1

The Origin of the Hindu Caste System and Presence of Caste System

in Other Societies of World

by Premendra Priyadarshi, MBBS, MD, FRCP Edin

mail: top_doctors@hotmail.co.uk

(Paper presented at the International Conference of World Association for Vedic Studies held at New

Jersey, USA on 31 July, 2011. Paper was remotely presented)

Issues and Background

In the last century, a general belief was generated that the ugly hereditary caste system is an

exclusive legacy of India, particularly of the Hindus. It was emphasized that the caste system

has religious sanction in Hinduism, and this feature is unique to Hindu religion. Impression

was created that it existed nowhere outside India. It was claimed that the Hindu caste system

takes origin from the Vedic varnas. The Purusha Sukta of the Rig-Veda was interpreted to be

the source of caste system.

It was further alleged that the caste system had such an ugly form at the time of Buddha, that

Buddha decided to rebel against Hinduism, with the goal of starting a casteless egalitarian

religion. It was also alleged that there was no caste system among the Muslims and Christians

when they came to India, but they too adopted the caste system from the Hindus. Thus

Hindus were not only bad themselves--they made others also bad by their contact.

On examination, we find that none of these theories are true, and they are products of an

organized campaign to malign Hinduism. By this time these untruths have been repeated so

many times that it has become a general view that Hinduism is the source of the caste system.

Hence the whole thing needs evidence based examination. This article examines the evidence

available in literature.

Definitions

It is important while discussing the caste system to have the same definition of caste

throughout. The caste has been defined by Kroeber (1930: 254) as ―an endogamous and

hereditary subdivision of an ethnic unit occupying a position of superior or inferior rank or social esteem in comparison with other such subdivisions.‖

1 The definition has not changed

since. ―An endogamous and hereditary‖ is the key phrase to constitute caste has been largely

accepted by everyone (Basham 1999:148; Srinivas 1989:4; Supreme Court AIR 1993: 483 & 553).2

Its oft-mentioned other features, like hierarchicality, professionality, patron-client

relationship, commensality, judicial function (caste panchayat) etc are additional features and

they are neither essential nor enough to constitute a caste. Many social groups, which cannot

be called castes, do posses these latter features.

As long as a class is changeable (i.e. ‗not closed‘), it is not a caste. Being ‗closed‘ means

marriage partners cannot be accepted from outside the caste, and no new member can be

admitted into the caste, except by birth into the same caste. However, castes had the power to

excommunicate individuals or particular family from the caste, as a punishment of violation

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of certain rules and norms of the caste, and were called out-caste in Europe. For this

particular regulatory function, caste was like an ‗association‘ of members or a guild.

Relationship of Varna and Caste

Many people think that varna and caste are related, and castes emerged from varnas. But in

fact, as scholars of eminence have pointed out, the two systems are completely unrelated.

Varna is neither hereditary nor endogamous, while caste essentially is both. Any class

system, whether based on wealth, colour, race, profession, language or country of origin

cannot constitute caste system if it is not endogamous and hereditary. Scholars have

condemned the practice of translating varna as ‗caste‘.

Basham wrote, “The term varna does not mean „caste‟ and has never meant „caste‟ by which

term it is often loosely translated‖. (Basham:35; emphasis added). M.N. Srinivas, while

discussing caste, wrote, ―The varna-model has produced a wrong and distorted image of

caste. It is necessary for the sociologist to free himself from the hold of the varna-model if he

wishes to understand the caste system. It is hardly necessary to add that it is more difficult for

Indian sociologist than it is for non-Indian.‖ (Srinivas 1989:66; emphasis added).

Absence of Caste during Vedic India

Presence of caste in ancient India has not been proven so far by any evidence. What many

naive authors have done is just translated the word varna as ‗caste‘ which is a completely

inappropriate and condemnable practice as discusses above. None of the Vedic social groups

viz vish, kula, gotra, vamsha, pravara, jana or varna had features of ‗caste‘. In fact exogamy,

and not endogamy, was the favoured mode of marriage when Vedic injunctions were

followed. Al-Biruni writes, ―According to their marriage law it is better to marry a stranger

than a relative. The more distant the relationship of a woman with regard to her husband, the

better.‖ (Sachau:444).

N.K. Bose, an important anthropologist of the last century, asserted ―It is known with

tolerable certainty that, although portions of the Vedas were left in the keeping of particular

priestly lineages, yet there was no hereditary system of castes marked by endogamy and of

which the members practiced complementary professions from one generation to another,

unaltered, as became the norm later.‖ (Bose 1967:4).3

Max Waber, noted, ―Perhaps the most important gap in the ancient Veda is its lack of any reference to caste. … nowhere does it refer to the substantive content of the caste order in the

meaning which it later assumed and which is characteristic only of Hinduism.‖ (Weber:

396).4

Moreover, the shudra (the working class) is always a product of industrial and economic

growth. Rig-Veda had low-intensity farming and non-nomadic settled pastoralism. Hence

existence of shudra class at that time must have been suspect. Basham noted that the oldest of

Hindu texts the Rig Veda mentions the word ‗shudra‟ only once and that is of a doubtful

etymology (Basham:143).

The context where the word shudra occurs only once in the Rig-Veda is the Purusha Sukta of

the tenth mandala which is considered a late interpolation. And there too it is a poetic or

metaphorical representation of society, which means that the brahmana is the mouth (or

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reservoir of knowledge) of the society, the kshatriya is the arms (defence force) of the

society, the vaishya is the thighs (productive force) of the society and the shudra is the feet

(moving force on which society moves) of the society. Association with feet is not to

derogate the working classes, but to assert that the society cannot move or ‗progress‘ without

the shudras. The Vedic sukta neither implies hereditary nature of the four sections of the

society, nor that they been endogamous. Hence the Vedic classes (varna-s) bear in no way

any resemblance with the caste system. In fact caste appears in India only during the late

medieval (or Muslim) period of Indian history (Basham:148).

Linguistic Evidence for Absence of Caste from Ancient India

Linguistics has been commonly used for deciphering Indian history. Linguistically too, we

find no word for ‗caste‘ in any of the native languages of India. Basham noted that the

currently used word for caste jati in modern Indian languages does not occur in ancient

Indian literature to mean ‗caste‘. ―All ancient Indian sources make a sharp distinction

between the two terms; varna is much referred to but jati very little, and when it does appear

in the literature it does not always imply the comparatively rigid and exclusive social groups

of later times.‖ (Basham: 148). Max Weber also holds that the Vedic varnas were not castes

(supra). Word jati has been rarely used to mean ‗lineage‘ or ‗status of birth‘ in ancient

literature. Only Mausmriti, Yajnavalka Smriti (which are just before Muslim arrival in India)

and Katyayana Shraut Sutra have used this word once each in this sense.

Romila Thapar too opines, on the basis of her more recent studies, that varna is not caste, and

it is the word jati which represents caste. ―Jati comes from the root meaning ‗birth‘, and is a

status acquired through birth. Jati had a different origin and function from varna and was not

just the subdivision of the latter.‖ (Thapar 2003:123). However, given the fact that it was

rarely used in ancient literature, it can be surmised that ‗jati‘ or ‗caste‘ was absent from

Ancient India.

In many of the modern Indian languages, like Bengali and Assamese, jati means ‗nation‘, and

not caste.5 Hence ‗nation‘ seems to be the original general meaning of the word jati, before

caste system was established in India. Had caste been present in ancient periods, there should

have been a word meaning ‗caste‘ at ancient times too in Sanskrit, and other Indian languages

too should have had appropriate words for ‗caste‘.

We note above that the word jati did not have the meaning ‗caste‘ during ancient India.

However, today the word jati is used in Hindi and many other languages for caste too. This

leaves us wondering about its etymology in modern Indian languages. Adoption of the word jati by the non-Indo-Aryan languages to mean ‗caste‘ or ‗tribe‘ seems to have occurred only

recently after the word jati had been thrust the meaning ‗caste‘ in the Hindi belt.

Thus today the Dravidian as well as Sino-Tibetan and Austro-Asiatic languages of India like

Tamil, Bodo, Dimasa, Naga, Khasi, Tripuri, Santal, Kurukh and many other languages use

the word jati to mean ‗tribe‘ or ‗caste‘.6 This clearly proves that these Indian languages had

no word for caste. Had caste been an old entity in India, there must have been original word

meaning ‗caste‘ in these languages, and they should not have borrowed the Sanskrit word

‗jati‘, which itself never meant caste during ancient times (supra). And had varna ever meant

caste, this word must have been preserved in both north and south Indian languages to mean

caste even today, because they use a large number of ancient Sanskrit cultural words even

today in their speech.

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We note that in Persian there has been a word zat meaning caste.7 Word zat is also present in

Pushto, where it means ‗caste‘ e.g. bad-zat means ‗born in low caste‘.8 Another word

meaning caste today in North India is biradari, which too is Persian in origin.9 These two

words were brought to India by Persian speaking Muslims after 1000 AD. Because of

absence of ‗z‘ sound in India, zat became jat in North India. More recently, there was a trend

to Sanskritize language, i.e. to replace vernacular words with similar sounding Sanskrit

words. Hence people of Hindi region started using its nearest sounding Sanskrit word jati for

literary and academic purposes. Yet the Muslims of North India still use the Persian word zat

to mean caste in both written and spoken Urdu. That means currently used Indian word for

caste jati is a product of derivation from Persian zat, and not the same word as Sanskrit jati.

Al-Biruni, who visited India in about 1000 AD, was aware of Iranian caste system (vide

infra). His mother tongue being Persian, he was using the word zat for caste. Although Al-

Biruni noted the four classes of people in India, he could not find any word for ‗caste‘ in

India. Hence he noted, ―The Hindus call their castes ‗colours‘.‖ (Ibid.:p. 66). The statement is

highly significant. It clearly shows that the Hindus did not have an equivalent word for caste.

And it also makes clear that al-Biruni had a word for caste in his own language, exact

equivalent of which he could not find in India. This is a philological or linguistic evidence of

absence of caste system in India at about 1000 AD.

Ambedkar on Origin of Caste

This fact, that the caste was absent from early Indian society, was noted by no less a person

than Bhim Rao Ambedkar, who noted:

―…society is always composed of classes. It may be an exaggeration to assert the

theory of class conflict, but existence of definite classes in a society is a fact. Their

basis may differ. They may be economic or intellectual or social, but an individual in

a society is always a member of a class. This is a universal fact and early Hindu

society could not have been an exception to this rule, and, as a matter of fact, we

know it was not. If we bear this generalization in mind, our study of the genesis of

caste would be very much facilitated, for we have only to determine what was the

class that first made itself into a caste,…A Caste is an enclosed Class.‖

…―We shall be well advised to recall at the outset that the Hindu society, in common

with other societies, was composed of classes and the earliest known are the (1)

Brahmin or the priestly class; (2) the Kshatriya or the military class; (3) the Vaishya or the merchant class; (4) the Shudra or the artisan and the menial class. Particular

attention has to be paid to the fact that this was essentially a class system, in which,

individuals, when qualified, could change their class, and therefore the classes did

change their personnel ‖ (emphasis added).10

Respect for the Shudras and other downtrodden in

Ancient India

Regarding the allegorical association of working classes with the feet of the divine, it has

been opined that the Hindus worship the feet of the divine. Shudras were certainly revered in

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the Vedic society, which has been explicitly mentioned in many of the hymns of the Vedas.

For example, the Krishna Yajurveda (Taittiriya Samhita, 4.5.4.1, seventh line.) offers prayers

to the downtrodden kSullaka11

and mahadbhaya.12

The Veda further salutes and pays tributes

to carpenters, cart-makers, pottery-makers, blacksmiths, bird-hunters, fishermen, bow-

makers, hunters and dog-eaters in the following hymns :13

Namas-takshabhyo14

rathakarebhyash-cha vo namah

We salute the carpenters and the cart-makers.

Namah kulalebhayah15

karmarebhashcha16

vo namah

We salute the pottery makers and the blacksmiths.

Namah punjishthebhyo17

nishadebhyah cha vo namah

We salute the bird-hunters and the nishada (fishermen) [i.e. tribal people]

Nama ishukridbhyo18

dhanvakridbhyah19

cha vo namah

We salute the arrow-makers and the bow-makers (artisans).

Namo mrigayubhayah svanibhayah namo namah

We salute those who live by hunting animals, and we salute those who survive on

dogs.20

Similar hymns have been included in the Shukla Yajurveda too:21

Homage to you carpenters, and to you chariot-makers homage.

Homage to you potters and to you blacksmiths, homage.

Homage to you Nishâdas and to you Puñjishthas, homage.

Homage to you dog-leaders, and to you hunters, homage.

Here the words used ―namo namah‖ for salutation to the working classes and the

downtrodden are the same which Vedas use to salute God and the divine. Such great respect

was accorded to the downtrodden and workers because the Vedic society acknowledged the

great importance of contributions of the shudras in the society. This is in contrast with other

civilizations which almost always gave status of slave to the working classes. Shukla

Yajurveda further says:22

―I to all the people may address this salutary speech,

To priest and nobleman, Sûdra and Arya, to one of our own kin and to the stranger.‖

And also in the same Veda:23

―O Lord! Please fill the brahmanas with light, kshatriyas with light, vaishyas with

light and the shudras with light; and in me fill the same light.‖

The hard work of the shudras was considered with ‗tapa‟ or worship and this has been

acknowledged in the thirteenth chapter of the Shatapatha Brahmana in the following

words:24

“Tapase shudram, tapo vai shudrastapa eva tattapasa samardhyatyevameta

devata…”

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Meaning:

―Shudras are like taporupa, ascetics, their hard work increases the wealth and tapas

of society.‖

Kunal (2005) provides a large compilation of mantras expressing respect for the shudras

from ancient Hindu texts like the Vedas, the Puranas and the Shatapatha Brahmana etc.

Many verses explicitly mention that the involvement of the shudras in Vedic rituals is

essential, and that reverence to the lower classes pleases God.25

It is important to exclude many of the Smritis and Purans from consideration, which had been

written or finally edited during seventh to eleventh centuries, and a foreign influence is

clearly visible on them. There was an influx of people from Iran and West Asia to north India

and the Malabar Coast at this time. This is the time when distortions in Hinduism had started,

and the distortions were complete long after the Muslim rule had been firmly rooted in India.

The Apastamba Dharma Sutra gives due respect to the working classes by stating that the

knowledge of the shudras is equivalent to the Atharva Veda.26

Thus the skills of the shudras

were considered at par in status with the skills of the brahmanas. Kunal interprets this sutra

to mean that the sudras have originated from the Atharva Veda. Such an association is

possible because the Atharva Veda shows evidence of greater industrialization and

specialization of professions. The Tattiriya Brahmana mentions that the vaishya varna has

originated from the Rig Veda, the kshatriya varna has originated from the Yajur Veda and the

brahmana varna has originated from the Sama Veda.27

This allegory may actually mean that

the Atharva Veda is more about skills of different occupations which were performed by the

shudras, while the Sama Veda is more orientated to the knowledge of atman and Brahman.

