Varna (Hinduism)

Template:IndicText The sanskit term Varņa is derived from the root "vrn" meaning "to choose (from a group)". In the context of social hierarchies, it means arrangement. When man first started settling down into agrarian societies from hunter gatherer, a lot of changes occurred in social relationships. There arose a need to "arrange" people into structures that could be stable and accomadating diverse individuals in diverse occupations. One such system was to arrange the society into a functional hierarchy where every individual could form a part. Society was seen as an organic whole sustained by diverse groups with differing occupations all accomadated into a stable structure. The hierarchy was necessary so that there was least competition for the resources, just as different animals, insects, birds share a single place, each a part of the eco-system, each consuming its part of the natural resources.

Varna system is one form of functional hierarchy system. The oldest mention of varna system is in the Purusha sukta of Rigveda 10.90 -

मुखं किमस्य कौ बाहू का ऊरू पादा उच्येते ॥

ब्राह्मणो अस्य मुखमासीद बाहू राजन्यः कर्तः ।

ऊरूतदस्य यद वैश्यः पद्भ्यां शूद्रो अजायत ॥

The hymn claims "Brahmana is the mouth of the purusha, rajanya his arms, vaishya is his thighs and shudra arose from his feet" - an obvious reference to the organic(purusha) nature of the society, sustained by the harmonious integration of functional groups (organs) working in unison.

In such organic hierarchies, it is recognised that proper functioning of each part is necessary for the stability of the whole. This led to the importance given to kartavya or "duties" (deontology). Each one is obligated to perform their duties relevant to their position in the system. Proper functioning is of utmost necessity for the stability of the whole structure.

What sustained varna system

Any social hierarchy needs a strong central authority to sustain itself, just like military hierarchy or business hierarchy. Hinduism lacked such a central authority. Considerable controversy exists regarding the role and the level of authority of law-books like Manu smriti before the British rule in India. Since the society was based on social interdependence, social expulsion was effectively used a punishing tool.

The varna was replicted by making the membership in the varna group based on birth by default. The most necessary and important element of the whole system was the active involvement of individuals through obligatory duties. This is also its biggest drawback, when individuals do not perform the obligatory functions and still hold their place, the varna system crumbles.

Contradictions in varna system

The varna system had a remarkable ability to accept diversity. It could do it because it had the remarkable ability to assign a place and resources to all of its members. At the same time, varna system failed to provide social mobility to its members. its inherent flaw was also its mode of reproduction - making varna birth-based by default.

The Four Varna System

The terms Varna and caste (Jati) are actually two distinct concepts.

Varna ( वर्ण From Sanskrit, literally "arrangement") is a supposed unification of all the Hindu castes into either four groups: Kshatriya, Brahmin , Vaishya, Shudra, or into one of several varna-sankaras वर्ण संकर.

Caste (Sanskrit: Gyati ज्ञाति , Hindi: Biradari बिरादरी, samaj समाज, jati जाति etc , Urdu Zat ज़ात ) is an endogamous group. Generally a sub-caste is divided into exogamus groups based on same gotras गोत्र.

Overwhelming majority of the Hindus can be satisfactorily classified into a specific varna. However, during the British rule, several cases went to court to settle the "varna" of a sub-caste. For example, the farmers are sometimes given Kshatriya status because many ruling Chieftens may have risen from them. On the other hand some classified them as Vaisya, based on an older occupation of artisans. Orthodox Brahmins may classify them as Shudras, because they do not have a tradition of undergoing through the thread ceremony, that would make them dvija द्विज .

Several varna assignment schemes exist that attempt to assign a varna to a sub-caste.

1. Based on traditional occupation (see Indian caste system).
2. Based on orthodox texts like Brahmnotpatti Martanda.
3. There is an orthodox view, that considers Kshatriyas and Visyas to be nearly extinct.

It is pratically impossible to identify a "merchant" or trader in modern sense, that belonged to the Vaisya varna in ancient times. They were artisans and crafts people. Some scholars claim that most of the ancient Kshatriyas of northern India were annihilated, and the present Rajputs were created from fire as a replacement.

For the last few decades, the varna system is getting weakened but the sub-castes jatis(endogamous groups) getting strengthened and quite influential politically. In some regions, some of the jati sub-castes have 25-30% of the population, and that gives them great political clout.

