- Sep 22, 2013
- 4,956
- 250
- 85
The Caste System is a ritual-based social hierarchy structure in India.
The Caste System separates various people in India based on the experiences of family background. The highest caste is the Brahmin caste, the priest caste, and the lowest caste is the Untouchables caste, the vagrant caste. In between are politicians, warriors, and others.
Advocates of the centuries old Caste System state that it is based on Hindu tradition, and critics of it state that it promotes mistrust between classes and creates economic arrogance and complacency (and bigotry).
My family hails from a prominent Brahmin family, but I grew up in America and am a born-again Christian following the rituals of the Catholic faith. I study Indian culture and how it pertains to the modern world.
Some scholars and sociologists have suggested that the enforcement of the Caste System in India creates strange bedfellows and promotes radical (and even unhealthy) practices within each caste meant to signify a dangerous level of pride.
For example, a good number of people of the lower and under-privileged castes in India sometimes engage in overly-stringent marriage ritual practices involving the punishing of brides who fail to meet exorbitantly set high standards of wedding-related dowry payments and gifts. This strange strictness is meant to convey an ambitious diligence for rituals symbolizing a 'spiritual strengthening' of the caste. The net result is that many brides have been brutalized and even burned alive in death rituals meant to signify obedience and punishment.
If the Caste System is to survive in Indian culture, social leaders in India have to find ways to promote dialogue about religion-based vigilantism.
The Caste System separates various people in India based on the experiences of family background. The highest caste is the Brahmin caste, the priest caste, and the lowest caste is the Untouchables caste, the vagrant caste. In between are politicians, warriors, and others.
Advocates of the centuries old Caste System state that it is based on Hindu tradition, and critics of it state that it promotes mistrust between classes and creates economic arrogance and complacency (and bigotry).
My family hails from a prominent Brahmin family, but I grew up in America and am a born-again Christian following the rituals of the Catholic faith. I study Indian culture and how it pertains to the modern world.
Some scholars and sociologists have suggested that the enforcement of the Caste System in India creates strange bedfellows and promotes radical (and even unhealthy) practices within each caste meant to signify a dangerous level of pride.
For example, a good number of people of the lower and under-privileged castes in India sometimes engage in overly-stringent marriage ritual practices involving the punishing of brides who fail to meet exorbitantly set high standards of wedding-related dowry payments and gifts. This strange strictness is meant to convey an ambitious diligence for rituals symbolizing a 'spiritual strengthening' of the caste. The net result is that many brides have been brutalized and even burned alive in death rituals meant to signify obedience and punishment.
If the Caste System is to survive in Indian culture, social leaders in India have to find ways to promote dialogue about religion-based vigilantism.