In the Mahabharata, Rishi Parashara compares shudra-s with God Vishnu, and explains this

to king Janaka, both of whom were great scholars of Hindu theology:

Vaideha! Kam kam shudramudaharanti dvija maharaja shrutopapannah.

Aham hi pashyami narendra devam vishvashya Vishnum jagatah pradhanam.

Meaning: ―O Vaideha (king Janaka), the brahmin scholars of Vedas compare the

shudras with Brahma; but I see the shudras as the Lord of the world, God Vishnu.‖28

Here meaning of kam is Brahma, as explained in the Shatapatha Brahmana, 2.5.2.13:

―kam vai prajapatih”.29

Another mantra of the Atharva Veda states, ―O Lord, make me beloved of (or dear to) the

gods, the princes, the shudras and the noble men.‖ (Atharva Veda, 19. 62)

The fifteenth kanda of the Atharva Veda is devoted to praising the vratyas,30

who were those

shudra-s who had not received the Vedic samskaras, and who did not follow the Vedic rituals

and yajna-s (Atharva Veda, 15.1-18). Translator Ralph Griffith titles two of hymns (viz. AV,

15.1and 2) as ―The hyperbolical glorification of the Vrātya or Aryan Non-conformist.‖31

The

Veda declares in the first hymn that Lord Mahadeva (Shiva) was a vratya, who got later

elevated to the level of the Chief Vratya and lord of gods (AV, 15.1). In the second hymn the

Veda claims that anyone who hates the vratya-s, earns the wrath of gods, and loses the fruits

of many sacrifices (AV, 15.2). In the rest of the kanda 15, vratya-s have been allegorically

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depicted as the divine or the Parabrahma. Monier Williams notes in his dictionary that the

―the kshatriya-s and even the Brahmanas are said to have sprung from the vratya who is

identified with the Supreme Being (AV 15.8.1; 15.9.1).‖32

Thus we find that this particular

hymn of the Veda declares the shudra class to be the Parabrahma, the highest Reality of

Hindu theology.

Shukla Yajurveda makes it mandatory to include the shudras for the purpose of yajna

dedicated to the God Savita (Sun).33

(For Brahman he binds a Brahmana to the stake, for

royalty, a Râjanya; for the Maruts a Vaisya; for Penance a Sûdra.). Ancient acharya Badari,

who is also the author of the Brahma Sutras, directs that the shudras have all the rights to

perform Vadic yajnas (sacrifices and rituals). (Jaimini, 6.1.27; Kunal:65)

Apastamba Dharma Sutra also explicitly mentions that the shudras did have right to cook

offerings for the deities and participate in the samskaras (rituals). (Apastamba Dharma Sutra,

2.1.18; Kunal, p. 65).

Puranas, although very late texts, explicitly declare that many of the religious texts,

especially the eighteen Puranas, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata have been created

especially for the benefit of the shudras, ―Dharma shastrani rajendra shrinu tani nripottama,

visheshashcha shudranam pavanani manishibhih.” (Bhavishya Purana, 1.1. 54-55) (Quoted

by Kunal:27-8).

The Vedic Maharshi Kavasha Ailusha was not only born in a shudra family but also

practicing shudra, just like Sant Ravidas of our age. But he was offered the presiding seat on

the occasion of a great congregation of Vedic rishis, where all of them considered him the

best of all rishis.34

The lawmaker Apastamba not only considers shudras and women entitled to education but

also considers their knowledge more stable and full of dedication. (Apastamba Dharma

Sutra, 2.29.11). He considers their knowledge equivalent to the Atharva Veda. (Ibid.

2.29.12). All the remaining elements of dharma should be learnt from the women and from

all the other varnas (which includes shudra). (Ibid. 2.29.15).

The Sushruta Samhita, a medical text-book, clearly states that the knowledge of Ayurveda

should be imparted to the shudra child also after giving him the sacred thread. (Sushruta

Samhita, Sutrasthanam, 2.5).

Apart from these there is mention in the Rig Veda that ―all the five classes of people are eligible to participate in the Vaidic havana and eat the havisha‖ (Rig Veda, 10.53.4). In the

next mantra the Rig Veda states, ―O all the pancha-jana, you may get pleased with mine

offerings (yajna) and the calves gifted to you all.‖ (Rig Veda, 10.53.5). The general meaning

of the pancha-janas in the Vedas is the five guilds of artisans of that time viz. Rathakara,

Karmakara, Takshaka, Kumbhakara and Nishada-sthapati, which had evolved from the five

forms of Vishvakarma namely, Twostar, Daksha, Takshaka, Maya and Rhibhus.35

However

Kunal thinks that it is a reference to five classes of people, the four Vedic varnas plus

Nishad, because Yaska had interpreted pancha-jana mentioned in this hymn as brahmana,

kshatriya, vaishya, shudra and nishada (Kunal: 65). However, Griffith feels that the

reference here is to the five Vedic tribes. Some authors opine that word pancha-jana meant

the five Vedic tribes viz. Yadu, Turvasha, Puru, Anu and Druhyu.36

8

It may be worthwhile mentioning here that the common mistake which historians have

committed is the assumption that all the Vedic tribes, including these five aforementioned

tribes, were Kshatriyas. However, Jayaswal (1978) makes it clear that each such tribe had

people working in all the different strata like brahmana (philosophers), kshatriya (warriors),

labouring class (shudra) etc. He quotes from Panini that there were brahmanas and

kshatriyas within the Parshva Vedic tribe (Jayaswal:31, footnote).37

He then quotes from

Panini and Patanjali to prove that there were brahmana, kshatriya, shudra etc. within the

Vahika (Bahlika) and Malava tribes too (ibid:29, and footnote of pp. 29 & 30). Panini also mentioned brahmana among the Nishada. Hence we can surmise that all the varnas were

present in all the tribes.

The Allegations relating to Eklavya, Karna, Shambuka etc.

The issue of Ekalavya is often raised by Hindu bashers. The case of Ekalavya was not that of

caste discrimination. Ekalavya was son of a feudatory tribal king affiliated to Jarasandha, the

King of Magadh. Dronacharya understood that the talented boy if be allowed to grow his

archery skills, would become the undefeatable worrier. With his help Magadha would be able

to win over all other kings of India including his own employer the king of Kuru dynasty.

Dronacharya‘s loyalty to his master and love for his favourite student Arjuna superseded his

basic human morality. Moreover, the Nishada were not shudra, and if they left forest life and

entered Vedic social order, they were placed in brahmana or kshatriya class too depending

on their education and skills. Hence we find Nishada-gotra Brahmana mentioned by Panini.

(Nath:32).38

In all likelihood, Ekalavya would have become a Nishada-gotra Khatriya had he

been allowed to pursue archery.

The semantic analysis of word ‗suta-putra‟, used by Pandavas to taunt at Karna, also proves

absence of caste system during Mahabharata period. Karna was always taunted as suta-putra

(son of a suta; son of a stable-keeper), but never as ‗suta‘. In a caste system, phrases like ‗son

of a Kayastha‘ or ‗son of a Gujjar‘ etc are not used. Son of a Kayastha is a Kayastha. Son of

a Gujjar is also a Gujjar. Hence calling Karna not a suta, but ‗son of a suta‘ is evidence that

hereditary caste did not exist at the time of Mahabharata, and hence Karna was not a suta,

even though he was ‗son of a suta‘. The matter is further proved when we find that Karna is

appointed the king of Anga, and later the Commander in Chief of the Kaurava army at the

later phase of the Mahabharata war—the highest position a kshatriya could aspire to attain.

One aberration from norm, which is oft-mentioned to demoralize Hindus, is the story of

Shambuka. This story has not been described by Tulsidasa. The Ramayana text was written

several thousand years after the times of Rama, and was edited several times even after the

first Muslim arrivals in India. Hence it is classed as smriti text along with the Puranas. The

opinion of the acharyas is that smriti texts cannot be trusted if they deviate from Vedas and

other shruti text. The whole episode is an interpolation by some wicked soul. The Valmikiya

Ramayana cannot be trusted to be true, and much of it is fiction. The injustice in the

interpolated story done to Shambuka attracted large-scale disapproval of the Hindus, and

Tulsidas and many other authors of Ramayana preferred to discard this episode. That shows a

general sympathy of the Hindus for Shambuka.

Bhavabhuti, a later author also re-wrote Ramayana by the title Uttara Ramacharita and has

described Rama as condemning himself full of feeling of guilt. Bhavabhuti‘s Rama says to

his own right hand, ―O my right hand, why do you hesitate in striking the shudra muni, you

are part of the same cruel Rama who banished his own pregnant wife‖. After striking the

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death blow, Bhavabhuti‘s Rama says in self condemnation, ―This was a cruel and mean work

which only Rama could do‖. After death, Shanbuka stays with Rama for a long time and

discusses various topics of spiritual value. A divine vehicle comes to take him to svarga, the

abode of God (Kunal:169). The Ananda Ramayana another text of story of Rama describes

an extremely friendly relation of Shambuka with Rama (Kunal:171-2), and this murder is not

mentioned. The Skanda Purana too in its Kedara-Khanda describes the story of Shambuka

and Rama. In this story, Shambuka is not killed by Rama, but both are friends and Shambuka

dies while living with Rama (Kunal, p. 172). Again, a much older Jain text Pauma Charita,

written by Vimalasuri also describes the story of Rama and Shambuka, wherein Shambuka

has been stated to be a nephew of Ravana, and friend of Rama, who was a brahmana by

varna. Rama, who ate the half-eaten fruits of a dalit lady Shabari, and lived with tribals for

14 years could not have actually committed any such heinous act, and the story is certainly a

late interpolation.

And, the whole of the Hindu society cannot be responsible for mean or aberrant acts of

Dronacharya or a few individuals, in the same way as the whole of Jewish (or Christian or

Muslim) community cannot be condemned for murder by Prophet David of Uriah, a loyal

servant of David, after David did adultery and made Uriah‘s beautiful wife Bathsheba

pregnant, when Uriah was away in battlefield (2 Samuel:11.2-15, Holy Bible).

On the other hand shruti literature like Upanishads show great justice done to the down-

trodden. When Satyakama approached Haridrumata Gautam to take admission in his

gurukula, the teacher asked his gotra (lineage). Satyakama did not know, and therefore

returned home to ask his mother. She told him, ―My child, I do not know of what lineage you

are. I who was engaged as paricharini (maid-servant) attending to many people and got you

in my youth. Having been such, I could not know what lineage you are.‖39

Satyakama

returned to Gautama Rishi and told him his mother‘s words. Thus Satyakama was born to an

unmarried shudra lady. This made the Rishi satisfied and happy, because he thought

truthfulness was the most essential character desirable of anyone who wanted to become a

brahmana. Satyakama later became a great Vedic scholar and was known after her mother‘s

name Jabala. In any other religion, the boy would have been labelled bastard and declared

outcaste (as in medieval and ancient Europe). In some religions, he would not have born at

all, because his mother would have been lynched for becoming pregnant without marriage.40

Changeability of Varna (Class)

Similarly in Shanti Parva of the Mahabharata mentions Indra, who became kshatriya

because of his work, was son of a brahmana (Indro vai brahmanah putrah karmana kshatriyo-abhavat. Mahabharata, Shanti-Parva, 22.11).

41 Similarly, there is another verse

that says that people are born shudra (meaning unskilled, uneducated), it is by work that they

attain brahmana-hood. (Janmana shudrah karmana brahmanah). There are thousands of

such examples.

However, the commonly cited example of Vishvamitra is not appropriate. Because

Vishvamitra‘s was a different case. He graduated with specialization to become a kshatriya.

After remaining a kshatriya for some time he decided to change into a brahmana. Such

change from one profession to another after expiry of student-period was not permissible, as

per guild laws. Because it was not just a case of changing label from kshatriya to brahmana,

but it required acquiring necessary knowledge and skills expected of a brahmana. Ultimately

Vishvamitra had to work hard to prove to the guild of scholars (brahmana-s) that he

10

possessed necessary competence to be included in the scholarly profession. Lastly he was

granted the permission and he converted from kshatriya to brahmana. But in other cases,

where father belonged to one varna and the son opted to join other varna at education stage

itself, and pursued necessary curriculum and instructions with a suitable teacher, the process

was simple and smooth. Probably Vishvamitra‘s case can be compared to a contemporary

medical doctor‘s case who wishes to become a historian after having obtained doctorate in

medicine, and faces huge resistance from historians.

There is a very large number of examples apart from the abovementioned ones that indicate

that varna was not at all hereditary. Parashara, Vyasa, king Puru, Ravana etc are examples

well known to scholars and lay people alike.

Thus in the ancient India, different individuals from the same lineage could attain different

varna status. Thapar too supports this: ―The process became apparent when members of the

same group, for example, the Abhirars (Ahir), were given different varna statuses—

brahmana or shudra‖ (Thapar 2003:66).

Not every individual belonged to varna in the Vedic Period

Even during the Vedic period, when varna system was followed, not all of the Hindus

belonged to the varnas. ―Children, ascetics and widows were outside the system‖

(Basham:138). This is because they had no profession, and varna is about profession. This is

in sharp contrast to the caste system where caste is trust at birth and no one is excluded.

Varna was applicable to grihastha stage of life alone, when one engages in any profession.

After retirement, every individual is without profession and therefore without varna. An

adolescent student (brahmachari) had no varna (because he had no profession), and he

attained a particular varna only after graduation ceremony (snataka). The varna attained

depended on the choice of profession and qualifications attained by the graduate.

Then the person got married and entered the grihastha (house-holder) ashrama. After

completing seventy five years, one left home and profession to go and live in the forest. After

seventy five years of age people entered the sannyasa stage. Sannyasis had no varna. Many

people entered sannyasa direcly after brahmacharya (student) stage, and they also did not

have varna. Thus a large majority of ancient Indian population lived outside varna status at

any given point of time. This is in contrast with the caste system in which caste is thrust on to

the individual at birth and it does not leave him till death. Thus in the varna system, late

swami Vivekananda and sannyasi Baba Ramdev have no varna. Yet in the casteist mentality,

Ramdev is a Yadav, and Vivekananda was a Kayastha by birth.

Caste and Buddha

People have often been made to believe that Hindu society was within the grips of caste

system, which Buddha disliked, and started a new religion to end caste discrimination. It is

further alleged that Buddha criticized the Brahmanas, and it was because of this that most of

the masses consisting of lower castes converted to Buddhism.

