What Is The Caste System?

          Caste system is a system prevalent in medieval India where the society was divided into different groups of people based on the kind of labour they did. There were primarily four castes that the masses were divided into. These were the Brahmins, Khsatriyas, Vaishyas, and Sudras.

          The Brahmins were considered the topmost class or the elite as they were the learned ones. They studied the Vedas and the Upanishads, had the authority to conduct religious ceremonies for kings and other wealthy people, do regular prayers in the temples and teach other people on the facts of life.

          The Kashatriyas were the warrior class of people. This included the kings and their army chiefs. They also constituted the wealthiest part of the society. The Vaishyas were group of people who conducted trade and were the business class.

          The lowest part of the society was the Sudras. These people were generally illiterate and did all the menial labour. These people were later treated as untouchables. The caste system is no longer prevalent in general except in certain parts of the society where inter caste weddings etc. are still not approved.

A Caste system is different in different regions and cultures of the world. It is basically a system of division of individuals of society in terms of nature of the work done by them or by the tribe to which they belong. This dependency varies from culture to culture.

In India, we find a Caste system based upon nature of the job of different parts of society. For example, the Brahmins are the people who are responsible for the spiritual training of the people. The Khashatriyas are responsible for running the state affairs and for defending the country from invaders. Vaids are the merchants and the Shodras are the people who do work with their hands i.e. they are mostly laborers. This is the division of society as mentioned in the Hindu scriptures.

There is a common misunderstanding regarding this Caste system in the minds of many Hindus and Non-Hindus as well; They mostly consider this caste system being based upon the social discrimination and the Brehmins are considered to be superior to all. This misunderstanding is the result of exploitation of the Brahmins of the Hindu scriptures over centuries. They were the only masters of the scriptures and they interpreted the scriptures to their own cause and declared themselves to be born of the head of the God and Veds to be born of feet of the God and hence the most disgraced among the human beings.

This Caste system prevails in many other parts of the world as well, but as mentioned earlier it varies from one culture to another.