Five Varnas

The caste system, although not currently officially sanctioned by their governments, is used by Hindus, particularly in India, Bali and Nepal for reasons of determining lineage and is passed down through patrilineal descent. It is based on four varnas:

• Brahmins (white-symbolizing Sattva), priests, teachers
• Kshatriyas (red-symbolizing Rajas), kings, princes, warriors
• Vaishyas (yellow-symbolizing Rajas/Tamas), merchants/craftsmen
• Shudras (blue or black-symbolizing Tamas), workers, farmers

Twice born

The first three castes are seen as 'twice born'. They are allowed to study vedas. In India and Nepal the sub-castes within a Varna are called Jat or Jati (The caste is also used instead of Jat). Each Jati members are allowed to marry only with their Jati members. People are born into their Jati and it cannot be changed. Once someone is born to certain sub-caste or Jati he or she cannot be changed to another Jati. Caste is a permanent attribute among the Hindus.

The occupations of the Vaishya are those connected with trade, the cultivation of the land and the breeding of cattle; while those of a Kshatriya consist in ruling and defending the people, administering justice, and the duties, of the military profession generally and ruling by Dharma. Both share with the Brahman the privilege of reading the Vedas. To the Brahman belongs the right of teaching and expounding the sacred texts vedas. Shudras were the serfs, and performed agricultural labour.

Intermarriage between castes was not encouraged.

Indian texts speak of jati, which are sub-caste within a Varna. Thus each varna is subdivided into many jatis which are endogamous groups with a particular occupational specilization all having same or similar social ranking which is determined by its Varna. Each jati has its appropriate rules of conduct and duties or "dharma", including rules regarding marriage, eating, and ritual purity.

Religiously anyone who does not belong to the four Varnas is an outcast. Muluki Ain has incorporated the entire ethnic group of Nepal into Caste hierarchy.

Division of labor

The varna system is based on division of labor.

The Purusha-sukta is a Hindu creation story. It's about the four Varnas, or castes. It tells how Brahma (Ultimate Reality) created a giant called 'Primal Man' from clay and how the giant was sacrificed. Out of the body of the Primal Man came four groups of people. Each group had a different role to play in life, and society. They all had very different tasks. The first group was the Brahmins (priests). They came from the mouth. They were to provide the intellectual and spiritual needs of the community. The second group was called Kshatriyas (warriors and rulers). They were created from the arms, and they were needed to rule and to protect the others. Vaishyas (landowners and merchants) sprang from the thighs. This group was needed to trade and to care for agriculture. Shudras (artisans and servants) were from the feet. They had to do all the manual work.

Etymology details

Varna is a Sanskrit term (वर्ण varṇa meaning colour or faith (faithless), preference, religious affiliation, conviction, or "to choose", or lustre.

• In the Zend Avesta and the Gathas, the word Varana or Varena (from the root Var ("put faith in, to believe in") is used in the sense of "faith, religious doctrine, choice of creed or belief.") The language of the Gathas (the oldest part of the Avesta) is very similar to the language of the Rig Veda.
• It may also come from the root Var- "choose", as in "svayamvara", “[a girl’s] own choice [of a husband]”, or from the root vri (which means "one's occupation").
• In the Rig Veda, the word varNa occurs 22 times and means lustre in 17 out of 22 times it refers to the "lustre" (i.e. "one's own typical light") of gods like Soma, Agni or Ushas. In RV 3.34.5 and RV 9.71.2 it refers to the lustrous colour of the sky at dawn.
• According to Hindu tradition, Varna refers to sounds of speech or language. Western Indologists have wrongly interpreted varna as "a letter of the alphabet". According to Welzer (1994 (229-230)), Varna can be grammatically derived from the term "class" (vide Panini), but it has acquired the incorrect meaning of "colour".

Varna in Hindu texts

The Rig-Veda refers to the four principal varnas described in Manu's code, viz. Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras. It affirmed that caste dharma needs to be strictly followed as one's soul climbs the caste ladder with every birth. A soul is born into a caste as punishment/reward for its karmic influences—actions in past lives (Hindus generally believe in reincarnation).

The preservation of caste boundaries was considered to be conducive to social harmony and order.

The effect of the system was to bind certain castes to sources of influence, power and economy while locking out others and thus create more affluence for higher castes and severe poverty for lower castes and the outcast Dalit. In the last 150 years Indian movements arose to throw off the economic and political yoke of the caste system.