Such claims have no basis, and they are products of fertile brains. Buddha never claimed

departure from the Sanatana Dharma (Esa Dhammo Sanatano, ‗Thus is the Sanatana

Dharma‘; Dhammapada, 5). Fact is that at the time of Buddha, brahmanas were a class (vide

supra) not by birth, but by education and profession. Buddha indeed spoke very highly of the

11

brahmanas and dedicated a full chapter on them.42

He describes in this chapter the characters

of an ideal brahmana which is in consonance with the charecters of brahmanas described by

Hindu scriptures. Of all the classes of people, Buddha selected the brahmana alone to declare

that "no one should ever hurt a Brahmin".43

Buddha rated service to brahmana at par with

serving the parents. He said the common man must ―serve his parents, the wandering

sannyasins and the brahmins‖ (atho brahmannata sukha; Dhammapada, 332).44

Some

translations give meaning of this verse as ―it is a blessing to be a brhamana.‖45

Hence we can

say that Buddha was full of praise for this class—brahmana. The hereditary caste system did

not exist at the time of Buddha, otherwise he must have condemned it. Later Buddhists too

supported the varna system, yet they claimed that kshatriya was the highest varna and

brahmana was below that (Basham:139). In the Jataka Kathas, stories of former lives of

Buddha, written by Buddhist monks, Buddha (Bodhisattva) was almost always born in either

a brahmana family or a kshatriya family.46

Absence of Caste in Post-Vedic Ancient Period

Tenth century Jain poet and historian Pushpadant in his Mahapurana states that there were

four varnas during his times, which were not based on birth, but on the duty one performed in

his life. He advocated that under the varna system, people get liberty to choose a profession

of their choice, and thus they get opportunity to show their merit.47

Basham noted that ―Huen Tsang in the 7th

century was well aware of the four classes, and

also mentioned many mixed classes, no doubt accepting the orthodox view of the time that

these sprang from intermarriage of the four, but he shows no clear knowledge of existence of

caste in its modern form.‖ (Basham:149).

Thapar notes, ―Interestingly, an account of Indian society written by the Greek, Megasthenes,

in the fourth century BC, merely refers to seven broad divisions without any association of

degrees of purity. He says that the philosophers are the most respected, but includes in this

group the brahmanas as well as those members of heterodox sects-- the shramanas—who did

not regard the brahmanas as being of the highest status.‖ (Thapar 2003:62) This finding is

consistent with the fact that Buddha too had considered the bhikshu, the shramana and the

brahmana at par: ―so brahmano, so sramano, so bhikkhuh‖ (Dhammapada, 142).

Even as late as about 1000 A.D., shudras were entitled to have religious merit, al-Biruni

notes: ―Whilst according to the Hindu philosophers, liberation is common to all castes and to

the whole human race, if their intention of obtaining it is perfect. This view is based on the

saying of Vyasa: ‗learn to know twenty five things thoroughly. Then you may follow whatever religion you like; you will no doubt be liberated.‘ This view is also based on the

fact that Vasudeva was a descendant of a shudra family, and also on the following saying of

his, which he addressed to Arjuna, ‗God distributes recompense without injustice and without

partiality…whether those people be Vaishya or Shudra or women. How much more this be

the case when they are Brahmana or Kshatriya‘.‖48

(emphasis added).

Al-Biruni did not get three or four thousand castes in India in c. 1000 A.D., but found only

four varna-s. He noted ―These castes (actually meaning varna) are from the very beginning

only four.‖ (Sachau: 66). Apart from these, there were people who lived outside social realm,

the antyaja-s, which were divided into eight groups. But these groups were not endogamous.

(Sachau: 67). Because of absence of endogamy, these eight groups too were not castes. Thus

even the eight classes among the antyaja-s were not eight antyaja castes during al-Biruni‘s

12

times. Thus we find that endogamy had not started by al-Biruni‘s time in India. Hence we can

conclude that caste formation had not taken place by that time, and al-Biruni shows no

awareness of existence of caste in its modern form.

While in other countries the lowest classes were converted into slaves, no such slavery

existed in ancient India. The Kautilya‟s Arthashastra clearly states that even a shudra could

not be made a slave. ―Arthashashtra declares that servitude is not in the nature of the Indians

(in which term the shudra is explicitly included).‖ (Basham:152 and 153). It has been proved

beyond doubt that slave system did not exist in ancient India. ―Megasthenes declared that

there were no slaves in India‖.49

In fact slave trade started in India only after Turko-Afghan

occupation of India and ―for the first time in thirteenth century, slave markets at Delhi

appears from the accounts of Barani‖.50

Hence by Marxist analysis, Ancient India was more

advanced than the feudal system, because slave system is a feature up to feudal systems and

not beyond that. Absence of slavery implies capitalism which implies modernism and market

economy.

Thus contrary to the common notions, allegations and propaganda, the pre-Medieval Hindu

religion was egalitarian, and all classes were equally respected. However, it is possible that

some wicked author may have occasionally spoken against the working classes, such

perverted views do not represent the authoritative Hindu scriptural cannon, but represent

personal views of individuals. Some such sentences may be even interpolation by later

wicked persons.

Origin of Indian Castes from Tribes and Guilds

It may be understood that original Indian population must have consisted of innumerable

tribes based on territoriality. Whether they spoke AA or IE or Dravidian or Sino-Tibetan,

each smallest unit was a tribe. As civilization evolved, tribes were drawn into larger regional

civilizations (like Mehrgarh or Harappa). It was only after a level of civilization had been

achieved, that people were considered as classes. Vedas mention these classes. The oldest

verses of Rig-Veda mention only two classes, brahmana and rajanya (or kshatriya), and the

other two (vaishya and shudra) appear only in the last mandal, ie Mandala 10, indicating that

these latter classes were products of increasing civilizational complexity in production,

industry and trade. If we accept the Vedic timeline of Kazanas, the shudra varna (not caste)

became prominent during the Indus Civilization, which would correspond with the period of

the Atharva Veda.

Although varnas were only few, Vedas always mentioned a large number of vedic tribes

(called jana or jan) like Kuru, Puru, Bharata, Panchala etc. These tribes had local territories

of origin. Each tribe later developed its brahmana, khshatriya and other classes depending on

profession. Vedic values laid stress on forgetting inter-tribal (or inter-jana) rivalry, and

encouraged gotra-exogamy. Gotra-exogamy led to establishing inter-jana relationships, and

a stronger feeling of Indian identity, leading to weakening of jana identity or tribal identity,

until advent of Islam terminated the Vedic customs in India.

When Vedic institutions ended after destruction of ancient Indian Civilization by Muslim

invaders, regrouping of Hindu people occurred, not on the basis of profession, but on the

basis of lineage, clan, etc, leading to formation of modern castes. These regroupings were

endogamous and based on either trade-guilds (gold-smith, black-smith, carpenter etc), or

13

micro-geographical territorial origins (like Marwari, Mathur, Kanaujiya, Ramgarhiya,

Kanaujiya, etc) or religion (like Lingayat, Kabirpanthi, Satnami etc). It is important to note

that all the OBCs and SCs of Bihar, East UP and much of Central India, do not have notion of

exogamy, and they do not have gotra-exogamy either. Even some of the upper castes like

Varshneya Vaishya of UP follow gotra-endogamy, because for them gotra and caste are one

and the same thing.

Max Weber noted the European trade guilds had all the features of modern Hindu cases,

including even untouchability (vide infra). Hence it is quite possible that many of the modern

Indian castes were trade guilds during the mediaval period, and with passage of time they

adopted the colour of caste.

A.L. Basham’s Readings:

Basham explains how caste did not exist in India before the Muslim period (Medieval Age),

and how it originated from tribes and guilds during Muslim period of Indian history:

―It was only in late medieval times that it was finally recognized that exogamy and

sharing meals with members of other classes were quite impossible for respectable

people. These customs and many others such as widow-remarriage, were classed as

kalivarjya—customs once permissible, but to be avoided in this dark Kali Age, when

men are no longer naturally righteous.‖ (p. 148).

―…In attempting to account for the remarkable proliferation of castes in 18th

- and

19th

- century India, authorities credulously accepted the traditional view that by a

process of inter marriage and subdivision the 3000 or more castes of modern India

had evolved from the four primitive classes, and the term ‗caste‘ was applied

indiscriminately to both varna or class and jati or caste proper. This is a false

terminology; castes rise and fall in social scale, and old castes die out and new ones

are formed, but the four great classes are stable. They are never more or less than

four, and for over 2,000 years their order of precedence as not altered. … If caste is

defined as a system of groups within the class, which are normally endogamous,

commensal and caste exclusive, we have no real evidence of its existence until

comparatively late times.‖ (p. 148, emphasis added).

―…It is impossible to show its origin conclusively, and we can do little more than

faintly trace its development, since early literature paid scanty attention to it; but it is

practically certain that the caste did not originate from the four classes. Admittedly it developed later than they, but this proves nothing. There were subdivisions in the four

classes at a very early date, but the Brahman gotras, which go back to Vedic times,

are not castes, since the gotras are exogamous, and members of the same gotras are to

be found in many castes.‖ (p. 148, emphasis added).

―…Many trades were organized in guilds, in which some authorities have seen the

origin of the trade castes; but these trade groups cannot be counted as fully developed

castes. A 5th

century inscription from Mandsore shows us a guild of silk-weavers

emigrating in a body from Lata (the region of the lower Narmada) to Mandsor, and

taking up many other crafts and professions, from soldiering to astrology, but still

maintaining its guild consciousness. We have no evidence that this group was

14

endogamous or commensal, and it was certainly not craft-exclusive, but its strong

corporate sense is that of a caste in the making.‖(p. 149)

―…Indian society developed a very complex social structure, arising partly from

tribal affiliations and partly from professional associations, which was continuously

being elaborated by the introduction of new racial groups into the community, and by

the development of new crafts. In the Middle Ages the system became more or less

rigid, and the social group was now a caste in the modern sense. Prof J.J. Hutton has

interpreted the caste system as an adaptation of one of the most primitive of the social

relationships, whereby a small clan, living in a comparatively isolated village, would

hold itself aloof from its neighbours by a complex system of taboos, and he has found

embryonic caste features in the social structure of some of the wild tribes of present-

day India. The caste system may well be the natural response of the many small and

primitive peoples who were forced to come to terms with a more complex economic

and social system. It did not develop out of the four Aryan varnas, and the two

systems have never been thoroughly harmonized‖ (p. 149-150, emphasis added).

―Equalitarian religious reformers of the middle ages such as Basava, Ramanand, and

Kabir tried to abolish caste among their followers; but their sects soon took

characteristics of new castes.‖ (p. 151)

Thapar (2003:66) also holds identical views about origin of castes from guilds, tribes and

religious sects:

―The conversion from tribe or clan to caste, or from jana to jati as it is sometimes

called, was one of the basic mutations of Indian social history..‖ (p. 66)

―The conversion of clan to jati was not the only avenue to creating castes. Since caste

identities were also determined by occupations, various professional associations,

particularly urban artisans, gradually coalesced into jatis, beginning to observe jati

rules by accepting a social hierarchy that defined marriage circles and inheritance

laws, by adhering to common custom and by identifying with a common location. Yet

another type of jati was the one that grew out of a religious sect that may have

included various jatis to begin with, but started functioning so successfully as a unit

that eventually it too became a caste. A striking example of this is the history of the

Lingayat caste in the peninsula.” (p. 66, emphasis added.)51

Basham‘s finding that the Hindu caste system became fully developed only during the late Middle Ages, corroborates well with similar findings by other investigators. Raghuvanshi

noted that the travellers of the early Medieval Period were silent on the complex caste

structure of the society, but by the time of the later Mughals, the institution of caste had

grown to maturity, and its ramifications into sub-castes were numerous.52

Romila Thapar’s Changed Views on the Origins of Caste:

Romila Thapar earlier subscribed to the racist theory of Indian castes, that the original

Indians were subordinated by invading Aryans into lower castes and the Aryans placed

themselves in the top castes. However, Thapar changed her mind and now finds that castes

originated from guilds and tribes (Thapar 2003: 422). Historians took longer to understand

15

origin of caste because, as Srinivas had rightly pointed out, many of the Indians can actually

never understand the difference between varna and caste.

Romila Thapar earlier (1966) used caste to denote varna and sub-caste to denote jati.53

But in

her latest book (2002, reprint 2003) she uses the terms varna and jati in English also, and

avoids the word caste at most of the places.54

Prof Basham also had strongly discouraged the

use of word ‗caste‘ to mean ―varna‖, and Srinivas had also held similar views (vide supra).

Thapar writes:

―One of the current debates relating to the beginning of Indian history involves both

archeology and linguistics, and attempts to differentiate between indigenous and alien

peoples. ... To categorize some people as indigenous and others as alien, to argue

about the first inhabitants of the subcontinent, and to try and sort out these categories

for the remote past, is to attempt the impossible. (p.xxiv)

―It was not just the landscape that changed, but society also changed and often quite

noticeably. But this was a proposition unacceptable to colonial perceptions that

insisted on the unchanging character of Indian history and society.‖ (p. xxiv)

―That the study of institutions did not receive much emphasis was in part due to the

belief that they did not undergo much change: an idea derived from the conviction

that Indian culture had been static, largely owing to the gloomy, fatalistic attitude to

life.‖ (p. xxv)

―The formation of caste is now being explored as a way of understanding how Indian

society functioned. Various possibilities include the emergence of castes from clans of

forest dwellers, professional groups or religious sects. Caste is therefore seen as a less

rigid and frozen system than it was previously thought to be, but at the same time this

raises a new set of interesting questions for social historians.‖ (p. xxvii; emphasis

added)

―However, there have been other ways of looking at the origins and functioning of

caste society. A concept used equally frequently for caste is jati. It is derived from a

root meaning ‗birth‘, and the number of jatis are listed by name and are too numerous

to be easily counted. The hierarchical ordering of jatis is neither consistent nor

uniform, although hierarchy cannot be denied. The two concepts of jati and varna

overlap in part but are also different…But it can also be argued that the two were distinct in origin and had different functions, and that the enveloping of jati by varna,

as in the case of Hindu castes, was a historical process…The origin of varna is

reasonably clear from the references in the Vedic corpus…The genesis of the jati may

have been the clan, prior to its becoming a caste.‖ (p. 63).

―There are close parallels between the clan (tribe) as a form of social organization and

the jati.‖ (p. 64, bracket added)

Thus we have noted views of Hutton, Basham and Thapar that the caste system did not originate from the ancient Hindu varna system. It is on record that many of the brahmana

castes and Rajput caste are products of mobility of clan and tribes (and later, of castes).

Thapar notes this phenomenon in the following words:

16

―The temple could also act as a conduit of social mobility. In coastal Andhra, a large

herd of cows was donated to Draksharama remple. The herd was …cared for by the

local Boya tribal community. In the course of time, and because they were looking

after the temple property, these Boyas rose in status from from outcasts to shudras. As

shudras they entered the lower echelons of administration and gradually some

attained high office.‖ (p. 390).

