India's caste system
What is the caste system?
The caste system is like a religious social standing system wich means that the population is divided in higher and lower groups. The expression "caste" comes from the portugese word "casto" (="pure").
The four main castes (Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vashaya and Shudra) are called "Varnas", the Indian word for "colour". The Varnas are split up in "Jati". The Jati are subgroups of the castes, and depend on the profession of the people.
There is no social mobility in the caste system, because people mustn´t marry people of other castes. Hinduism believes in an eternal circle of rebirth which ends in the "Nirvana", like our heaven or paradise. That means a Hindu has many lives and is reborn after death.
The "Dharma" (Karma) is his "account" of good and bad things he has done in this life. The more bad things he has done in this life the longer it will take to get to the Nirvana. His Dharma decides in which caste he will be born into in the next life. So the caste system is justified.
The different castes
Source: www.beyondbooks.com
Only the twice born groups could study the "Veda". This is an old book of life philosophy.
The Brahmin
The Brahmin are the highest caste, in earlier times they were priests.They have special symbols, e.g. a white rope and a special haircut. As priests, they can communicate with gods. They mustn't be touched of members of other castes.
Source: www.asienforever.de
The Kshatriya
The Kshatriya are the second cast, they were warriors and kings. There is one special thing about them: unlike the others they could eat meat and drink alcohol .
The Vaishaya
The Vaishaya are the third caste and still today the most of them are merchants and landowners.
The Shudra
The Shudra are the fourth caste, they were workers and carpenters so they worked for the others. Today they get 30% of the government jobs.
The Dalit
The Dalit are so low that they are outside of the caste system ("outcastes"). They have to do dirty jobs, e.g. remove waste... So they are called the "Untouchables". That means they mustn´t have social contact with other castes. They are extremly poor and have to live in slums and squatter settlements.
Comparison between the houses of a Brahmin, a Shudra and a Dalit
Source: Terra 8, Klett Verlag
The beginning of the caste system
The beginning of the caste system goes back to the arrival of the light-skinned "Aryan" people from central Asia(3 500 years ago). They put the dark-skinned native people in an underprivileged position(that means they had to do dirty jobs etc.)
Source: www.panos.org.uk
They were called "untouchables".The rules of the castes were written down in a 2 500 year old encyclopedia called Manu.
Source: www.davidsongalleries.com
In an old legend the gods killed a huge giant. Out of his body came the four "varnas" , the main castes. The Brahmin, the priests, came out of his mouth, the Kshatriya, the warriors , came out of his arms. Out of his legs came the Vaishaya, the merchants. The Shudras, the workers, came out of his feet.
Caste system in an Indian village and in a city
In India more than 70% of the population live in the country. The caste system has still got great influence in the villages, e.g. the untouchables mustn´t use the same well as the other castes. When a Dalit (Untouchable) touches the shadow of a Brahma, the Brahma isn´t pure any more and has to do many religious ceremonies to purify his body again.
Source: Terra 8, Klett Verlag
The castes are strictly separated in the village.
The system in the big cities has changed, it isn´t as important as in the country, but the Dalits still got a horrible life, and the people in the upper castes get better jobs.
Source: www.sebastian-klammer.com
Many people have been rebelling against the injustice of this system.(e.g. Mahab Ghandi started a revolution).
Examples of persons in the caste system
Keshav Prasad Singh
He is a landlord in Arrah, and he is charged by police because of murdering Dalits, but he denies any killings. He thinks the upper castes will be crushed by the Dalits. And he wants to prevent this, so he killed the Dalits.
Kalika Prasad Dohare
Kalika is one of the Dalits, but he went to school and took a degree in chemistry and won a reserved seat in government service. He is discriminated at work because of his caste and is transferred 13 times in 22 years. He says that the casted people think the Dalits aren´t good enough for work.
Devi Singh
Devi Singh, a Dalit, works in New Delhi, and his wage is only about $62 per month, but he can feed his family of seven with that. He lives in a two room flat and he is like Kalika discriminated by his colleagues at work: they don´t want to eat with him. But in the village he´s from he is respected even by the upper casted people. He thinks the biggest change is that now the Dalits have the opportunity to succeed.
Devarapalli Veeraiah
Devarapalli is a young Dalit who studies for a degree. He is a Christian (so he is a Dalit) and fights for Dalits´ rights after a landlord has beaten him up. He travels to other villages to encourage young Dalits to get an education and he thinks that the Dharma is a lot of nonsense created by the upper castes to keep the others down.
images from: Materialien zum Bilingualen Unterricht Erdkunde 8.Jahrgang/Gymnasium IPTS Lingua S.22f
Vocabulary
religious social standing system - religiöses Ständesystem; pure - rein; eternal - ewig; profession- Beruf, Ausbildung; to be justified - gerechtfertigt sein; to be divided - aufgeteilt sein; sub(ordinate) group - Untergruppe; social mobility - Gesellschaftliche Aufstiegsmöglichkeiten; account - Konto; merchant - Händler; to purify - (sich) reinigen; to charge - verurteilen; to deny - leugnen; to crush sth. - etw. zerstören; to avoid sth. - etw. vermeiden; casted people - Leute, die einer Kaste angehören (Dalits haben keine Kaste!)