Name:Date:Humanities Homeroom:

India’s Caste System

Do Now Directions: Answer the following silently and independently.

1) What is the best definition of relevant?

2) What 3 questions can I ask myself to determine if evidence is relevant?

3) What is the best definition of sufficient?

4) How many pieces of evidence do I need to have sufficient evidence?

5) What is the best definition of sound?

6) Why it is important to include sound reasoning in a constructed response?

Objective: SWBAT demonstrate their mastery of relevant and sufficient evidence, plus sound reasoning by completing a pop quiz.

What am I learning?

Why is it important?

How does it connect?

Name:

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Call Mrs. Collins before 8:00pm

(508) 612-8639

HW 4Questions? Comments? Concerns?Call Mrs. Collins BEFORE 8 pm.

(508) 612-8639

Date: Humanities Homeroom:

THE CASTE SYSTEM IN INDIA

In traditional India, society was organized into hereditary social classes, known as castes. Hindus believed that each person was born into a particular social class based on behavior in a previous life. Membership in a caste was based on birth and lasted for one's entire life. One could not marry someone from another caste or move into another caste based upon one's achievements. One's children also remain in the same caste.

Organization of the Castes. People were organized into four main groups. Within these four major groupings there are thousands of minor sub-castes, each with its own special occupations and rituals. At the bottom of the castes are the untouchables), considered to be so lowly as to be outside the caste system, Untouchables were given work no one wanted to do, such as sweeping the streets or handling dead animals. Since the caste system was based on heredity, it severely restricted social mobilit y in traditional India. Social mobility is the ability to move from one social class to another.

The Caste System Today - Today, the caste system continues to operate in India. The government is trying to overcome prejudices based on caste distinctions. It prohibits discrimination by caste and provides special programs to aid the Untouchables. These attempts to end caste discrimination have only been partially successful.

1. What is meant by the term “caste system?” __________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

2. How does one get into a particular caste? __________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

3. How long does one remain in a particular caste? __________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Can one marry someone from another caste? __________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

5. While you were alive, can you rise into a higher caste? __________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

6. When an Indian person has a child, what caste does that child go into? __________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

7. Within the four main castes, how many sub-casts were there? __________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

8. Who are the untouchables?

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

9. Today, how does the Indian government try to protect the untouchables? __________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

10. Explain YOUR view of the caste system. __________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Name:Date:

A Closer Look at the Caste System: The Untouchables Discrimination against India's lowest Hindu castes is technically illegal. But try telling that to the 160

million Untouchables, who face violent reprisals if they forget their place.

The sins of Girdharilal Maurya are many, his attackers insisted. He has bad karma. Why else would he, like his ancestors, be born an Untouchable, if not to pay for his past lives? Look, he is a leatherworker, and Hindu law says that working with animal skins makes him unclean, someone to avoid and abuse. He got what Untouchables deserve.

According to the text, what reason BEST explains why Indians believe people are born into the untouchable caste?

How could Girfharilal Maurya have had a better life?

One night, while Maurya was away in a nearby city, eight men from the higher caste came to his farm. They broke his fences, stole his tractor, beat his wife and daughter, and burned down his house. The message was clear: Stay at the bottom where you belong.

To be born a Hindu in India is to enter the caste system, one of the world's longest surviving forms of social prejudice. Part of Indian culture for the past 1,500 years, the caste system follows a basic idea: All men are created unequal.

What is the basic idea behind the caste system?

Do you believe that this basic idea exits in the United States? What evidence do you have to support your claim?

The ranks in Hindu society come from a legend in which the main groupings, or varnas, emerge from an ancient creature. From the mouth come the Brahmans—the priests and teachers. From the arms come the Kshatriyas—the rulers and soldiers. From the thighs come the Vaisyas—merchants and traders. From the feet come the Sudras—laborers

A fifth group describes the people who are achuta, or untouchable. They are so

Packet A

disgusting that they are not associated with the ancient creature. Untouchables are outcasts—people considered too impure, too polluted, to rank as worthy beings. Prejudice defines their lives, particularly in the rural areas, where nearly three-quarters of India's people live. Untouchables are shunned, insulted, banned from temples and higher caste homes, made to eat and drink from separate utensils in public places, and, in extreme but not uncommon cases, are raped, burned, hung, and gunned down.

Compare and contrast the Egyptian Hierarchy to the Hindu varnas.

Go back in the text and CIRCLE the different rankings in the Hindu belief system.Analyze why the Brahmans come from the mouth as opposed to the Kshatriyas that come from the arms.

Claim:

Evidence Relevant? Rank

But try telling that to the 160 million Untouchables, who face violent reprisals if they forget their place.

He has bad karma.

He got what Untouchables deserve.

They broke his fences, stole his tractor, beat his wife and daughter, and burned down his house.Part of Indian culture for the past 1,500 years, the caste system follows a basic idea: All men are created unequal.They are so disgusting that they are not associated with the ancient creature.

Was this evidence sufficient? Why or why not? IF NOT, supply more evidence in the space below.