―A number of new groups entered the established hierarchy of castes. Perhaps most

visible were the new kshatriya castes. They were open to those who had acquired

political authority and could claim the status through geneology or an appropriate

marriage alliance. Other than those claiming connection with existing kshatriya

castes, they were grantees in category of samantas or chiefs that had been inducted

into the caste society…By the end of this period, designations such as rauta, ranaka,

thakkura and such like were available to those who had received grants of land and

became grantees.‖ (Thapar, Ibid., p. 462).

Other Authors on Conversion of Tribes into Castes

In this context, von Furer-Haimendorf examines the case of Gond tribe. He finds that this

tribe cleared the forests, and settled on the land as farming tribe. Later others (non-Gonds)

came into the area. Yet with passage of time, although the Gonds are tribes till date, yet are

very near to an upper caste in the spectrum. He notes:

―Even the mainstream Hindu immigrant populations see Gonds as having attributes of

purity. If a Hindu is asked how he evaluates the Gonds‘ status in varna system, he

will say that Gonds … must therefore be considered as high castes.‖55

Many Gonds were indeed able to enter Hindu caste system as a Rajput (upper caste) clan

(vide infra).

Max Weber too noted that when an Indian tribe loses its territorial significance it assumes the

form of an Indian caste. In this way the tribe is a local group whereas caste is a social

group.56

The study of a Central Himalayan tribe Tharu reveals that though they have a tribal

matrix and continue to practice certain distinctive tribal customs, richer elite among them

have a tendency to claim kshatriya-hood and may possibly merge into Rajputs. One such

example is the landed peasantry Tharus of Champaran district of Bihar in India.57

A large

section of Tharu tribe has named itself Rana Tharu. Rana is the feudal aristocratic Rajput

caste of Nepal and also in Rajasthan state of India. Thus affluent among the Tharus have been placed at a higher level in the caste hierarchy. Khasa is another Himalayan tribe, which has

been accepted as a Rajput (upper caste) in the Hindu caste society of Uttarakhanda state of

India.58

In fact conversion of tribals into Rajput was such a general feature that Sinha coined the

concept of Rajput-Tribe Continuum. Thus Bhumij, Munda and Gond tribes of Central Inida

were able to establish their kingdoms (Munda Raj in Chotanagpur; Bhumij state in Barabhum

and Raj Gond state of Gondwana), which added to their claims of Kshatriya status, and often

melting into the Rajput caste by specific groups of these tribes.59

William Crooke quotes from Risley that Rajput‘s development from original tribes can be

with more or less confidence be assumed.60

He notes that often Bhil or Gond tribal man

17

becomes leader of his sept and claims to be a Rajput sept. He is not at once admitted into the

matrimonial fold of the Rajputs, but if he is rich enough and persistent in his claim, this boon

is granted sooner or later.61

As a result of this constant conversion of tribes into Rajputs,

Rajput became the single largest caste of India with widest territorial distribution. Trend to

become Rajput was most marked during the Muslim period. It is because in any feudalarchy,

it is the feudal caste which wields maximum power, respect and avenues. Purity of blood and

supremacy of lineage are powerful ideologies during feudal period. Muslim period of India

was the Golden Age of feudalism, and Dark Age for knowledge and capitalism.

William Crooke too noted this relationship between tribes and the Rajputs (an upper caste).

―Dravidian Gonds (tribe) were enrolled as Rajputs.‖ ―Raja of Singrauli was a pure Kharwar

(tribe), but became a banbansi Kshatriya during the life of the author.‖ ―Col Sleeman gives

the case of an Oudh Pasi who became a Rajput…‖. ―The names of many septs (of Rajputs),

as Baghel, Ahban, Kalhans, and Nagbansi, suggest a totemistic origin, and Nagbansi suggests

a totemistic origin which would bring them in line with the Chandrabanshi, who are

promoted Dravidian Cheros and other similar septs of undoubtedly aboriginal race.‖62

Kharwar is a tribe. Many Rajput (upper caste Hindu) dynasties have been said to belong to

Kharwar group. Apart from the ones mentioned by Crooke, there is documentary evidence of Kharwar Rajput in Mirzapur, which revolted in 1857.

63

More such relations between tribes and Rajputs have been noted by Sadasivan from records

of older authors, ―Dr Francis Buchanan upon evidence states that the Pratihara Rajputs of

Sahabad are descendants of tribe of Bhars. ‗Chandels‘ observes Vincent Smith ‗who appear

to have their descent from the Gonds closely connected with another tribe the Bhars, first

carved out a petty principality near Chhatrapur‘. Sir Denzil Ibbetson is also almost certain

that the so called Rajput families were aboriginal, and he instanced the Chandels. ‗Recent

investigation has shown‘ writes H. A. Rose (A Glossory of Tribes and Castes of the Punjab

and the North-West Province) that the ‗Pratihara‘ (Parihar) clan of the Rajputs was really a

sections of the Gujars and other fireborn Rajput clans, Solanki (Chalukyas), Punwars

(Paramaras), Chauhans (Chahumanas or Chahuvamsha) must be assigned similar origin‖. …

―Clans and families‖ says Vincent Smith, ―who succeeded in winning chieftainship were‖

made ―kshatriyas and Rajputs, and there is no doubt the Parihars and many other Rajput clans

of the north, were developed out of the barbarian hoardes …‖ besides ―various other

aboriginal tribes‖ ―the Gonds, the Bhars and the Khanwars underwent the same process of

social promotion to emerge as the Chandels, Rathods and the Gahadwars equipped with

pedigree reaching back to the sun or moon.‖64

Sherring writes that Rajas of Singarauli and

Jushpore, although claim to descendants of Rajput rajas, are descendants of Kharwar tribes

(ibid).

Views of Srinivas on Origin of Castes from Tribes:

Srinivas gave a very well studied view of caste tribe relationship:

―The category of Shudra subsumes, in fact, the vast majority of non-

Brahminical castes which have little in common. It may at one end include a

rich, powerful and highly Sanskritized group while at the other end may be

tribes whose assimilation to Hindu fold is only marginal. The Shudra-category

18

spans such a wide structural and cultural gulf that its sociological utility is

very limited.‖

―It is well known that occasionally a shudra caste has, after the acquisition of

economic and political power, Sanskritized its customs and ways, and has

succeeded in laying claim to be kshatriyas. The classic example of the Raj

Gonds, originally a tribe, but who successfully claimed to be kshatriyas after

becoming rulers of a tract in Central India, shows up the deficiency of the

varna-classification. The term kshatriya, for instance, does not refer to a

closed ruling group which has always been there since the time of the Vedas.

More often it refers to the position attained or claimed by a local group whose

traditions and luck enabled it to seize politico-economic power.‖ (pp. 65-66).

―But in Southern India the Lingayats65

claim equality with, if not superiority

to the Brahmin, and orthodox Lingayats do not eat food cooked or handled by

the Brahmin. The Lingayats have priests of their own caste who also minister

to several other non-Brahmin castes. Such a challenge to the ritual superiority

of the Brahmin is not unknown though not frequent. The claim of a particular

caste to be Brahmin is, however, more often challenged. Food cooked or

handled by Marka Brahmins of Mysore, for instance, is not eaten by most

Hindus, not excluding Harijans.‖ (Ibid. p. 66)

―It is necessary to stress here that innumerable small castes in a region do not

occupy clear and permanent positions in the system. Nebulousness as to

position is of the essence of the system in operation as distinct from the system

in conception. The varna-model has been the cause of misinterpretation of the

realities of the caste system. A point that has emerged from recent field-

research is that the position of a caste in the hierarchy may vary from village

to village. It is not only that the hierarchy is nebulous here and there, and the

castes are mobile over a period of time, but the hierarchy is also to some

extent local. The varna-scheme offers a perfect contrast to this picture.‖ (Ibid,

p. 67, emphasis added).

We may note here that in some countries (like Arabic speaking and other Muslim countries)

caste word is not used by English language authors and media and instead ‗tribe‘ word is

often used. In these situations ‗tribe‘ often means a caste and nothing else. Though caste

exists as an entity in these Muslim nations too, yet its existence is denied by English media

by resorting to use of the word ‗tribe‘ instead of caste. This is done deliberately to reserve the use of the word caste ―exclusively‖ for India.

Were the Lower Castes deprived from education

Raghuvamshi notes, on the authority of Martin, Adams and Buchanan, that even lower castes

like Baidya‘s, Kayastha‘s and and a number of artisan classes labelled shudra studied

Sanskrit, if it was relevant to their profession, and there was no bar on Sanskrit education

imposed on to them because of their caste.66

The bar actually resulted from financial

uselessness of studying higher Sanskrit, as Sanskrit educated graduates could not be absorbed

as staff in the state machinery which functioned in Persian language, nor as teachers in state

funded educational institutions (muderssas) teaching in Arabic and Persian languages only.

19

Dharampal notes from the survey data recorded by British officials for Hindu educational

institutions in the south India that soodra (meaning lower caste) students constituted

overwhelming majority of students, and out of about 700 students studying in schools in

Madras state, only 4 were Brahmins. However, out of 517 students studying at homes, 98

were Brahmins. These data clearly expose the bogusness of claims that the lower castes/

shudras were not imparted education by the Brahmins.67

Anti-Caste approach of Orthodox Hindu Religion during Muslim Period

Hindu religion is essentially egalitarian based on the concept of divine in all beings. Hindu

scriptures unequivocally declare that all the beings have to be seen as god:

Ishavasyamidam sarvam yat kinchit yam jagat (Ishavasya Upanishad, 1) (Whatever

exists in this world is permeated by God).

Yastu arvani bhutanyatmanyevanupashyati

Sarvabhuteshu chatmanam tato na vijugupsate (Ishavasya Upanishad, 6) (One who

sees all living beings as equal to himself, and sees himself in all the living beings is

the person who has the clear vision)

Yasmin sarvani bhutanyatmaivabhud vijanatah

Tatra ko mohah kah shoka ekatvamanupashyatah. (Ishavasya Upanishad, 7) (One

who knows all beings to be same as himself, and sees unity in all of them, he never

suffers from any sufferings.)

Bhagvad-Gita clearly states that Brahmana, cow, elephant, dog and chandala should be seen

equally by the people who are knowledgeable.

Vidyavinayasampanne brahmane gavi hastini

Shuni chaiva shvapake cha panditah samadarshinah. (Bhagavad-Gita, 5.18)

Hence it is intriguing if anyone claims that Hindu religion supports caste system and

untouchability. It should be noted that even after the caste system and untouchability became

established in India during the Muslim period, all the orthodox Hindu religious movements

militated against the caste system and untouchability.

Chaitanya a Vaishnavite saint born in a brahmana family, rejected the caste system and led a

movement for Dalit uplift. He said, ―if anyone takes food from the same plate with a sweeper, he becomes entitled to obtain the favour of God.‖

68 Chaitanya is considered an

incarnation of Lord Vishnu Himself in Bengal, and modern ISCON is an offshoot of his sect

Gauriya Vaishnavism. Chaitanya reemphasized the old Hindu doctrine that leaving the

Varnashrama-Dharma was essential for attaining salvation.69

Chaitanya was no communist or

secularist. He was a thorough orthodox Hindu. One of the Brahmana disciples of Chaitanya

named Kali Das made it a mission of his life to partake of refuse food left on the plates of

untouchables (Chandals).70

Not only in Bengal, but at other places also, orthodox Hinduism

movements erupted as anti-caste Vaishnavite movements during the Muslim rule in India. It

was appreciated by these great Hindu saint-leaders that caste system was something alien to

Hindu religion which had lately grabbed the Hindus.

Thus great orthodox religious leaders like Basava, Ramananda, Tukaram, Namdev and

Ramanuja tried to abolish caste, and opposed untouchability.71

The originator of the

20

Vaishnavism, Ramanuja used the word ―Thirukkural” for the shudras which means ―one

belonging to the highest lineage‖.72

Still later, many orthodox Hindu religious leaders like

Dayananda, Vivekananda etc. worked hard to remove the caste barriers and untouchability.

Many Hindu saints came from untouchable castes, and they were highly revered by one and

all Hindus from all castes. Ravidas (Raidas) was a shoe-maker. Yet he was guru of a very

large section of Hindus, including the famous Vaishnavite poetess and princess Mirabai.

Dayananda, an orthodox Hindu sannyasi, extensively referred from the Vedic texts to prove

that caste system was alien to Hinduism. His sect Arya Samaj shuns caste and untouchability.

The list is endless. Hence it is clearly inferred that the Hindu religion is against caste

differences.

The Genesis of the Confusion

We have seen that there was no caste system until the Muslim rule got established in India

(supra). Muslim rule destroyed ancient Hindu traditions and centres of Vedic studies. This

led to withering away of the four varnas. Populations regrouped on the basis of clan, tribe,

occupational guilds or religious sects, and thousands of castes were now formed, none of

which we find mentioned in any earlier Indian text. However, these new grouping known as

castes or zat (in Persian) soon started claiming status of Vedic Brahmana, Kshatriya,

Vaishaya or Shudra. Hence Thapar writes, “It was not that an existing varna was invariably subdivided into jatis, but that jatis were often allotted varna statuses.” (pp. 66-7). This was

the main reason for genesis of confusion.

Srinivas has also noted this phenomenon taking place in modern India when a caste acquired

a varna status like the Vishvakarma brahmana. Srinivas writes,

―It is interesting to note that the mobility of a caste is frequently stated in varna terms

rather than in terms of local caste situation. This is partly because each caste has a

name and a body of customs and traditions which are peculiar to itself in any local

area., and no other caste would be able to take up its name. A few individuals or

families may claim to belong to a locally higher caste, but not a whole caste. Even the

former event would be difficult as the connections of these individuals or families

would be known to all in that area. On the other hand, a local caste would not find it

difficult to call itself Brahmin, Kshatriya or Vaishya by suitable prefixes. Thus the

Bedas of Mysore would find it difficult to call themselves Okkalingas (Peasants) or

Kurubas (Shepherds), but would not have difficulty in calling themselves Valmiki

Brahmins. The Smiths of South India long ago, in pre-British times, changed their

names to Vishvakarma Brahmins. In British India this tendency received special

encouragement during the periodical census enumerations when the low castes

changed their names in order to move up in the hierarchy.‖ (Ibid. p. 69).

Such processes of change of status from shudra to kshatriya and brahmana continued until

1931 census.73

Such caste changes and class mobility which has taken place in India until

recent times were not possible in the caste systems of Europe, Japan, Korea or Yemen and

Iranian populations.

Thus after ancient period, it was not the individual which moved in the hierarchy of varnas,

but his clan, tribe or caste as a group adopted the suffix brahmana, kshatriya etc. after the

21

caste name. This created an impression that these groups are the same as the ancient

brahmanas etc.