The Purusha Sukta hymn (Rig Veda 10:90) mentions the castes and compares them to the body of a man: "The Brâhmana was his mouth, of both his arms was the Râjanya made. His thighs became the Vaishya, from his feet the Sûdra was produced." (RV 10:90:12) In the Purusha Sukta hymn the word Varna is not used, and it is the only hymn of the Rig Veda where the words Vaishya and Sudra are used. The Purusha Sukta hymn is considered to be one of the youngest parts of the Rig Veda.

This is the "Divine" justification of the varna system: that since Brahmins emerged from the Creator's mouth, they are the purest; that since Kshatriyas emerged from His arms, they were strong and meant to be soldiers; that because Vaishyas emerged from his abdomen/thighs, they were meant for craft, commerce, responsible for keeping Society's stomach full; and because shudras emerged from the feet, considered an "impure" or "dirty" part of a person's body by cultural norms, they were meant, by Divine Will, to be menial workers.

There is an Upanishadic story of a boy who went to a guru to study the various holy Hindu scriptures. His guru asked him what his caste was. Consulting his mother, who was actually a prostitute who didn't really know what her caste was, the boy returned to the guru and told him that he was all castes. He worshipped the Gods, thus fulfilling the duties that are ordinarily a Brahmin's, he earned his keep like a Vaishya, took care of cleaning the house, like a Shudra, and protected his family's interest like a Kshatriya. The guru was pleased and told the boy he was fit to be taught and initiated into the Brahmin's life. However the very fact that the boy had to refer to his birth to determine his caste as a first step indicates that the default caste of a person was always determined by birth.

The Dharmashastras (a collection of collections of Hindu codes and laws) say that caste is not just determined by birth, but by action in life according to the dharma of varna-ashram as well.

The Brahmins (priests), The Kshatriyas (warriors, nobility), the Vaishyas (the craftsmen and men of commerce), and the Shudras (agriculture workers; menial workers) were the four varnas. A person of each varna was said to possess certain set of characteristics: the Shudras, they believed, were of the tamasic nature; the Vaishyas were either tamasic or rajasic; the Kshatriyas were believed to be noble, learned and selfless, his or her duty being the administration of the people and fighting of battles against intruders, often very spiritually inclined; and that the Brahmins were religious, pure, Society's bank of knowledge and wisdom for their memory of holy scriptures, the performers of rituals, the most spiritually-advanced caste of Hindu society.

This view is supported by various readings of the Bhagavad Gita that hold that caste is required for practice of dharma in society. However, whatever varna one is born all human beings can attain salvation by practicing ones dharma. It is worthy to note that all three acharayas, Sankara, Ramanuja, and Madhva all subscribed to this view. The lives of Vaishnavite saints like Kanaka Dasa and Tukaram demonstrated that single-minded devotion to God is enough for attaining Moksha.

Hindu tantrics are a part of Hinduism whose scriptural texts, the Agamic texts known collectively as the Tantras, assert their descent from the Vedas, especially the Atharva-Veda. Claiming that the Vedic rituals no longer necessary in Kali Yuga, that the fourth and final epoch of humanity in Hinduism shall see morality ebb to complete dissolution until the end of the earth, the Tantrics see themselves as natural continuations of the Vedas through Hindu yogic practices--and not of any particular caste, yet not Untouchables.

Many Hindu yogis and sages have, over the centuries, constantly commented about caste. The non-dualist, Vedantic jnana-yogin (yogi of discrimination) Shri Adi Shankaracharya (8th century), denounced caste as but one more indication of one's weak, Ego-driven self and the flouting of Brahman (the impersonal, ultimate monist basis of Hindu belief). Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (15th century), the powerful bhakti of Krishna also denounced caste. He famously distributed the Hare Krishna mantra to non-brahmins all around India, claiming this was the True path to moksha.

Kanakadasa of the 15th century also denounced Casteism. He believed that Life in every human being is Divine, and that only the ignorant wrought injustice against their own brethren by practising the caste system.

Varnas in Rigveda and Manu Smriti

In Sanskrit, Varņa means color, appearance, physical form or characteristic. One of the hymns of the Rig Veda, one of the holiest Hindu scriptures, gives the following enumeration in the famous Purusha Sukta (RV 10.90):

मुखं किमस्य कौ बाहू का ऊरू पादा उच्येते ॥

ब्राह्मणो अस्य मुखमासीद बाहू राजन्यः कर्तः ।

ऊरूतदस्य यद वैश्यः पद्भ्यां शूद्रो अजायत ॥

Its rough translation is : "What became of his (the Cosmic Spirit's) face or mouth? What became of his two arms? What became of His two thighs? What were (the products of) the two feet called? From His face (or the mouth) came the brahmanas. From His two arms came the rajanya (the kshatriyas). From His two thighs came the vaishyas. From His two feet came the shudras."

