foreign
although many countries struggle with social and economic inequality
perhaps nowhere else in the world has inequality been so elaborately constructed
as in the Indian institution of the caste system the caste system has long existed in India
but in the modern period it has been severely criticized by both Indian and foreign Observers
although some educated Indians tell non-indians that the caste has been abolished
or that no one pays attention to the cast anymore do such statements reflect reality
what is the caste system when did it start and how does it affect India today and is it just
another form of slavery let's try and find out hello I'm Mike droberg Marine Corps veteran and
filmmaker we will try to answer these questions on today's episode of Forgotten history [Music]
[Music] thank you
foreign
the caste system is a method of dividing up Society into a hierarchy according to
professions And Trades individuals are assigned a caste at Birth based on the
caste of their parents casts and property are handed down from generation to generation
and marriages usually occur within castes Indians can often quickly size up the
cast of A Stranger by the color of their skin manner of dress surname occupation and villager
neighborhood from which they hail caste system is technically illegal but still widely practiced
the Hindu social division system comprises of four major categories or varnas that are found
india-wide but are often subdivided into hundreds of sub-categories many of which are found only in
specific areas according to rig Veda sacred texts that date back to oral traditions of
more than three thousand years ago progenators of the four ranked Varna groups sprang from
various parts of the body of primordial man which Brahma the Hindu Creator God created from clay
each group had a function in sustaining the life of society brahmans or priests were created
from the mouth they were to provide for the intellectual and spiritual needs of the community
Kshatriyas Warriors and rulers were derived from the arms their role was to rule and protect others
vaishyas landowners and Merchants sprang from the thighs were entrusted with the care of Commerce
and agriculture shudras came from the feet their task was to perform all manual labor
later conceptualized was a fifth category The Untouchables menials relegated to carry out
dirty and polluting work related to body Decay and dirt since 1935 Untouchables have been known
as scheduled casts referring to the listing on government rosters or schedules they are also
often called by Mahatma Gandhi's terms origins or children of God although the term Untouchables
appears in literature produced by these low ranking casts in the 1990s many politically
conscious members of these groups prefer to refer to themselves as dalit a Hindu word meaning
oppressed or downtrodden the Dual concepts of Karma and Dharma lie at the heart of Hinduism in
the caste system the Hindu belief in reincarnation ties in with the caste system in that if an
individual behaves himself within the confines of his caste he will return in the next life in a
higher caste it is one's Karma or actions in life that determines one's cast in the next life the
only way to ensure a better position in the next life is to follow one's caste or Dharma and perform
Good Deeds to gain Karma it has been said that Hinduism without caste is a contradiction in terms
the word cast comes from the Portuguese word Casta meaning breed raced or kind it was used by the
Europeans to describe the system they witnessed when they came to South Asia and covers both
the indigenous terms of Arna and jati it has also been argued that the caste system developed in a
manner similar to the European guilds workers were protected from competitions and skills were handed
down from generation to Generation by keeping job skills within the families and communities
some have also suggested that the lower caste jobs and segregation were created for health reasons
people who handle dead animals for example would not pass on diseases to people of other castes if
they did not have contact with them the origin of the caste system may also have evolved from
differences between the Conquering Aryans and the subjected dravidians which happen to be of
different skin color Aryans were relatively light-skinned while dravidians were darker
fauna the Hindu word for cast means color the caste system is believed to have been introduced
in his preliminary form around 1500 BC as a way for the light-skinned Aryan Invaders to keep the
indigenous driving people in their place higher castes are usually associated with whiter skin
and pure airing descent because it has been argued the first light skin Aryan conquerors
gave the conquered dark-skinned dravidians dirtier lower status tasks this period saw the evolution
of the caste system and the emergence of Kingdoms and republics the Aryans were divided into tribes
which had settled in different regions of Northwestern India tribal Chieftain
gradually became hereditary though the chief usually operated with the help of advice from
either a committee or the entire tribe with work specialization the internal division of the Airing
Society developed along cast lines DNA studies of Indians have found that the highest caste members
have more genetic similarities with Europeans while lower caste members have more genetic
similarities with Asians this is consistent with the historical record of the Aryan Invasion and
links between the Aryans and members of higher castes some have suggested that the cast may have
originally been a dravidian concept rather than an Aryan one one argument for this is the lack
of a caste system in other areas conquered by the Aryans such as Greece the caste system creates a
very stratified Society Indians are keenly aware where they stand in society who ranks above them
who they outrank family names Village addresses and gestures all offer Clues to one's cast. Sukhadeo
Thorat a professor at jawaharwak University in New Delhi and one of the first Untouchables to obtain
a PhD told National Geographic you cannot hide your caste you can try to disguise it but there
are so many ways to slip up a Hindu will not feel confident developing a social relationship
without knowing your background within a couple of months your caste will be revealed
one Untouchable told National Geographic I am clean I don't smoke or drink or eat meat I work
hard I do everything right why am I Untouchable this is because he was born one and has been one
since he drew his first breath and remains one until his life sentence on Earth is finished