Rewrite: Using the evidence provided AND other evidence from the text, justify the claim above using THE MOST sound reasoning.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Advanced Practice: Caste is not Past

BANGALORE, India — CASTE is not a word that modernizing India likes to use. It has receded to the

unfashionable background. Newspapers reserve their headlines for the newer metrics of social hierarchy: wealth

and politics, and those powerful influencers of popular culture, actors and cricket stars.

There are two stories we tell ourselves in urban India. One is about how education transforms lives. It is the

golden key to the future, allowing people to rise above the circumstances of their birth and background. And

sometimes, it does. In my own neighborhood, a few sons and daughters of cooks and gardeners are earning their

engineering and business degrees, and sweeping their families into the middle class. Not many, certainly. But

enough that this is a valid hope, a valid dream.

The other story is about how the last two decades of economic growth have fundamentally changed the

country, creating jobs and income and nurturing aspiration where earlier there was none. New money and an

increasingly powerful middle class are supposedly displacing the old social hierarchies.

These are exciting stories, even revolutionary in a country where, for centuries, the social order was

considered immutable. Traditionally, Indian society was divided into four main castes. At the top, Brahmins, as

priests and teachers; second came the Kshatriyas, the warriors and rulers; third, Vaishyas, who were merchants;

last, Shudras, the laborers. And below them all, the Dalits, or untouchables, called Harijans, or “children of

God,” by Mahatma Gandhi (for indeed, who isn’t?).

The castes were ostensibly professional divisions but were locked firmly into place by birth and a rigid

structure of social rules that governed interaction between and within them.

That, famously, was then. Discrimination based on caste has been illegal in India for more than six decades.

In today’s urban India, this land of possibility, separated from rural India by cultural and economic chasms, it

seems reactionary even to speak of caste. Certainly it shouldn’t — and usually doesn’t — come up at work or at

play or in the apartment elevator.

As India transforms, one might expect caste to dissolve and disappear, but that is not happening. Instead,

caste is making its presence felt in ways similar to race in modern America: less important now in jobs and

education, but vibrantly alive when it comes to two significant societal markers — marriage and politics.

No surprise on that first one. Inter-caste marriages in India are on the rise but still tend to be the province of

the liberal few. For much of the country, with its penchant for arranged marriages and close family ties, caste is

still a primary determinant in choosing a spouse.

Politics is where caste has gotten a surprising new lease on life. After money and education, democracy is,

of course, the third powerful force transforming Indian society. But Indians, it turns out, are passionate about

the caste of their politicians. Nearly half of the voting population of even a highly educated city like Bangalore

considers caste to be the No. 1 reason to vote for a candidate.

Democracy gives power to people who previously had none. But, like race, caste can shift political

discussions from present-day merit to payback for historical injustices.

Six decades of democratic statehood have attempted to correct the imbalances of the past through

“reservation” — job and education quotas for the so-called backward castes, like the Dalits. This program has

been effective, in a fairly hit-or-miss fashion. Some say that nearly all university seats are reserved for lower

castes, effectively blocking Brahmins from higher education. Others point out that the vast majority of high

paying jobs are still in the hands of the top three castes.

This, then, is the problem of discussing caste in India: the profound lack of information and contradictory

data on the subject. Succeeding governments for years shied away from gathering caste-based data, preferring,

with obscure political wisdom, to enact their policies in the dark. This changed in 2011, with the first Indian

census to visit the subject in eight decades.

The ostensible reason for the caste census was to see where we were economically. But let’s have no doubt,

the impact will be political.

Claim:

Evidence Relevant? Rank

Was this evidence sufficient? Why or why not? IF NOT, supply more evidence in the space below.

Name:Date:

A Closer Look at the Caste System: The Untouchables Discrimination against India's lowest Hindu castes is technically illegal. But try telling that to the 160

Packet B

million Untouchables, who face violent reprisals if they forget their place.

The sins of Girdharilal Maurya are many, his attackers insisted. He has bad karma. Why else would he, like his ancestors, be born an Untouchable, if not to pay for his past lives? Look, he is a leatherworker, and Hindu law says that working with animal skins makes him unclean, someone to avoid and abuse. He got what Untouchables deserve.

According to the text, what reason BEST explains why Indians believe people are born into the untouchable caste?

How could Girfharilal Maurya have had a better life?

One night, while Maurya was away in a nearby city, eight men from the higher caste came to his farm. They broke his fences, stole his tractor, beat his wife and daughter, and burned down his house. The message was clear: Stay at the bottom where you belong.

To be born a Hindu in India is to enter the caste system, one of the world's longest surviving forms of social prejudice. Part of Indian culture for the past 1,500 years, the caste system follows a basic idea: All men are created unequal.

What is the basic idea behind the caste system?

Do you believe that this basic idea exits in the United States? What evidence do you have to support your claim?

