eq: how has the caste system shaped life in india? “when god divided the man, into how many parts...

EQ: How has the caste system

shaped life in India?

“When God divided the man, Into how many parts did they divide him?

What was his mouth?What were his arms?

What were his thighs and feet called?The Brahmin was his mouth.

Of his arm was made the Warrior,His thighs became the Vaishya,

Of his feet the Sudra were born.”

Brahmin

Kshatryia

Vaisya

Sudra

The Caste System Brahmin

Priests, Teachers, Judges

Kshatryia - warriors

Vaishya – merchants/farmers

Sudras – laborers, supported the upper castes

Untouchable (Dalits, Outcasts) –Street Sweepers, latrine cleaners

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

Lower-Caste Women

Work all day picking weeds for a wage as low as 50 cents/day.

The Untouchables

*required to eat and drink from separate utensils and from different wells

*forced into bonded labor

*made to clean latrines (pit toilets) with bare hands and handle touching dead animals

*They often had to wear a bell around their neck to warn people of a higher caste that they are coming… this was so that their shadow would not be cast upon them.

*They were considered polluted.

Migrants flock to the outskirts of cities to find

work.

Blind man playing flute through nose

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

In contrast, you have the BRAHMINS!

The caste system identity still plays a major role in Indian society. Blue is

traditionally a color of the Brahmins.

Brahmins often paint their homes Blue.

A High-Caste Brahmin Wedding

Brahmins depicted in artwork

The Caste System Today

Caste discrimination is illegal!With education & industrialization the caste system is slowly disappearing.Unfortunately, religious bigotry, intolerance and hate crimes do exist.

Social Distinctions Still Exist

A Brahmin physician wraps a Sudra’s wrist with a cloth before taking his pulse, so he will not to be "defiled" by touching the Sudra's skin.

A low-caste family is refused the right to bury a family member near their village, where both high and low castes live, because of the belief that the person's ghost will haunt the high-castes.

The Reservation System:

Entitles a percentage of government jobs, elected offices, and positions in

college to go to the lower caste people.

The quota system has caused tensions in this country of 846 million. The competition for jobs and education is intense in India. Middle class Indians say the quota system has given low-caste Indian opportunities at their expense.

Higher-class Indians even pretend to be “backward” castes in order to land government jobs and college acceptance.

Outraged by the wage and land-reform demands of

Untouchables, the Ranvir Sena, a militia led by landowners, has

been implicated in the massacres of more than 500

Untouchables. The attackers have gone largely

unpunished.

1. List three Characteristics of the Caste System.a. b. c.2. How does the caste system provide a sense of order?

3. Why are the untouchables excluded from the Social Pyramid?

4. Who can untouchables be compared to in other civilizations?

5. Why do you think it is more difficult to combat the Caste System more so than other types of racism?

6. What are some suggestions you could offer the Indian Government to help stop this problem?

Questions to Ponder