the Chastity of women is also strongly related to the caste status generally the higher ranking
the caste The more sexual control its women are expected to exhibit prom and Brides should be
virgins faithful to one husband and celibate and widowhood by contrast a elite bride may or may not
be a virgin extramarital Affairs may be tolerated and if widowed or divorced the woman is encouraged
to remarry for higher castes such control of female sexuality helps ensure purity of lineage which is
of crucial importance to the maintenance of high status past decades the Elites in certain areas
especially parts of the South had to display extreme deference to high status people Lester
touch or even their Shadow pollute others wearing either shoes nor any upper body covering even for
the women in the presence of the upper castes the lowest ranking delete had to Jingle a bell
and warning of their polluting approach in much of India the elites were prohibited from entering
temples using Wells from which the clean castes Drew their water or even attending schools in the
past centuries dire punishments were prescribed for the elite who read or even heard the sacred
texts such degrading discrimination was made illegal under legislation passed during British
rule and was protested against by pre-independence reform movements led by Mahatma Gandhi bhimrao
ramji ambedkar a Dalit leader the elites fought for the right to enter Hindu temples and to use
Village Wells and effectively pressed for the enactment of stronger laws opposing disabilities
imposed on them after Independence ambed car almost single-handedly wrote India's Constitution
including key Provisions barring cash-based discrimination nonetheless discriminatory
treatment of the Dalits remains a factor in daily life especially in The Villages even today
in modern times as in the past it is virtually impossible for an individual to raise his own
status by falsely claiming to be a member of a higher ranked cast such a ruse might work
for a time in a place where the person is unknown but no one would dine or intermarry
with such a person or his offspring until the claim was validated through kinship Networks
Rising on the ritual hierarchy can only be achieved by a caste as a group over a long period
of time principally by adopting Behavior patterns of the higher ranking groups this process is known
as sanskritization an example of such a behavior is that of some leather worker castes adopting a
policy of not eating beef in hope that abstaining from the defiling practice of consuming the Flesh of sacred
bovines would enhance their caste status increased economic prosperity for much of the caste greatly
age in the process of improving rank in a village members of different castes are often linked in
what has been called the jajmani system which in some regions means Patron members of various castes
perform tasks for their patrons usually members of a dominant more powerful land-owning caste of The
Village commonly caste of the Kshatriyas. households of service casts are linked through hereditary
bonds to a household of patrons with the lower caste members providing Services according to
the traditional occupational specializations thus client families of launderers Barbers
shoemakers Carpenters provide customary services to their patrons in return for which they receive
customary seasonal payments of grain clothing and money ideally from generation to generation
clients owe their patrons political allegiance in addition to their labors while patrons owe their
clients protection and security some observers feel that the caste system must be viewed as
a system of exploitation of poor low-ranking members by more prosperous high-ranking groups
in many parts of India land is largely held by the dominant castes high-ranking owners of
property that economically exploit low-ranking landless laborers and poor Artisans all the
while degrading them with the ritual emphasis on their so-called god-given inferior status in the
early 1990s blatant subjugation of lower caste laborers in the northern state of Bihar in the
Eastern uttar Pradesh was the subject of many news reports in this region scores of dalits
who have attempted to unite to test low wages have been the victims of lynchings and mass
killings by high-cast landowners and their hired assassins in 1991 the news magazine India Today
reported that in an ostensibly prospered Village about 160 kilometers southeast of
Delhi when it became known that a rural Elite laborer dared to have a love affair with the
daughter of a high caste landlord the lovers and their delete go-between were tortured publicly
hanged and burnt by the Agents of the girl's family in the presence of some 500 villagers
a similar incident occurred in 1994 when the elite position who had secretly married a woman of the
kurmi cultivating cast was beaten to death by outraged kurmis possibly instigated by the young
woman's family the terrified bride was stripped and branded his punishment for her transgression
the elite women also have been the victims of gang rapes by the police many other atrocities
as well as urban riots resulting in the deaths of the Dalits have occurred in recent years
the caste is technically illegal however in modern white-collar offices brahmins and other upper-class
members often hold the supervisory positions in The Untouchables still clean the toilet
many foreign companies operate under a don't ask don't tell policy when it comes to caste
despite many problems the caste system has operated successfully for centuries
providing goods and services to India's many millions of citizens
the system continues to operate but changes are occurring India's Constitution guarantees basic
rights to all its citizens including the right to equality and equal protection before the law
the practice of untouchability as well as the Discrimination on the basis of caste race sex or
religion has been legally abolished all citizens have the right to vote and political competition
is Lively the caste has indeed undergone significant change since Independence but
it still involves hundreds of millions of people in its Preamble Indians Constitution forbid to
negative public discrimination on the basis of caste however caste ranking and caste-based
interaction have occurred for centuries and will continue to do so well into the foreseeable future
let us know your thoughts about the caste system do you consider it a form of slavery or not
thank you for watching forgotten history please like share and subscribe if you have
any comments or show ideas we'd love to hear from you thanks again [Music]
[Music]