The National Geographic sheds some light on one of the detestable flaws in the Indian social system. A portion of the article states
To be born a Hindu in India is to enter the caste system, one of the world's longest surviving forms of social stratification. Embedded in Indian culture for the past 1,500 years, the caste system follows a basic precept: All men are created unequal. The ranks in Hindu society come from a legend in which the main groupings, or varnas, emerge from a primordial being. 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. Each varna in turn contains hundreds of hereditary castes and subcastes with their own pecking orders. More
Speaking of untouchables and oppression, a few days back, I came across this rather surprising article. Bad enough, they’re outcasts; they practice the same atrocious cruelty, which makes me question if this whole system of caste and class is merely a subterfuge for nasty human nature.
01:18 PM | TrackBackHey,
You need not feel bad about India's caste system. The caste system worked wonders for centuries together in the vedic civilization. But remember, their classification was based on guNa, karma and the profession, and not by birth as in practice today. According to this, Brahman is responsible for reading/writing/spreading knowledge and to maintain the culture. Vaishya is responsible for the trade/business and to provide shelter and other assistance to brahmaNas apart from studying devine knowledge, Kshatriya is responsible for protecting the land from enemies and last but not the least shoodras are responsible for all the other activities pertaining to the human life. Since they didn't have any other occupation like software(!)etc, they used to do cooking,cleaning and cutting the firewood etc. After the purANic evolution, the caste system went haywards and here we are. BrahmaNas thought they are high class citizens and shoodras as low class. Its important for the younger generation like us to know the importance of this to be able to resurrect the glorious past we had. It successfully protected the land from many invaders.
If you are interested, I can provide some references on this.
Otherwise, be happy and pass it on to kids..as we cannot change the elders(!)
Namasthe.