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Essay on “Caste System in India” Complete Essay for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

Essay No. 01

Caste System in India

or

Caste System in Our Society

In order to reach the Highest Good, the leadership of society had to be a disciplined one. Life had to be dedicated to the studying and the teaching of the Vedas without any lust for wealth or power. Such was to be the life of the Brahmans. He was to dedicate his life to society, dharma. He was respected for his knowledge, spirit of sacrifice, character. This might explain the pre-dominance of the brahman community today. A brahman who did not meet these qualifications was looked down upon. While he was not subject to a extreme penalty he lived a life that was worse than others. He was shunned, excommunicated.

The hard reality that different people are blessed with different intellects, temperaments, men are not equal. Division of society into groups based on common vocation, interest is common. Recognizing difference in temperaments, those possessing aspirations were Brahmans, those possessing energy with the urge to purify were Kshatriyas, those possessing energy without aspirations were Vaishyas and those possessing inertia were Shudras. The Kshatriyas and Vaishyas received education in the Brahman’s house but could not do the duties allotted to Brahmans. A kshatriya was the protector and the upholder of Dharma. The Vaishya was ,the producer and distributor of wealth. A Shudra could serve the Brahman, follow arts and crafts, enter the army and when in distress follow the vocation of Vaishya. He could not Study the Vedas but could study the Puranas, Epics.

The Dalit’s of today are critical of Manu Smriti, the caste system etc. While I empathize with their plight and the problems faced by them what prevents them from studying, working harder ( not that do not ), facing up to life to improve their conditions. Do they not see that there are poor people belonging to the other three castes.

To understand the social philosophy we must try and remove certain ideas that we have been ingrained into our minds. Manava Dharma ruled out a competitive society because such a society has a tendency to stimulate egotism, greed, untruth. On the Other hand, by following the competitive model, there is no equality either. Employment is uncertain and worry, frustration engulf you. Insecurity, frustration, tension, heart-attacks, blood-pressure follow. In a competitive society, the Strong will prosper while the poor will be pushed towards the wall, their minds filled with envy and hatred. Some sociologists believe that the riots in India are a result of the class conflict between the have be and have not’s.

Some of you might argue, that if there is no competition, how do, we decide admission into medical colleges, employees get increments, we bring out the best in individuals. Competition is a part of modern society but it is our approach to it that determines our state of mind. If we were to enter an examination hall worried about how tough the paper would be or start worrying about the results after appearing we are bound to get stressed. On the Other hand if our approach were to be study hard, give it our best short and leave the rest for the future to figure out we would be much happier.

Manav Dharma takes into account the biological fact that every person is likely to inherit the traits and aptitudes of his parents. Family association would make more easily available for the child to uphold family traditions and value. Working with a community spirit leads to greater degree of cooperation. If one’s duties are clearly laid down the scope for greed, self-indulgence, a life of egotism is reduced.

Some of you might argue that how can this system in a globalized economy with huge corporations like General Electric, Unilever. We must realize that the Manu Smiriti was written thousand of years of ago. What was relevant then might not be wholly relevant today. But the concept of joint effort, cooperation, different traits in human beings are as relevant today as they were thousands of years ago.

 

Essay No. 02

 

Caste System in India

 

The Indian constitution sets out the resolve to eradicate the age-old system of caste, which has denied for centuries the opportunity of social advancement to the lowest stratum of the system, the Dalits (formerly “Untouchables” or Harijans, “children of God”, as Gandhi named them). Considerable steps were taken after independence actively to promote the education and welfare of these depressed classes.

Indian society by far is the mostancientone existing on the face of earth. It continues to be a living force instead of confined to museums. There are many sources open to us as to look at our society. Vedas are of course one. The central message of Veda is one of’ ‘Hita’ or welfare of all life including all creatures. The lowest in creation from Ant to highest Brahma, receive blessings from Veda. Such being the case to make them out to be or the ‘sastras’ based on them especially Dharrna Shastra of Manu as some documents is perpetuating the evil of oppression is height of ignorance and is most deplorable. At present besides the secular tribe, people like Mayavati or Kanshiram go around beating drumsagainst’manuvadis’. Littledothey know aboutManu forsure and even less they knowaboutoursociety except to exacerbate existing divisions to perpetuate themselves in politics to lootthepublictreasury.

We have Ramayana and Mahabharatha. In both these epics the life of society of India as it existed is well portrayed. They are is our ociety standards. Oppression or exploitation of weaker sections of nowhere in them. Ramayana• has many incidents of s  interaction of different section of society, Brahmins with kshatriyas and both with Vaisyas or merchants and all with Sudras. There is the beautiful harmony and cooperation that prevailed in society not just in Ayodhya but through out ‘Bharath Varsha’, There was no whole scale massacre of defeated people. That is bur,standard. Only because of such values great champion of Hindu in recent times, Shivaji, following the foot steps of Sri Rama not only freed captured wife of Suhedar of Kalyan Durga but also honoured her calling her as his mother and sent her with honours and presents as one sends his sister to in law home. These are the values of our society that were handed to us from ancient times. Exploitation of weak is not one of them. Subjugation by Islamists and later by British is responsible for many evils. Our society is condemned for institution of sati and for childhood marriages. Why did they come about? Kausalya, Kaikeyi or Sumitra, wives of Dasaratha did not commit sati nor the mother of Pandavas, Kunti. But during Muslim rule it became common only because our people felt, our women like those of Rajasthan felt, it was far better to jump into funeral pyrellhan into the bed of Muslim marauder. Similarly in order to guard the girls from abduction and molestation by Muslim tyrants, the girls were married off early. So there are many such unfortunate customs evolved during the period of subjugation. And this business of caste oppression was also one of them. – The Dravida Khajagam built itself over Brahmin bashing using Ramayana episodes. They said Ravana and his followers were Dravidians and Aryan Rama invaded them. But they did not tell their followers that Ravana was a Brahmin while Sri Rama was a dark coloured Kshatriya slightly in ‘lower’ cast category! Also this business of classifying, upper and lower castes did not exist then, it is a recent invention of foul politician to divide and perpetuate his rule. In Ramayana of Valmiki, one finds excellent harmony and cooperation that existed in our society before the Muslim invaders came to ‘uplift lower castes’.

Our society is rightly compared to the body of Virat Purusha  with each section of society forming a limb of the same Purusha. When we approach the Lord Narayana we first pray and offer respect to the feet of Narayana, which is the origin of Sudra category. When Mohammed Ghajzni invaded India, his contemporary Al-beruni chronicled his exploits. He noted that at the time there were only 8 castes – four that existed from time immemorial and four more perhaps sub castes or some other minor divisions. Under Islamic rule no one suffered more than the Brahmin. As he was guide and philosopher of society the Islamic axe fell on him severely. In Iran, too, when Islam took over, all Zoroastrian priests were summarily executed. As Ambedkar mentioned this is why Buddhism disappeared from India. The caste oppression grew in India only due to unsavoury effect of foreign domination.

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