led by landowners, has been implicated in the
massacres of more than 500 Untouchables.
The attackers have gone largely unpunished.

52. A woman prepares dinner on the
street

55. 1. List three Characteristics of the Caste System.
a. b. c.
2. How does the caste system provide a sense of order?
3. Why are the untouchables excluded from the Social
Pyramid?
4. Who can untouchables be compared to in other
civilizations?
5. Why do you think it is more difficult to combat the Caste
System more so than other types of racism?
6. What are some suggestions you could offer the Indian
Government to help stop this problem?
Questions to Ponder