In the last two centuries, scholars tried to find out the Indian Caste phenomenon in ancient

Indian texts, although it was a new phenomenon for India. These Indologists found varna

from Hindu scriptures, and thought that this must have been the forerunner of caste. In a bid

to fuse the two, they confused the two.

Even After Castes were formed, mobility in Hierarchy

Remained:

Indian castes were not rigid like Jewish, Medieval European, Japanese and

Iranian castes. During the ancient period, when caste did not exist, it was an individual which moved up and

down in the varna frame. Because varna was neither hereditary nor endogamous. But once

caste had been formed during the last millennium, the individual got bound up with his caste.

Caste had a hierarchical level relative to other castes. Now it was the caste which could move

up or down in the scale of hierarchy depending on many things. The caste could claim

brahmana or kshatriya status, and usually such claims were granted by consensus of other

castes of the locality, depending on customs followed by the caste i.e. level of Sanskritization

(Srinivasa:45)74

, land holding, profession (like trade, military profession etc.).75

Thapar

wrote,

―With caste becoming hereditary, and the close connection between occupation and

jati, there was an automatic check on individuals moving up in the hierarchy of castes.

Vertical mobility was possible to the jati as a whole, but depended on the entire group

acting as one and changing both its location and its work.‖ (Thapar 2003:125).

―Intermediate castes sometimes claimed high status. Among these were the kayasthas,

the scribes of the administration who were responsible for writing documents and

maintaining records.‖ [They claimed to be degraded kshatriyas, although most of

others regarded them to be shudras.] ―But contact with rulers improved their social

standing and those who received grants of land and made donations became part of

the elite. Kayastha ministers were mentioned in association with Chandellas,

Kalachuris and Gangas.‖ (Ibid:464, brackets supplied).

―The khatris, an established caste of traders in northern India, claimed kshatriya origin in recent times, maintaining that their lower status was purely a result of having

had to work in commerce. Gurjaras, Jats and Ahirs also claimed kshatriya origin and

conceded that they had lost this status. The emergence of new jatis had been a feature

of caste society since its inception…‖ (Ibid:464).

―However, the imprint of upper caste model was clear. In the process of claiming

higher status, patriarchal requirements would have been insisted upon, particularly in

relation to upper-caste laws of marriage and inheritance…These groups would have

included the forest-chiefs of central India, or those who assisted in the making of

dynasties, such as the Bhillas who had associated with the Guhilas in Rajasthan, or the

Gonds who were linked to the Chandellas.‖ (Ibid:465)

22

Lower Origins of many Brahmana Castes of today during Medieval

Period:

Even until the nineteenth century, caste was quite fluid, and not as closed as European or

Persian classes. The British officers recorded lower or menial origins of many of the

Brahmanas. Ojha Brahman is a successor of Dravidian Baiga.76

(Crooke: 202). Trigunait

Brahmana, Pathak (Amtara), Pande Parwars (Hardoi) and Sawalakhiya Brahmana

(Gorakhpur and Basti), Mahabrahmana, Barua, Joshi and Dakaut had originated from lower

castes. The Mishra Brahmanas of Arjhi were descendants of a Lunia who was conferred

Brahmanhood by a Raja in the eighteenth century.(ibid ) Ahir, Kurmi and Bhat were once

converted into Brahmanas on record.77

(Nesfield: 139) Often rich persons aspiring to become

higher caste paid fees to some Brahmana, and got their lineage constructed descending from

some ancient hero.78

(Stuart: 183-4.). Srinivas refers to similar instances from United

Provinces.(Srinivas 1972:101-2).

Similar entrances were made into the Brahmana fold as well. According to Skanda Purana,

Parashurama conferred Brahmanahood to many Kaivartta (fisherman) families as well as

several other people.79

(Nath:33).

Prof. Nath refers to another Puranic story which states that ―Lord Rama on his return from

Lanka in order to perform a sacrifice, collected eighteen thousand hill-tribes and made them

Brahmanas.‖ (Nath:33). Prof Nath opines that such Pauranic myths might have been added to

facilitate entrance of marginal tribes into the brahmana varna. As such transformation was

possible and therefore Nath mentions that Malvika Brahmins originally belonged to the

Malava tribe. Similarly, the Boya Brahmanas mentioned in the Koneki grant of Chalukyan

king Vishnuvardhana II, actually belonged to the Boya tribe of Andhra. (Ibid:33). The Padma

Purana mentions Parvatiya Brahmanas who were of tribal origin. (Ibid:33) ―Large number

of tribal and aboriginal priestly groups appeared to have gained entry into its fold as a low

grade Brahmana.‖ (Ibid:33). It is to be noted that Panini had also mentioned Brahmana

among the Nishadas (fishermen) as Nishadagotra Brahmana. (Nath:32).

Romila Thapar too mentions how a section of Boya tribe of Andhra Pradesh got converted into Boya Hindu caste after getting job of temple servants, and with time were able to rise in

the hierarchy in the temple establishment, reaching highest positions. (Thapar 2003:390)

Some Boyas eventually entered Brahmana Caste is documented by other authors (supra).

Romila Thapar also notes that forest tribals have entered into Kshatriya and Rajput fold quite

late. (Thapar 2003:422-423)

Origin of the Mehatar (Halakhor) Caste

We do not find the words Mehatar or Halalkhor in any one of the pre-Muslim Indian texts,

because they are Persian words. This caste was employed to carry human refuge on head to

be disposed to a distant place. It may be noted that they preferred mode of easing the call of

nature for Hindu men and women both, was to go to a agri-field or bush. Hence we get words

like disha (direction, fields), maidan (field), jhara (bush) etc in many modern Indian

languages to mean the act of easing. However in Urdu and Bengali, we get a word pakhana

or paikhaanaa, which is a Persian word meaning ―latrine‖ (literally, a room where only feet

can be placed).

23

In Muslim dwelling houses, such an arrangement is essential because of purda system, where

women cannot go out of home for natural acts. There used to be a room at the back of house.

On the floor, there used to be a hole though which human excreta fell down in a large pot.

The pot was later cleared away at a distant place. In Muslim countries, slaves were employed

to do this job of cleaning. In India, Muslim arrival and settlements caused requirement of

such a force of cleaners. It is likely, that many of the Hindu slaves might have been given

option to do this job to preserve their religion and freedom both, which later became their

hereditary caste. The leather-workers‘ caste chamar or Jataw were also needed to fulfill the

needs of shoes etc for the Muslim army. Consumption of beef by large Muslims in India must

have generated enough cow-leather for making shoes etc. It may be noted that Hindus

generally used canvas, wooden or flax foot-wears. Before conversion into chamar, members

of this caste possibly pursued midwifery, pediatrics and surgery. This can be suggested

because the alternative name of the caste Jatawa is derived from Sanskrit jataka which means

‗new-born‘, and even today wives of chamars perform the delivery and minister the

umbilicus-cutting samsakara of the new born of all castes in the rural area.

Mobility of One Caste into Another

At a lower plane Sadgope of Bengal were Yadavas who established themselves as Rajas in

Gopphum in the 17th

century. The Rajas of Amragarh, Valki, Dignagar, Kanksa, Karnagarh,

Balrampur and Narayanagarh were Sadgopes during 16th

to 18th

century. (Anjali Chatterji, p.

213). The Bhumija families of Purulia, who were again from lower castes, established control

over tracts of districts in Purulia, Birbhum, Bankura, Hoogly, Midnapore and became ―taraf

sardar” of the area under their control.(Anjali Chatterji, p. 214)

―Between 13th

and 15th

centuries a greater number of such pastoralists succeeded in achieving

and passing on to their heirs some measure of landed status. Possibly agricultural expansion

and demographic growth during the sultanate period helped them to emerge as important

local groups. They did not constitute endogamous castes but formed largely open status

groups of clans, lineage or even families and individuals some of which were connected to

each other by exogamous connubial ties. Inevitably a certain groups identity grew amongst

these families and they have been given the name Rajput. Literally meaning of the word is

Rajputra but it used to denote various individuals who achieved such status as ‗horse

soldiers‘, ‗troopers‘, or headman of a village. In course of time it became a generic term for

this military or landed class as a whole‖ (Chatterji, Anjali; ―Aspects of Medieval Society:

Gleanings from Contemporary Literature‖, Sectional President‘s Address, Section I,

Medieval India, Indian History Congress Proceedings, 61st (Millennium) Session 2001, p.

204; see also: Habib, Irfan; ―The Social Distribution of Landed Property in Pre-British

India‖, in ed. R.S. Sharma, Indian Society: Historical Probings. New Delhi, 1974, p. 297.).

―The result was to foster marriages across state boundaries and in consequence, to build

important inter-clan and inter-state links of an effective interest and even of political kind by

uniting families, property and dynastic interests.‖ (Chatterjee, Anjali, op. cit., p. 205).

During the Medieval age also many castes other than Brahmanical castes were working as priests in many temples throughout India. One such example is Gurava caste of Maharashtra,

which although was a lower caste, officiated as temple priest in Maharashtra. According to

Alfred Master, ―Gurava is a shudra employed in the temples of Shiva.‖ (Prachin Marathi

Koriv Lekh, Ed. S.G. Tulpule, Pune, 1963, p. 137; also see Ranade, Anuradha K.; Temple

24

Priests in Early Marathi Inscriptions, 11-15th

Centuries, Indian History Congress Proceedings,

61 (Millennium) session, 2001, p. 434-439)

About mobility (movement) of a caste from one level of hierarchy to other, Srinivas writes,

―It is interesting to note that the mobility of a caste is frequently stated in verna terms rather

than in terms of local caste situation. This is partly because each caste has a name and a body

of customs and traditions which are peculiar to itself in any local area., and no other caste

would be able to take up its name. A few individuals or families may claim to belong to a

locally higher caste, but not a whole caste. Even the former event would be difficult as the

connections of these individuals or families would be known to all in that area. On the other

hand, a local caste would not find it difficult to call itself brahmin, kshatriya or vaishya by

suitable prefixes. Thus the Bedas of Mysore would find it difficult to call themselves

Okkalingas (Peasants) or Kurubas (Shepherds), but would not have difficulty in calling

themselves Valmiki Brahmins. The Smiths of South India long ago, in pre-British times,

changed their names to Vishvakarma Brahmins. In British India this tendency received

special encouragement during the periodical census enumerations when the low castes

changed their names in order to move up in the hierarchy.‖ (Ibid. p. 69).

Not only lower castes or tribes entered the Rajput fold, but Brahmanas also entered into the

Rajput fold possibly because of the repeated foreign invasions from the North-west. ―Firstly,

a major part of the influential Brahmanas had adopted political and military career and as

time rolled on, they came to be recognized as Rajputs…Dr Dashrath Sharma tells us that the

origin of Solankis, the Parmaras, the Guhilas and the Chahamanas was from the Brahmanas.‖

(Nigam, Shyamsunder; Social Change in Rajsthan and Malva, The Journal of the Bihar

Puravid Parishad, Vol. XI-XII, Patna, 1987-88, p. 101.) Before 7th

century A.D. Malvas,

Aulikaras, Arjunayanas, Abhiras (Ahir), Yaudheyas, Nagas, Mauryas, Hunas etc. dominated

the scene in political art. But all of a sudden these communities disappeared. It is possible

that many of these merged with emerging Rajput caste, although those who could not merge

can be traced down to present day OBC castes. (p. 106, Ibid).

DNA Studies of Caste

Vikrant Kumar and his colleagues found that many of the upper castes of the Northeast India,

like Rajbanshi, Ahom, Chutiya etc. have descended from Mongoloid tribes of that region.80

Other DNA studies found that the all the Indian castes share same DNAs and their DNAs vary more because of geographical distance rather than because of caste levels. This made

clear that division of Indian population in endogamous castes is a recent development hence

its effect is not visible at DNA level.

Two of the scheduled castes namely Pallan and Paraiyan were compared genetically with two

Brahmana castes Iyer and Iyengar, in Tamil Nadu. The results of this study corroborated well

with earlier studies and showed that all the four castes studied belonged genetically to the

same lineages (Vijaya 2008).81

Analysis of DNAs from 752 individuals belonging to seventeen tribes and four non-tribal

groups from all over India by Cordaux et al (2003) revealed that caste and tribal groups of

both north and south India are genetically similar with respect to mtDNA variation.82

25

Sawarkar Sharma and others (2005) found that Indo-European speakers and Dravidian

speakers of India were both descendants of a deep rooted very old Indian mtDNA lineage.83

His another work proved tribal origin of many brahmins.84

Same authors (Sharma 2009) in

another genetic study found that Brahmin upper castes and Dravidian speakers as well as the

tribal people all share the R1a1 haplogroup which was earlier thought to represent Aryan

invasion and a marker of Brahmana males. The study proved that such assumptions like

Aryan invasion cannot be sustained on the basis of genetic findings; and the Brahmanas as

well as the south Indian tribes belong to the same Indian genetic stock.85

Kivisild et al (2003) discussed how the genetic evidence shows that there is no genetic

difference between the tribal and the caste populations of India. The latter conclusion was

further supported by Ramana et al (2001), who after comparative genetic study of the tribal

and caste populations of Andhra Pradesh demonstrated that no phylogenic genetic difference

existed between the tribal and the caste population.86

Kashyap et al (2006) in a large and extensive genetic study comprising 54 castes and tribes

spread all over India concluded that their analyses failed to reveal any genetic groups that

correlate to language, geography, ethnicity or socio-cultural affiliation of populations. This

implies common ancestry of all Indians and only late formation of modern Indian population

groups.87

Exactly same conclusion was derived from DNA study of Krithika and colleagues

(2009).88

By examination of DNAs of Roma (Gypsies) of Europe, it was found that when the Romas

left India about 2000 years back, they did not have caste. However, they have developed into

many hierarchical endogamous castes more recently during their stay in Europe.89

On the other hand, examination of DNA of Jews reveals that there is clear evidence of caste

system on the Jew DNAs. The Jewish priest caste Cohanim displays different DNA lineage

than others.90

The Lemba is a Bantu speaking tribe of Southern Africa. Groups within this tribe claiming

decent from Cohen caste have been proven by genetic studies to belong to the Cohen caste of

the Jews.91

This distinction is important. Roma also left India, but their ancestry cannot be

traced back to any caste of India. That implies that Indian castes are new entities, and did not

exist when the Roma left India.

