Random Thoughts :02

Dish-Clay-Mar : Hello, unlike every disclaimer on this blog, this one is different. You guys know how open I am with my opinions and I need to ask people to STFU because it's my opinion and how we can be friends even if our opinions doesn't match. Thus disclaimer is different. It's about the post and not about ⁵pppan opinion. So basically this post is about a "random thought" about how the caste system of India came into existence. And it actually sounds like justifying the caste system which it is not about.

  Hello again, now to the actual part of the article. So, basically let us understand the hierarchy of the Indian caste system. There are Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. Then Dalit which is sometimes considered as shudras but not completely. They were basically the untouchable and were socially completely isolated. There must be a basis for this caste classification right? To answer that let's look into what the castes have individually in common.

  The Shudras are supposed to be laborers and those who work for construction, assistants and as farming laborers. Dalits who are sometimes considered as shudras worked as cleaners and house helps. This group would deal with the trash generated and waste management. 

  Vaishyas were the farmers and the businessmen. They generated the economy and maintained the finance of the society. This section of the population generated wealth. 

  The Kshatriyas were the ones managing the society. They were the ones who managed the kingdom, looked after the security of the kingdom and basically did what the governments do today. 

  The Brahmins were the ones who took care of the temples and since the temples contained the knowledge if the society they had a command over the knowledge ( the vedas)  Since they were the "educated" they made the rules of the kingdom and wrote constitutions. The word brahmin means the propagator of the vedas.

  So the occupation of the person decided his caste. In India as we know, there is alot of parental involvement even in the adult life of an individual. So the occupation of the child was pre-decided. The child continues doing what the father did. This in a way was helpful as it helped the cultures and traditions to live on. Also, there was no unemployment because you do what your dad did so does everyone. The workforce was also well skilled as the training starts early because I mentioned earlier, there is alot of parental involvement. So let's look at the consequences of what happened.

  Because of the caste system there was inequality in terms of opportunity, untouchability, and financial inequality along with many more. Eventhough, the three above mentioned consequences are interlinked, let's deal with one at a time.

  The inequality of opportunity is an obvious consequence because not everyone would like to do what their father did. If I wanted to be a soldier, I should be born in a kshatriya family which meant that if I was a brahmin or a shudra, I wouldn't have a chance of fighting for the country. 

  Untouchability, the major problem for centuries has arrived out of something more logical but dumb. It is a caste specific problem because only shudras were untouchables. As I mentioned earlier, they were the ones cleaning. This involved dealing with human waste too which made them vulnerable to diseases. Especially infectious diseases. As they spread from person to person and it is because of the job they did, all the people who did that job ( ultimately meaning the caste ) were labeled as untouchables and were isolated from the society.

  Since they ( shudras ) did the low paid jobs there was economic imbalance as the kings handled the kingdom's money and got richer. Brahmins who controlled the society in making the rules and the system took advantage and ruined it. 

  And that my friend is my estimation of how the caste system may have come into existence and some factors caused major problems. It may not be true though. Its just a hypothesis like the big bang. There is no evidence that it actually happened. Its just a theory that makes sense to me and i hope that you feel the same. Thankfully, the constitution writers of the Independant India made rules to remove the caste system which have been implemented for way too long now and there must be a change in this regard which is a discussione for another time.

  Hope you liked what you just read. This is just me stragazing and thinking late nights and coming up with some random thought and posting it here. Suggest some more in the comments I'll give it a thought. Thank you for reading so far.