The ranks in Hindu society come from a legend in which the main groupings, or varnas, emerge from an ancient creature. From the mouth come the Brahmans—the priests and teachers. From the arms come the Kshatriyas—the rulers and soldiers. From the thighs come the Vaisyas—merchants and traders. From the feet come the Sudras—laborers

A fifth group describes the people who are achuta, or untouchable. They are so disgusting that they are not associated with the ancient creature. Untouchables are outcasts—people considered too impure, too polluted, to rank as worthy beings. Prejudice defines their lives, particularly in the rural areas, where nearly three-quarters of India's people live. Untouchables are shunned, insulted, banned from temples and higher caste homes, made to eat and drink from separate utensils in public places, and,

in extreme but not uncommon cases, are raped, burned, hung, and gunned down.

Compare and contrast the Egyptian Hierarchy to the Hindu varnas.

Go back in the text and CIRCLE the different rankings in the Hindu belief system.Analyze why the Brahmans come from the mouth as opposed to the Kshatriyas that come from the arms.

Claim: Indians believe that being ranked an untouchable is an appropriate consequence.

Evidence Relevant? Rank

But try telling that to the 160 million Untouchables, who face violent reprisals if they forget their place.

He has bad karma.

He got what Untouchables deserve.

They broke his fences, stole his tractor, beat his wife and daughter, and burned down his house.Part of Indian culture for the past 1,500 years, the caste system follows a basic idea: All men are created unequal.They are so disgusting that they are not associated with the ancient creature.

Was this evidence sufficient? Why or why not? IF NOT, supply more evidence in the space below.

Rewrite: Using the evidence provided AND other evidence from the text, justify the claim above using

THE MOST sound reasoning.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Name:Date:HumanitiesHomeroom:

Pop Quiz!

Directions: Read the following story using at least 2 strategies. Then answer all questions. Be sure to construct a well-written response so it is evident whether you have mastered the material. This will count as a quiz grade.

Hierarchy and a Caste System

Ancient Egypt possessed a social hierarchy in which people in the society were divided among various classes depending upon their occupation. The hierarchy pyramid of ancient Egypt represents the social structure of Egyptian society this structure was almost completely rigid throughout the country and possessed few exceptions. The hierarchy started with the Pharoah, or king, and worked it’s way through the workers down to the slaves.

The Indus Valley had a system that was very similar. The caste system in India is a system of social stratification which historically separated communities into thousands of groups called jātis, usually translated into English as "castes". The jātis are thought of as being grouped into four varnas: Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. Certain groups, now known as "Dalits", were excluded from the varna system altogether, ostracized as untouchables.

Overview of India’s Caste SystemAround 2000 B.C., something in the region of India forced people to migrate away from their homes --

perhaps a drought, plague, or invasions. During this time, the Aryans traveled east to India. They practiced a mysterious religion that appealed to many people in India, so they stayed there.

The early religion of the Aryans is now called Brahmanism, after the name of the Aryan priest, or Brahmins. The Aryans worshiped many nature deities. The Brahmins made sacrifices to those deities by offering animals to a sacred fire. Over time, the ceremonies became more and more complex. Some lasted for days – or even months. The rituals of the Aryan religion and many hymns to the deities are found today in Indian religions.

Based on the context provided, what is likely the BEST definition of deities?A. GodsB. WarriorsC. KingsD. Pharaohs

Based on the text, what is the BEST definition of Brahmins?

If we know that the rituals of the Aryan religion are still found today in Indian religions, what can we likely infer about these rituals?

Aryan society was organized into classes: warriors, priests, and commoners. As Indian society grew more complex, these classes developed into what was later called the caste system. A caste is a social class whose members are identified by their job. It also limits whom people can interact with in their community. Castes are an aspect of Hindu religion. Other religions in India do not follow this system.

Paraphrase the text. In your own words, what is the BEST definition of the caste system?

Based on the definition, is it likely that a caste system would benefit or hinder a society? Why?

How are people organized in the caste system?

Because there are thousands of different jobs, thousands of groups existed. Broadly, those groups are organized intro 4 major categories. After many centuries, another group of people came into being that was considered below all other groups. This group was called the untouchables. They had to do the jobs no one else wanted.

Castes still rarely intermarry and are definitely not changeable. In urban India, though, people of all castes meet socially or for business. Discriminating against anyone because of their caste for things like club memberships and so on is against the law.

Based on the text, why was there a group called “untouchables”?

If you were warrior and you met an untouchable, what would you be prohibited from doing? What could you still do?

Claim: The hierarchy ensures that Indian citizens remain in their caste.

Evidence Relevant? Rank

Aryan society was organized into classes: warriors, priests, and commoners.

It also limits whom people can interact with in their community.

Broadly, those groups are organized intro 4 major categories.

Castes still rarely intermarry and are definitely not changeable. In urban India, though, people of all castes meet socially or for business.

Was this evidence sufficient? Why or why not? IF NOT, supply more evidence in the space below.

Rewrite: Construct your response using relevant and sufficient evidence, plus sound reasoning. Be sure to follow all 8 steps.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________