Caste Outside Hindu Society

There have been very few students of human civilizations who had thorough knowledge of

ancient sociologies of a large number of civilizations. And those who had such knowledge,

found that endogamous, hereditary and often craft exclusive castes had existed universally

during ancient times. Comte (1858) wrote:

―Thus the great system of castes flourished first in Egypt, Chaldcea, and Persia; and it

abides in our day in those parts of the East which are least exposed to the contact with

the white nations, as in China, Japan, Tibet, Hindostan etc. and from analogous

causes, it was found in Mexico and Peru at the time of their conquest. Traces of these

causes can be recognized in all instances of indigenous civilization; as in Western

Europe, among the Gauls, the Etruscans etc. The primitive influence may be

perceived in their various ulterior institutions, and is not entirely effaced in the most

26

advanced societies. In short, this system is the universal basis of ancient

civilization.‖92

However, Comte interpreted the early loss of caste from the White races as their inherent

racial superiority:

―…though the white races in their season were equally subject to it, with the

difference that, from their inherent superiority, or through the influence of more

favourable circumstances, they disengaged themselves more rapidly from it.‖93

Not only loss of caste discrimination, but an earlier freeing of women and flourishing of

science have been considered by the White chauvinists the results of inherent superiority of

the White races. However, Comte (and many other authors) failed to note that the caste

system was lost from West not because of inherent superiority of the White race, but because

of transfer of modernism, rationalism, mathematics and science from India through Arabic

channels from eighth century to the sixteenth century, and that became complete only by the

end of the sixteenth century.94

It was this scientific knowledge of Indian origin which caused

weakening and finally loss of many social evils which had existed in the European society

during the Dark Age of Europe.95

Moreover, the Indian caste system is different from Jewish, Zoroastrian, Mithra and Egyptian

caste systems, because in India, priesthood has never been a monopoply of the pristine caste,

whereas it has been so in the caste systems of other religions (mainly Jew, Parsee and

Egyptian). Sannyasi is the god-man priest in many cases, and he may have born in any caste,

yet he does not belong to any caste.96

Currently most of the recent Hindu god-men/women

were born in the lower castes.

Often Hindus have a temple at home, and every householder is entitled to do rituals by his

own, and thus he is his own priest. The yajnas recommended to be done by every

householders five times a day have never involved and can never involve any priest. Then,

there are family-gods, which have to be worshipped by the family members and not the

priest. Many worships (poojas) and vratas like karawa chauth, tij, jitiya (jivit-putrika vrata),

chhath, etc. have to be done by the individual himself (mostly women) without involvement

of a priest.

Even in the Satyanarayan Puja, the priest who comes, guides the house-husband how to do

rituals, and pronounce the mantras, and himself stays back as a professional guide. Hence

karta of any puja, havana or yajna is the house-holder himself. In temples too, mahanths and priest from all castes have been employed. Often, many of the castes have their own local

temples, and the lower castes often have a priest of their own caste in their temples. Thus

priest-caste is not essential in Hinduism. Even during the Vedic times, all the famous

brahmanas known to us were great scholars and teachers, but none was a temple-priest, say

for example Dronacharya, Kripacharya, Parashurama, Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, Bhaskara,

etc.

On the other hand, it has been proven by many authentic researchers that India had no caste

system during the ancient period, when she was the world leader in mathematics, science and

rationalism, --the Indian golden age-- and that the caste system erupted in India only after the

Muslim invaders destroyed modern sciences and rationalism from India (vide infra), plunging

27

this nation into a dark age, wherein soon illiteracy, poverty, caste, superstitions, subjugation

of women, sati, female infanticide etc emerged as ignorance grew within the masses.

Caste System in Europe

Caste is a word ―which in most minds is most strongly connected with Hindu social order‖,

wrote A. L. Basham, while noting that this practice did not exist in the ancient India.97

A

study of writings by early twentieth century sociologists makes it obvious that the caste

system was deeply rooted in European customs and laws until 200 years back. But tactfully

this fact was suppressed by most of the later authors, and the caste system was projected on

exclusively to India.

John Oman Campbell’s Readings in European Caste System

The unjustifiable treatment and bullying of Hinduism in name of ‗caste system‘ was

criticized a hundred years back by John Campbell Oman,98

who was a professor of social

sciences at Government College, Lahore at the end of the nineteenth century. He wrote,

―No little amused wonder and supercilious criticism on the part of Europeans has

been aroused by the caste system of India, which has generally been regarded as an

absurd, unhealthy, social phenomenon, without parallel elsewhere… but caste

prejudices, and institutions based on such prejudices, are not wholly absent from

social life outside India, even in the highly civilized states of the western World. And

a little consideration of such indications of caste feelings will help us account in some

measure for the more salient characteristic of the Indian system, or at any rate serve to

clear our minds of certain unfounded prejudices and offensive cant…but it is

nevertheless undeniable that, even in Europe, certain genuine hereditary caste

distinctions have at various times been maintained by law, and are to be found there at

the present day.‖

―One much derided peculiarity of the Hindu caste system is the hereditary character

of trade and occupations, and in this connection it is interesting to recall to mind that

at certain epochs the law in Europe has compelled men to keep, generation after

generation, to the calling of their fathers without the option of change.‖ (Oman, J. C.;

pp. 63-64).

―..in England an ancient enactment required all men who at any time took up the

calling of coal-mining or drysalting, to keep to those occupations for life, and enjoined that their children should also follow the same employment. This law was

only repealed by statutes passed in the 15th

and 39th

years of the reign of George III;

that is in the lifetime of the fathers of many men who are with us today. A more

striking European example of a compulsory hereditary calling, common enough in the

Middle Ages and down to the last century in Russia, is that of the serfs bound to the

soil from generation to generation. Then again there existed through long periods of

European history, the institution of hereditary slavery, with all its abominations.‖

(Oman, p. 65)

A further study of European social history will reveal more of details how an extremely

tyrannical and rigid caste system was operative in Europe with legal sanction, which of

course functioned under the theocratic rule of Church.

28

Ross’es Readings in European Caste System

Edward Alsworth Ross (Principles of Sociology, 1920 Ed.99

and 1922 Ed.) gives a detailed

account of rigid and strict caste system of Europe, which lasted till the beginning of the

nineteenth century. Ross noted that Europe had a strict caste system during the Roman

Empire period, however, it had not been brought to Europe by the Roman conquests, but it

was a product of forces within the European society (Ross, 1922, p. 322). Thus the Europeans

of the ―Middle Ages lived in their caste rather than in their people… Something of this spirit

has lived on in Poland.‖ (Ross, 1922, p. 359).100

―The tendency of the later empire was to stereotype society by compelling men to

follow the occupation of their fathers, and preventing a free circulation among

different callings and grades of life. The man who brought the grain of Africa to the

public stores of Ostia, the labour who made it into loaves for distribution, the butchers

who brought pigs from Samnium, Lucania or Bruttium, the purveyors of wine and oil,

the men who fed the furnaces of the public baths, were bound to their calling from

one generation to another… Every avenue of escape was closed… Men were not

allowed to marry out of their guild… Not even a dispensation obtained by some

means from the imperial chancery, not even the power of the Church could avail to

break the bond of servitude.‖ (Dill, p. 194, quoted by Ross, 1920, p. 322).101

In Prussia, not only men, but land too belonged to castes, and land belonging to a higher caste

could not be purchased by individual belonging to a caste lower than that. This provision was

abolished by the Emancipation Edict of 1807 (Ross, 1922, p. 182).

Ingram’s Readings in European Caste System

Oman quoted from Ingram: ―This organization established in the Roman world a personal

and hereditary fixity of professions and situations, which was not very far removed from the

caste system of the East…Members of the administrative service were, in general, absolutely

bound to their employments; they could not choose their wives or marry their daughters

outside of the collegia to which they respectively belonged, and they transmitted their

obligations to their children… In municipalities the curiales, or the members of the local

senates, were bound, with special strictness, to their places and their functions, which often

involved large personal expenditure… Their families, too, were bound to remain; they were

attached by the law to the collegia or other bodies to which they belonged. The soldier, procured for army by conscription, served as long as his age fitted him for his duties, and

their sons were bound to similar service.‖ (Ingram, p. 75)

―In a constitution of Constantine (A.D. 332) the colonus is recognized as permanently

attached to the land. If he abandoned his holding, he was brought back and punished; and

anyone who received him had not only to restore him but to pay a penalty. He could not

marry out of the domain; if he took for wife a colona of another proprietor, she was restored

to her original locality, and the offspring of the union were divided between the estates. The

children of a colonus were fixed in the same status, and could not quit the property to which

they belonged.‖ (Ingram, p. 78, quoted in Oman, J. C., p. 64).102

29

Max Weber’s Comparison of Hindu Caste and Untouchability with European

Hereditary Guilds

Max Weber found that the Vedic Indian society did not have anything like medieval

European, or later Indian caste: ―Perhaps the most important gap in the ancient Veda is its

lack of any reference to caste. The (Rig-) Veda refers to the four later caste names in only one

place, which is considered a very late passage; nowhere does it refer to the substantive

content of the caste order in the meaning which it later assumed and which is characteristic

only of Hinduism.‖103

Max Weber was able to find similarities between modern Hindu castes and pre-modern

European guilds. He wrote: ―In this case, castes are in the same position as merchant and

craft guilds, sibs, and all sorts of associations.‖

―'Guilds' of merchants, and of traders figuring as merchants by selling

their own produce, as well as 'craft-guilds,' existed in India during the

period of the development of cities and especially during the period in

which the great salvation religions originated. As we shall see, the salvation religions

and the guilds were related. The guilds usually emerged within the cities, but

occasionally they emerged outside of the cities, survivals of these being still in

existence. During the period of the flowering of the cities, the position of the guilds

was quite comparable to the position guilds occupied in the cities of the medieval

Occident. The guild association (the mahajan, literally, the same as popolo grasso104

)

faced on the one hand the prince, and on the other the economically dependent

artisans. These relations were about the same as those faced by the great guilds of

literati and of merchants with the lower craft-guilds (popolo minuto105

) of the

Occident. In the same way, associations of lower craft guilds existed in India (the

panch). Moreover, the liturgical guild of Egyptian and late Roman character was

perhaps not entirely lacking in the emerging patrimonial states of India.

―The merchant and craft guilds of the Occident cultivated religious interests as did the

castes. In connection with these interests, questions of social rank also played a

considerable role among guilds. Which rank order the guilds should follow, for

instance, during processions, was a question occasionally fought over more

stubbornly than questions of economic interest. Furthermore, in a 'closed' guild, that

is, one with a numerically fixed quota of income opportunities, the position of the

master was hereditary. There were also quasi-guild associations and associations

derived from guilds in which the right to membership was acquired in hereditary succession. In late Antiquity, membership in the liturgical guilds was even a

compulsory and hereditary obligation in the way of a glebae adscriptio, which bound

the peasant to the soil. Finally, there were also in the medieval Occident 'opprobrious'

trades, which were religiously declasse; these correspond to the 'unclean' castes of

India.‖

―The merchant and craft guilds of the Middle Ages acknowledged no ritual barriers

whatsoever between the individual guilds and artisans, apart from the aforementioned

small stratum of people engaged in opprobrious trades. Pariah peoples and pariah

workers (for example, the knacker and hangman), by virtue of their special positions,

come sociologically close to the unclean castes of India.‖

30

―Furthermore, caste is essentially hereditary. This hereditary character was not, and is

not, merely the result of monopolizing and restricting the earning opportunities to a

definite maximum quota, as was the case among the absolutely closed guilds of the

Occident, which at no time were numerically predominant.‖

―Let us now consider the Occident. In his letter to the Galatians (11:12, 13 ff.) Paul

reproaches Peter for having eaten in Antioch with the Gentiles and for having

wthdrawn and separated himself afterwards, under the influence of the Jerusalemites.

'And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him.' That the reproach of dissimulation

made to this very apostle has not been effaced shows perhaps just as clearly as does

the occurrence itself the tremendous importance this event had for the early

Christians. Indeed, this shattering of the ritual barriers against commensalism meant a

shattering of the voluntary Ghetto, which in its

effects is far more incisive than any compulsory Ghetto. It meant to shatter the

situation of Jewry as a pariah people, a situation that was ritually imposed upon this

people. For the Christians it meant the origin of Christian 'freedom,' which Paul again

and again celebrated triumphantly; for this freedom meant the universalism of Paul's

mission, which cut across nations and status groups. The elimination of all ritual

barriers of birth for the community of the eucharists, as realized in Antioch, was, in

connection with the religious preconditions, the hour of conception for the Occidental

'citizenry.'‖

―By its solidarity, the association of Indian guilds, the mahajan, was a force which the

princes had to take very much into account. It was said: 'The prince must recognize

what the guilds do to the people, whether it is merciful or cruel.' The guilds acquired

privileges from the princes for loans of money, which are reminiscent of our medieval

conditions. The shreshti (elders) of the guilds belonged to the mightiest notables and

ranked equally with the warrior and the priest nobility of their time.‖

Thus a review of works of Oman, Ross, Dill, Ingram and Weber is enough to prove that the

caste system existed in Europe throughout most of its history. On the other hand, we find that

the caste system has a history of less than 1000 years in India.

Caste in Buddhist countries

We find untouchable castes Barakumin in Japan and Baekjeong106

in Korea till today.

In Korea earliest history, dating back to Goryeo period (918 onwards) shows presence of

untouchable castes gorisuchae, divided into two groups hwachae and suchae, in the society.

They have to live outside village. By fifteenth century, these untouchables were forced by

law to live in ghettoes.107

They later came to be known as Baekjeong.108

Cheonmin was the

lowest caste just above the Baekjeong. This caste too was often treated like untouchables,

although the members were allowed to live within the village. The aristocratic class Yangban

was composed of two castes, munban (scholarly caste) and muban (martial caste).

Japan too had a highly discriminatory caste system since pre-Buddhist (Shinto) period which

was formally abolished by Meizi in 1871. Earliest records of Japanese caste system are

available from the seventh century. The caste system entered Japanese Buddhism when

31

Buddhism arrived into Japan. In this caste system, Samurai were the marshal caste, holding

official and feudal positions. Burakumin were the untouchables. In fact the word Burakumin

(meaning hamlet people) was substituted as a more benign word for ‗eta‘ (meaning ‗full of

filth‘) after the caste system had been abolished.109

However, authors note that caste still

pervades the consciousness and all aspect of lives of the Japanese people, although explicitly

denied.110

China too had a custom of hereditary and endogamous system of priests, nobility, and

craftsmen which constituted a caste system.111

This custom was abolished after revolution of

1912. However, there are many ethnicities in China, which are endogamous and interact with

each other as castes even today, although the Chinese government recognizes only 56 of them

and calls them ‗nationalities‘. The largest ethnicity Han (92% of total population) is itself

divided into castes called ‗minxi‘ or ‗zuqun‘ (lineages). Each Han minx has retained the

memory of its original district of origin, and sometimes even dielects too. Examples are

Hakka, Hoklo, Cantonese, Putian, Teochew, Shanghainese, Wenzhou etc. Han Chinese

society has not been studied so far. Yet hereditary occupational guilds having features of

rigid caste were noted by Comte.112

In Thailand we get a caste system among the Buddhists in which a Brahmana caste has been

maintained to perform essential Vedic samskaras to the Thai Buddhists.113

Brahmana word is

used in the Thai Royal Court, but in rural Thai dialects this caste is called phaam or phraam.