This hymn is the sole reference to the four Varnas in the Rig Veda, and it occurs in the Xth book, which many historians claim to be a later addition to the existing nine books. In the Purusha Sukta hymn the word Varna is not used, and it is the only hymn of the Rig Veda where the words Vaishya and Sudra are used. The Purusha Sukta hymn is considered to be one of the youngest parts of the Rig Veda. The other three Vedas and Upanishads very rarely mention the Varnas. In later Hinduism, people interpreted this hymn such that the society is to be divided into four Varnas or castes, which are:

• Brahmana: The priests and the teachers
• Kshatriya (or Rajanya): Administrators and Military men
• Vaishya (or Arya): Traders, merchants, businessmen, farmers and herdsmen
• Shudra: Servants

Note that the original hymn does not explicitly define these groups.

Manu Smriti is often quoted in reference to the Varna caste system. The Manu Smriti is a later work that does not form a part of Hindu Scriptures, so it is of questionable relevance. Use of the Manu Smriti by the British colonialists has led to claims that it is used by politicians and sociologists to denigrate those of the Hindu faith.this article.

The Manu Smriti claims that by the time it was written, Hinduism included another class of people without a position in any of the four Varnas and therefore associated with the meanest of the jobs. The upper castes, who were supposed to maintain ritual and corporal purity, came to regard them as untouchables. The people of this "fifth varna" are now called Dalits (the oppressed) or Harijans; they were formerly known as "untouchables" or "pariahs".

It is very clear that in the early Vedic times, the Varna system (if at all it existed) meant classes with free mobility of jobs and intermarriage. One hymn of the Rig Veda states:

कारुरहं ततो भिषगुपलप्रक्षिणी नना । (RV 9.112.3)

"I am a bard, my father is a physician, my mother's job is to grind the corn......"

While intermarriage between Brahmana bridegrooms and Kshatriya princesses was extremely common (even sanctioned by the later Manu Smriti), in many instances, marriages between Kshatriya princes and Brahmana brides was also observed (severely condemned by Manu Smriti). One of such instances is marriage of Dushyanata, a Kshatriya prince, with Shakuntala, a daughter of the sage Vishvamitra and adopted daughter of sage Kanva.

In later times, with the elaboration of ritualism, the caste sytem became absolutely hereditary (the historians disagree as to when) and the Shudras were not even allowed to hear the sacred word of the Vedas.

"If the shudra intentionally listens for committing to memory the veda, then his ears should be filled with (molten) lead and lac; if he utters the veda, then his tongue should be cut off; if he has mastered the veda his body should be cut to pieces." (Manu Smriti XII. 4)

A stark contrast to this is a mantra from the White Yajur Veda itself:

यथेमां वाचं कल्याणीमावदानि जनेभ्यः ।

ब्रह्मराजन्याभ्याँ शूद्राय चार्याय च स्वाय चारणाय ।

प्रियो देवानां दक्षिणायै दातुरिह भूयासमयं मे कामः समृध्यतामुप मादो नमतु ॥ (White Yajur Veda 26.2)

"I do hereby address this salutary (Vedic) speech for the benefit of humanity – for the Brahmanas, the Kshatriyas, the Shudras, the Vaishas, the kinsfolk and the men of lowest position in society. May I be dear to the learned in this world."

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References

• "Brahmanotpatti-martanda" Harikrishna Shastri, (Sanskrit), 1871
• Jati Bhaskar", Jwalaprasd Mishra, (Hindi), 1914.
• G.S. Ghurye, Caste and Race in India, 1932.
• B.R. Ambedkar, Who were Shudras? 1946. (WHO WERE THE SHUDRAS?)
• Ghanshyam Shah, Caste and Democratic Politics in India, 2004
• Credo, Quia Occidentale
• Welzer, Albrecht. 1994. Credo, Quia Occidentale: A Note on Sanskrit varna and its Misinterpretation in Literature on Mamamsa and Vyakarana. In: Studies in Mamamsa: Dr Mandan Mishra Felicitation Volume edited by R.C. Dwivedi. Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass.
• These documented Results of 4-Varn system can make you Proud of your Hindu heritage