In Sri Lanka, we find a highly discriminatory caste system and untouchability. Veenhoven

wrote, ―Caste was the basis of social stratification in ancient Sri Lanka… It is doubtful if

Sinhalese society was ever actually organized on the basis of the fourfold varna hierarchy of

Indian society… From the very beginning there were castes in Sinhalese society which did

not resemble Indian castes or sub-castes.‖ Moreover there was, and is even today, an

untouchable caste Rodi or Gadi in Sri Lankan Buddhist society.114

Even today the dominant

landlord caste Goyigama is very powerful caste of Sri Lanka. Honour killing of a lower caste

male is executed if he loves an upper caste lady.

Caste System in Zoroastrianism and Iran

We find a caste system in Zoroastrianism even today, in which priesthood is reserved for the

Dastur, Mobad and Harbad castes, hierarchically placed in that order for different specialized

priestly functions. Magi was the ancient Zoroastrian head-priestly caste, after which the word

‗magic‘ has been derived. The Parsee priests practice extreme of untouchability in which they

do not touch any one from any other religion or other castes from their own religion.115

Al-Biruni mentions how caste system originated in Iran, however, antiquity of caste in Iran is

much older than what he says:

―The kings of antiquity, who were industriously devoted to the duties of their office,

spent most of their care on division of their subjects into different classes and orders,

which they tried to preserve from intermixture and disorder. Therefore they forbade

people of different classes to have intercourse with each other and laid upon each

class a particular kind of work or art and handicraft. They did not allow anybody to

transgress the limits of his class, and even punish those who would not be content

with their class.

32

All this is well illustrated by the history of the ancient Chosroes (Khusrau), for they

had created great institutions of this kind, which could not be broken through by the

special merits of any individual nor by bribery. When Ardashir ben Babak restored

the Persian empire, he also restored the classes or castes of the population in the

following way:--

The first class were the nights and princes.

The second class the monks, the fire-priests, and the lawyers.

The third class the physicians, astronomers, and other men of science.

The fourth class the husbandmen and artisans.

And within these classes there were subdivisions, distinct from each other, like the

species within the genus. All institutions of this kind are like a pedigree, as long as

their origin is remembered; but once their origin has been forgotten, they become, as

it were, the stable property of the whole nation, nobody anymore questioning its

origin.‖ (Sachau:65-66).

The Ardasir Ben Babak of al-Biruni should be Ardashir I (also spelled Ardeshir; A.D. 226-

241), the founder of the Sassanid dynasty, who was son of Sassan and grandson (daughter‘s

son) of king Papak (Babak in Arabic). In this dynasty, there were three emperors named

Khusrau (or Khusro). The most celebrated of them Khusro I reigned from 531 to 579 A.D.

Khusro II reigned Iran from 591 to 628 A.D. and Khusro III from 630 to 632 A.D. The

Sassanid rulers of Iran mainly followed Zoroastrianism. Al-Biruni thus informs us as to how

caste system took an official, rigid form in Iran in the third century A.D. during the Sassanid

period.

During the reign of Darius (522-486 BCE), the Magi, the official priest of the Achaemenian

kings became akin to a caste and these guardians of the flame ripened into authenticators of

truth.116

(Mackay:29). The Magi became the universal priestly caste of Iran and officiated at

all religious functions, Zoroastrian or otherwise.117

(Roberts:276.). Later, even during the

Hellenistic and Roman periods of Europe, we find the use of word Magi for the priests of the

Mithraic religion, which surged back during late Hellenistic and Roman periods.118

The wise

men of East (astrologers) coming to bless the infant Jesus were, as most believe, Magi priests.

(Matthew, 2.1-12, New Testament, The Holy Bible). Thus we find that caste system was

much older than the Sassanid Empire in Iran.

Caste in South Asian Muslims

The Central Asian tribes migrating to Iran retained their ethnic identities and endogamy in a

country where there already existed a hereditary hierarchical endogamous caste system.

Hierarchical social stratifications based on birth now converted each ethnic group into a

caste.

Thus each Central Asian ethnicity or sub-ethnicity became a caste in Iran and Afghanistan.

Those who got good political positions attained higher social status, but remained relegate to

a social class lower than that of Arabs and Persians. Arabs occupied the highest social status.

Half-Arab were still superior to non-Arabs. (Mackay:54). Umayyad rulers continued to keep

non-Arabs in the category of lower caste aliens. (Mackay:56). Safavid rulers forcefully

33

maintained the traditional social pyramid. (Ibid:101). In this system, peasants and menial

labours were left at the bottom of the social structure. (Ibid:129).

The highly Persianized central Asian tribes invading India to rule believed in the theory of

superiority and inferiority on the basis of blood and took pride in their ancestry. This was a

new trend for India, where so far status was determined by education, ability, work (karma)

and virtues and not on heredity. Thus, while we know nothing about the ancestors of majority

of the great emperors and dynasty builder kings of ancient India like Chandragupta Maurya,

Chandragupta (Gupta emperor), Harsha or even Pritviraj Chouhan, we are aware that Babur

belonged to the Chugtai tribe of Turks and had Mongol blood from maternal side hence he

was called Mughal (a corrupt version of word Mongol). Thus there were Khalji Turks, Ilbari

Turks, Seljuk Turk, Chughtai Turk, Tajik, Ujbek, Hazra, Tughluq and many more Turk and

Central Asian tribes which came to Afghanistan and later also to India from Afghanistan.

By this time Afghanistan had thoroughly transformed into a multi-ethnic Muslim society

thoroughly fragmented under the Central Asian and Iranian pattern, with hundreds of castes

and ethnic groups. Afghanistan had, apart from Turk and Central Asian tribes, its own tribes

practicing endogamy by now. Some larger castes of Afghanistan at this time included Lodhi,

Suri, Ghalzay, Khan, etc. Apart from these there were hundreds of smaller endogamous

castes in Afghnistan like Karzai, Sherzai, Ahmadinezai etc. Some of the caste names of

Afghanistan, like Suri and Lodhi (or Lodh) are found among the North Indian Hindus also

during the medieval period, which were not heard of prior to Muslim invasions from

Afghanistan.

There were political reasons for propagation and maintaining ethnic identities in this region

(Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia and Turkey) at that time. The political power was very

unstable regionally and provincially and was full of conspiracies, cut-throats, coups and

power games. Each new ruler tried to buttress his foot-hold by appointing people from his

own ethnic tribe or caste around him. Blood is thicker than water seems to be central political

principle at this time in the region. In a multi-ethnic political nation, individual loyalties

mostly hovered round their own people and others could only be seen with suspicion and

mistrust. Trend of ascribing caste (zat) to everyone became so strong that even the liberated

‗slaves‘ were placed in a slave (Ghulam) caste. Thus India got a ‗Slave-Dynasty‘ because the

emperor‘s ancestors were liberated slave, hence he belonged to the slave caste.

Caste in Muslim countries

The societies of the Muslim countries are not known to the outside world. They lie inside the iron-curtain. Yet from accounts of the few authors who have written about the Muslim

contries, we gather that there are castes in the Arabic speaking countries too. Often caste is

called qabila.

Khadem (or, Akhdem) in Yemen is an untouchable caste.119

―These are the ‗people of the

suq‟, i.e. townspeople engaged in a number of disvalued occupations which have different

names in different parts of Yemen. Regardless of the name, their low positions in the

hierarchies remain fairly constant. The important thing in Yemeni eyes is that they have no

honourable descent… Occupations included in this category are the butchers (Jazzara), the

barbers (Muzayyen) who performs such roles as circumcision, the potters, weavers; bath

attendants (Hammami), Gisham (vegetable growers and peddlers), Khadem (servants) and

semi-nomadic public criers (Dawshan). The inferior groups generally can marry among

34

themselves, but not outside this low status group of occupations.‖120

Stiansen and Kevane

note Zayadiyya, Hamar, Dagu, Tungur, Ghodiat, Toman, Birged, Bedayria, Tumbab,

Jawam‘a, etc many tribes in Sudan, which are in fact functional castes, without

occupationality.121

Jew Caste System

Caste System in Judaism:

Caste system in the Middle East also existed in almost all the nations of the Middle East and

Egypt. The Holy Bible (Old Testament) contains details of religious laws which regulated

social practices of the Jews (and later also Christians to a great extent). There were twelve

hereditary endogamous castes of the Jews. Today only three castes—the Cohanim, the

Levites and the Yisro—survive. Jews came to India about two thousand years back. Since

then they have maintained the caste system. Although we do not have very old records, the

records available since the eleventh century clearly mention that the Cochin Jews practiced

caste system and till date they do follow the caste system.122

The modern hereditary and largely endogamous classes of Jews viz. Sephardic and

Ashkenazim (and several smaller others), although structurally and functionally satisfy the

definition of caste, are not traditionally recognized castes of the Jews and are identified as

geographical ethnic divisions of Jews which have some differences in religious practices also.

Each of such ethnic divisions has its own three castes. All the ethnic divisions of Jews have

their own Cohen or priestly caste.

The Cohanim or Cohen, the priestly caste of the Jews, was descendant of Aron, brother of

Moses. Only a Cohen can be a Rabbi. The Holy Bible enjoins all other Jews to pay tributes to

the Cohen caste:

―And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets on

them: and the priest‘s office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute: and thou shalt

consecrate Aaron and his sons.‖ (Exodus, 29.9; The Holy Bible).

The Cohen or the priest caste had many privileges as it was the supreme caste of the Jews.

They also had supreme administrative and judicial powers:

―…and every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs.‖ (Ezekiel,44.29). ―…and the

first of all the firstfruits of all things, and every oblation of all, of every sort of your

oblations, shall be the priest‘s: ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house.‖ (Ezekiel, 44.30). ―The

holy portion of land be for the priests the ministers of the sanctuary, which shall come

near to minister unto the Lord.‖ (Ezekiel, 45.4). ―And in controversy they shall stand

in judgment; and they shall judge it according to my judgments: and they shall keep

my laws and my statutes in all my assemblies; and they shall hallow my Sabbaths.‖

(Ezekiel, 44.24).

The Biblical priest was not like the poor Vedic brahmana. He could enforce whatever he

wanted. He became custodian of the religious law, which was often harsh and cruel. The

punishment for a disobedient son was, ―And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This

our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.

35

And all the men of city shall stone him with stones, that he die; so that thou put evil away

from among you; and all Israel shall hear and fear.‖ (Deuteronomy, 21.20-21).

An unchaste woman would be put to death by orders of the priests. , ―…the adulterer and the

adulteress shall surely be put to death.‖ (Leviticus, 20.10). ―If a man be found lying with a

woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with

the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.‖ (Deuteronomy, 22.22).

Punishment for an unmarried girl having sex was death. If virginity (flow of blood at first

intercourse) was not found after marriage of a girl, punishment was death. The in-laws of the

girl ―shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father‘s house, and the men of her city shall

stone her with stones that she dies.‖ (Deuteronomy, 22.21). The priest‘s duty was to order for

the execution of witches also, ―Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.‖ (Exodus, 22.18).

In Hinduism, neither such laws existed nor ever any priest being empowered to take justice in

his hands. Justice remained a subject of the secular state in India till the end of Hindu period.

Privilege enjoyed by a Hindu priest is limited up to his professional services given to his

clients. And people are free to select their priest for religious rituals.

Judaism prescribed various functions to various castes which no one could violate. The book

of Genesis details the origins of various lineages and castes. It says Canaan was a servant of

servants:

―And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall be unto his brethren.‖

(Genesis, 9.25).

Judaism followed a harsh caste-untouchability. The untouchables among the Jews were not

even allowed to call themselves Jews. They could not enter the Sabbath and could not join

prayers:

―An Ammonite or Mo-ab-ite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to

their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever.‖

(Deuteronomy, 23.3). ―A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord;

even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord.‖

(Deuteronomy, 23.2).

A couple who did sex during menstruation was also excommunicated from society and made

an untouchable:

―Those who do sex during menstruation, both of them shall be cut off from their

people.‖ (Leviticus, 20.18).

An excommunicated untouchable could be asked to cook food on human excreta:

―And though shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh

out of man, in their sight.‖ (Ezekiel, 4.12; The Holy Bible).

Judaism paid extreme importance to purity of blood and maintaining a pure pedigree. Hence

no inter-caste marriage was allowed. Regular censuses were done to ascertain the purity of

lineages (Ezra, 2.36; Nehemiah, 7.39). The Jews were to marry within their respective castes

(endogamy) and any Cohen who married outside his caste lost priestly caste and status:

―These sought their register among those that were reckoned by geneology, but it was not

found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood.‖ (Nehemiah, 7.64).

36

Rule of endogamy was enforced on to the non-priestly casts as well, because polluted blood

was not acceptable to God; acts of exogamy were punishable, sometimes by death:

―…We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people

of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.‖ (Ezra, 10.2) ―And

Ezra, the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken

strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.‖ (Ezra, 10. 10) ―And they made an

end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month.‖

(Ezra, 10.17).

Excommunication of individuals and often the whole group or the whole village led to

formation of outcastes in the Jews. Most of such outcastes were also made untouchables. In

the eyes of the non-Jews, such people were low caste Jews or untouchable Jews, but the caste

Jews considered the outcaste people to be not Jews at all.

Today because of liberalization associated with modernization, the two groups are called the

Zionist Upper Castes and the Non-Zionist Lower Castes respectively. Thus today, Samaritan

is an untouchable Non-Zionist lower caste Jew, which lives in and around Palestine (Israel)

and which consider themselves spiritually so impure that an elderly orthodox Samaritan

would not even touch a lamp or electric switch and ask his neighbor to switch on the lights of

his home every evening.

The New Testament account of Samaritan lady also clearly shows that she did not consider

herself a Jew as she was an untouchable. When Jesus asked water from a Samaritan lady, she

said: ―How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me which am a woman of Samaria?

For the Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.‖ (John, 4.9). However, recent DNA studies

of the Samaritan caste shows that they too had descended from the priestly caste Cohen,

separating from the main lineage about 3000 years back.123

That means they must have been

out-casted for some mistake done very early in history. It will not be out of context to note

here that the words ‗caste Hindu‘ and ‗non-caste Hindu‘ much used in print media is a direct

borrowing by the authors from the Jewish system.

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REFERENCES

1 Kroeber, L., ―Caste‖, in Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, ed.-in-chief, Edwin R. A. Seligman,

Macmillan, New York, 1930, III, 254-57. 2 Supreme Court Judgment, Indira Schawney Case, AIR 1993, SC p. 483 & p.553.

3 Bose, N. K., Culture and Society in India, Asia Publishing House, Bombay, 1967, p. 4. (First

Published 4 Weber, Max, Gerth, H. H. and Turner, B. S., ―India: The Brahman and the castes‖, in From Max

Weber: Essays in Sociology, op. cit., p. 396, opening paragraph.. Weber, Max et al, From Max

Weber: Essays in Sociology, Routledge, 1991, p. 398-9 5 In Bangladesh, ‗National Parliament‘ is called ‗Jatiya Songsad‘.

6 Kumar, B. B., The Tribe Caste Continuum, Dialogue (A Quarterly Journal of Astha Bharati), July-

Sept. 1999, volume 1, Number 1. Also, Kumar, B.B.; The Tribal Societies of India, Omsons

Publishers, India, 1999, pp. 1-2. 7 Steingass, F.J., A Comprehensive Persian-English Dictionary, p. 556.

8 Raverty, H.G., A Dictionary of the Pukhto, Pushto, pp. 492, 91.

9 Steingass, p. 167.

10 Speech delivered by Dr. Ambedkar on May 9, 1916 at the Columbia University of New York,

U.S.A. on the subject ―Castes in India; Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development‖ (The speech

was published in Indian Antiquary, May 1917—Vol. XLI). Quoted by the Supreme Court of India in

AIR, 1993 SC p. 549-550, para 76 of the Indira Shawhney Judgment. 11

kSullaka means poor, low, vile, distressed, abandoned. 12

mahadbhaya means those who are always in great fear of (the rich people), Monier Williams

Dictionary. These meanings correspond to the meanings of modern notion of dalit. 13

Taittiriya Samhita, 4.5.4.2, lines 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. This section of the Krishna Yajurveda (Taittiriya

Samhita), fourth Vaishvedeva Kanda, pancham prapaatha is also called the Shri Rudra Prashna Stotra.

It may be noted that during modern times people professing these all occupations or formerly

associated with them have been considered the lowest castes and many of them were untouchables.

Also see, Kunal, Kishore, Dalit Devo Bhava, Publications Division, New Delhi, 2005. 14

taksha, tree-cutter or carpenter. 15

kulAla, potter 16

karmAra, black-smith, artisan. 17

punjishtha, bird-catcher or fisherman. 18

iSu-krit, arrow-maker. 19

dhanvakrit, bow-maker, possibly dhanukh scheduled caste of modern India represents former bow

makers 20

Many poor people survived on flesh of dogs. Although they were categorized as chandal during

later times, the Yajurveda pays salutations to them. These mantras are binding for all Hindus. 21

Shukla Yajurveda Samhita, 16.27; Griffith, Ralph (translator), The Texts of White Yajurveda. 22

Shukla Yajurveda, 26.2. 23

Shukla Yajurveda, 18.48. 24

Shatapatha Brahmana, 13.6.2.10; See, K. Kunal, 2005, p. 63. 25

Kunal, Kishore, op. cit. 26

Apastamba Dharma Sutra, 2.29.12. 27

Taittiriya Brahmana, 3.12.9. 28

Mahabharata, Shantiparva, 296.28. 29

See Dalit Devo Bhava, by Kishore Kunal, Publications Division, Govt. of India, New Delhi, 2005,

p. 2. 30

Monier Williams dictionary gives meaning of vratya as ―a man of the mendicant or vagrant class , a

tramp , out-caste, low or vile person (either a man who has lost caste through non-observance of the

ten principal samskaras).

42

31

Griffith, Ralph, Hymns of the Atharva Veda, 1895, at sacred-texts.com. 32

Monier Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary, p. 1043, see vratya. 33

Shukla Yajurveda, 30.5. 34

Kunal, K., Dalit Devo Bhava, Publications Division, Govt. of India, New Delhi, 2005, dedication

page. 35

Basham notes that rathakara was a most respected professional as long as Hindus were governed

by the Vedas, yet this occupation became one of untouchable during later times. Basham, p. 145. 36

Singh, Upinder, A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India, Pearson Education India, 2008, p.

187. 37

Mentioned by Jayaswal, K.P., The Hindu Polity, Fifth Ed., The Bangalore Printing and Publishing

Co. Ltd, Bangalore, 1978, p. 31, footnote. 38

Nath, Vijay, ―From Brahmanism to Hinduism: Negotiating the Myth of the Great Tradition‖,

Sectional President‘s address, Section I, Ancient India, Indian History Congress Proceedings, 61st

(Millennium) Session 2001, p. 32.

39

Chandogya Upanishad, 4.2.2. 40

―…the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.‖ , Leviticus, 20.10, The Holy Bible,

Old Testament. Same punishment applied to ‗loss of virginity‘ before marriage: ―Then they shall

bring out the damsel to the door of her father‘s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with

stones that she dies.‖ Deuteronomy, 22.21, Holy Bible. 41

―indro vai brahmaNaH putraH karmaNA kShatriyo.abhavat‖ Mahabharata, Shanti-Parva. Poona

Critical Edition, Produced by Muneo Tokunaga, Kyoto, Japan, on internet. 42

Brahmana-vagga, Dhammapada, Chapter 26. Also 294-295. http://www.sacred-

texts.com/bud/sbe10/sbe1028.htm 43

Dhammapada, ch. 26, verse 389. Please consult an edition of Dhammapada with original Pali in

Roman, because most of the translators are biased, and remove the word brahmana from the

translation. 44

Dhammapada, ch. 23, verses 332. Dhammapada: The Buddha‟s Path of Wisdom, tr. by Acharya

Buddharakshita, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 1985. See p. 9 of Introduction. 45

See Bhikkhu, Thanissaro‘s tr. of Dhammapada, 332, Buddha Dharma Education Association;l and

Max Muller‘s translation of the Dhammapada, verse 332 at sacred-text.com 46

Vasant, Suresh, ―Dipankara Buddha at Ajanta‖, Mitra, Debala and Bhattacharya, G. (Eds.),

Akshayanivi, Sri Satguru Publications, 1991, p. 171. 47

Pushpadant, Mahapurana, 5.19.13; quoted in Mishra, J., Social and Economic Conditions under the

Imperial Rashtrakutas, Commonwealth Publishers, Delhi, 1992, p. 46. 48

.‖ (Alberuni‘s India, a translation of al-Biruni‘s Tahkikat-ul-Hind, by Edward Sachau, Indialog

Publications, New Delhi, 2003, p. 69 49

Basham, op. cit., p. 151. 50

Bano, Shadab; Slave Markets in Medieval India, Published in the Indian History Congress:

Proceedings, 61st(Millennium) Session, Kolkata, 2001; pp. 365-373. p.365.

51 We do not know much of history of individual castes. But many castes or ‗exogamous clans of

larger castes‘ show features of guilds. For example Bansal, bamboo trader; kansal, trader in bronze;

goyal, trader in cows; chawla, trader in rice; kapoor, trader in campher etc. Baidya caste (from

Sanskrit, Vaidya; surnames Sen, Sengupta, Dasgupta, Gupta) of Bengal have surely sprung from the

guild of the physicians during the medieval times. Max Waber noted great similarity between Indian

castes and European trade guilds (Waber: ). 52

Raghuvanshi, V.P.S., Indian Society in the Eighteenth Century, Associated Pub House, New Delhi,

1969, pp. 17-8. Also, Kane, P. V., vol 5, part II, 1266. 53

Thapar, Romila, A History of India, Vol 1, Penguin Books, London, 1990, p. 39. First published

1966. 54

Thapar, Romila; The Penguin History of Early India from the Origins to AD 1300, Penguin Books

India, New Delhi, 2003, First Published 2002. 55

von Furer-Haimendorf, Christoph, Tribes of India: The Struggle of Survival, University of

California Press, 1982, p. 215.

43

56

Weber, Max et al, From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, Routledge, 1991, p. 398-9. 57

Gellner, D. N., Resistence and the State: Nepalese Experience, Berghahn Books, 2007, p. 203, 238, 58

Vidyarthi, L. P., Rise of Anthropology in India: A social science orientation, vol 1, Concept

Publishing Company, 1979, pp. 45, 49, 441. Also see Bisht, B. S., Tribes of Uttaranchal: A study of

education, health, hygiene and nutrition, Gyan Books, 2006, p. 101. 59

Vidyarthi, pp. 440-441. 60

Crooke, W., Natives of Northern India, republished 1996 by Asian Educational Service, p. 88. (First

Published 1907). 61

Ibid., p. 76. 62

Crooke, William, The Tribes and Castes of North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Volume 1, Asian

Educational Service, New Delhi, 1999, p. xxii (First published, Calcutta, 1896). 63

Downs, T., Rajput Revolt in Southern Mirzapur 1857-58, South Asia, 1992, 15(2): 29-46. This

article mentions Kharwar Rajputs of Mirzapur, who participated in revolt. 64

Sadasivan, S. N., A Social History of India, APH Publishing, 2000. p. 241. 65

Lingayata was a religion started by Basava in the South India during Medieval Period. Soon it took

shape of a caste. It is a powerful case in Karnataka state of South India. Basham wrote about this

phenomenon in the following words: These religions were heterodox, i.e. they did not subscribe to

the authorities of Vedas, nor did they accept Brahmanical way of life. 66

Raghuvamshi, 176-182, 187-190. Also see, Deshika Char, S. V., Hinduism and Islam in India:

Caste, religion and society from antiquity to early modern times, Markus Wiener Publishers, 1993, p.

64. 67

Dharampal, The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian education in the eighteenth century (vol. III of

Collected Writings), Other India Press, Mapusa (Goa), 2000 (First Ed. 1098), p. 39, (p. 27 of web

version document no 10932582 of Scribd). 68

(Chatterji, Anjali; ―Aspects of Medieval Society: Gleanings from Contemporary Literature‖,

Sectional President‘s Address, Section I, Medieval India, Indian History Congress Proceedings, 61st

(Millennium) Session 2001, p.219) 69

(Chatterji, Anjali, p. 220) 70

(Anjali Chatterji, p. 223) 71

( Basham, p. 151) 72

(Kunal, p. x) 73

Census of India (1901-1931 data) Quoted in Srinivas, M.N., ―Some Expressions of Caste Mobility‖,

in Srinivas, M.N., Social Change in Modern India, Orient Longmans, 1972 (Indian Ed.), p. 105. First

Published University of California Press, 1966. p. 103. Also quoted in Shourie, Arun, Falling Over

Backwards, ASA Publications/ Rupa and Co., New Delhi, 2006 (Fifth Impression 2009), p. 38 and p.

40. Hutton, J.H., ―New Ranks by Castes‖, in Kannupillai, V. (Ed.), Caste: Observation of I.C.S.

officers and others since 1881, Siddharth Books, Delhi, 2007, p. 186. Census of India 1931, Page 464,

430-31; Elphinstone, M. S., ―Changes in Caste (with reference to Bombay)‖, in Kannupillai, V. (Ed.)

op. cit. p. 211; Yeatts, N. W.M, ―Depressed Castes, with reference to Madras‖, in Kannupillai, V.

(Ed.), op. cit, p. 192, 190; (an extract from the Census of India 1931, Madras, Part 1, Report, pp. 332-

3 and 342-6). 74

Srinivas, MN; Castes in Modern India, op. cit., p. 45 75

Reactions to the Reservations for Other Backward Classes, Volume IV of the Mandal

Commission‘s Report, Chapter I , page 273 of Akalank Publications, New Delhi, reads:

―sanskritization indicates the phenomenon of backward castes imitating the mores, customs and

rituals of the forward castes and laying claim to a forward caste status. When this process was at its

height, the census commissions of the British Indian provinces were bedeviled by the plethora of

claims to higher caste status.‖

Rizvi writes, ―The veiling of women was strictly observed by higher class Muslim families, and the

Hindus imitated the Muslim governing classes by keeping their women at home.‖ (Rizvi, S.A.A.; The

Wonder that was India, Part II, Rupa and Co, New Delhi, 1999. p.202). Also, In the peaceful areas

many Hindu zamindars imitated Mughal manners, dress and lifestyle. Some even read Persian

poetry.‖ (Ibid. p. 210).

44

76

Crooke, W., ―Origin of Caste‖, in Kannupillai, (Ed.), p.202. (An extract from The Tribes and

Castes of Northwestern India, vol. I, 1896, pp.XV-XXVI) 77

Nesfield, John C., ―Cultural Evolution of Indian society—Function as Foundation of Caste‖, in

Kannupillai, V. (Ed.), op. cit., p. 139. Also quoted by (The Bhumihars, by S. K. Sinha, Raj

Publications, New Delhi, 2005, p. 21 78

Stuart, H. A., ―Caste and Dravidians‖, in Kannupillai, V. (Ed.), op. cit., pp. 183-4. 79

Vijay Nath, ―From Brahmanism to Hinduism: Negotiating the Myth of the Great Tradition‖,

Sectional President‘s address, Section I, Ancient India, Indian History Congress Proceedings, 61st

(Millennium) Session 2001, p.33 80

Kumar, V. et al, Genetic heterogeneity in northeastern India: reflection of Tribe-Caste continuum in

the genetic structure, Am J Hum Biol, 2004 May-Jun;16(3):334-45. 81

Vijaya M. et al, Genetic study of Scheduled Caste populations of Tamil Nadu, Journal of Genetics,

Springer India 2008 Aug., 87(2): 171-76. 82

Cordaux, R. et al, 2004, op. cit. 83

Sharma, S. et al, Human mtDNA hypervariable regions, HVR I and II, hint at deep common maternal founder and subsequent maternal gene flow in Indian population groups, Journal of Human

Genetics 2005, 50:497–506. 84

Sharma, S. et al, The Autochthonous Origin and a Tribal Link of Indian Brahmins: Evaluation

Through Molecular Genetic Markers, American Society of Human Genetics, 57th Annual Meeting,

October 23–27, 2007, San Diego, California. 85

Sharma, S. et al, The Indian origin of paternal haplogroup R1a1* substantiates the autochthonous

origin of Brahmins and the caste system, Journal of Human Genetics 2009, 54: 47–55. 86

Ramana, G. V. et al, Y-Chromosome SNP haplotypes suggest evidence of gene flow among caste,

tribe and the migrant Siddi populations of Andhra Pradesh, South India, Eur. J. Hum. Genetics 2001,

9: 695-700. 87

Kashyap, V. K. et al., Genetic structure of Indian populations based on fifteen autosomal

microsatellite loci, BMC Genet. 2006; 7: 28. doi: 10.1186/1471-2156-7-28. 88

Krithika, S. et al, A microsatellite study to disentangle the ambiguity of linguistic, geographic,

ethnic and genetic influences on tribes of India to get a better clarity of the antiquity and peopling of

South Asia, Am J Phys Anthropol 2009, 139(4): 533-46. 89

Gresham, D. et al, Origins and divergence of Roma (Gypsies), AJHG 2001, 69(6):1314-1331. 90

Thomas, M.G. et al, Origins of Old Testament Priests, Nature 1998, 394(6689): 130-140.

Hammer, Michael F; Doron M Behar and 7 others (2009-08-08). "Extended Y chromosome haplotypes resolve multiple and unique lineages of the Jewish priesthood". Hum Genet (Springer);

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