Origins of the Caste in Ancient India

[sudheer birodkar]

Dear Readers,

Here is an extract from my page on Origins of the Caste System in
Ancient India. I seek critical feedback from Indologists on the
hypothesis given below:
__________________________________________________
Caste is an institution which is truely Indian in character. So much
so that even the Concise Oxford Dictionary defines it as, Hindu
hereditary class, with members
socially equal, united in religion, and usually following same trades
having no social intercourse with persons of other castes. The word
caste itself is derived from the
Spanish word 'Casto' which means pure or chaste. In the Indian lexion
we refer to caste by the words 'Varna' meaning colour and 'Jati' which
is derivedfrom the
root syllable 'Ja' which means 'to be born'.

But etymology apart what matters is that Casteism is today still a
living, rather festering, practice which continues to plague our 20th
century Indian society. Time
and again our newspapers carry reports about caste wars in various
parts of our country. While reading about Parliamentary news in
newspapers, we come across
references to the Jat Lobby, Maratha Lobby, Rajput Lobby, Brahmin
Lobby which brings to the fore the fact that even at the highest level
of our country's
democratic institutions, caste as a factor is still a living one. And
this brought to be so as in the electoral strategies of political
parties we hear of caste vote banks,
caste equations in voting patterns, caste-based reserved
constituencies, caste politics, ad nauseam.

All this alongwith the recurring caste carnages and the ongoing caste
politics are a constant reminder to us Indians that caste and casteism
which we have inherited
from our history are still active and alive around us. Thus the
institution and attitude both of which go into the making of caste and
casteism in today's India remain an
enigmatic one for Indians as also for foreign Indologists. The fact
that casteist feelings are still part of our psyche make it all the
more relevant that we are informed
about how the institution of caste could have come into being.

Possible Origins of the Caste System

Our scriptures already have an answer to this. The Purusha Sukta of
the Rig Veda says that the four fold division of society into Brahmins
(priests), Kshatriyas
(warriors), Vaishyas (cultivators) and Shudras (menial servants) has
been created by primeval man 'Purusha'. From Purusha's brain have
emerged the Brahmins,
from his forearms have emerged the kshatriyas from his abdomen have
emerged the Vaishyas and from his feet have emerged the Shudras.

But to examine how the institution of caste could have originated
alongwith the auxiliary practices of untouchability and endogamy we
will have a peep into the
society in which the composers of the Rig Veda lived some three to
four thousand years back.

BRAHMINS - THOSE BAPTISED BY FIRE

Caste is a gift of centuries of history whose origin goes back to 3 or
4 millennia in. The past when the tribal Aryans roamed the plains of
Central Asia before
reaching India. In the new stone age these tribals lived in conditions
of savagery and barbarism. There obviously was no room for caste
division as each and every
able-bodied male member had to) help in the tribe's only vocation of
hunting and gathering the means of subsistence.

But with the domestication of fire, things began to change. It became
necessary for some members of the Aryan tribes to undertake the task
of tending the fire and
prevent it from being extinguished. This was before the days when
humans learnt to ignite fire through friction. Initially the fire must
have been obtained from an
already burning source like forest fires.

In these circumstances, before the days of ignition the task of
tending the fire was very crucial. The function of tending the fire
became a specialised one which
begun to be passed from father to son and this select group came to be
called Agni-hotras i.e. 'preservers of fire'. As they tended to the
fire they also roasted and
later cooked food for the entire tribe.

Fire was then, as it still is, an object of worship as the tribal
peoples had seen fire as a powerful destructive medium in forest fires
and volcanic eruptions. By virtue
of being placed between the tribe and the domesticated fire, this
section of the tribe also performed functions like making offerings to
the fire and invoking it to spell
prosperity for the tribe, victory in war, etc., apart from cooking
which was their primary function. These Agni-hotras were the prototype
of the brahmin caste of
today.

The above theory of the origin of the Brahmin caste may seem fantastic
and unbelievable, but even today we can see that at our weddings or
any other social and
religious occasions the cooks are traditionally Brahmins. In some
Indian languages the word for cook is Achari which comes quite close
to Acharya meaning a
scholar. In Hindi and Gujarati the word Maharaj is used to address
both priests and cooks. Another word which we use to designate a
scholar viz. 'Shastri' also
originally meant a wielder of instruments and not a scholar according
to the; noted Sanskritalogist P.V. Kane.

This corollary between cooking and priestly functions may appear to be
outrageous and unreal but the etymological closeness between the
Sanskrit words given
below also corroborates this corollary:
______________________________________________________
 GOD

 Shri

 Shripati

 FAITH

 Shradhaa

 PRIEST

 Shrotriya

 Sadhu (ascetic)

 Yajakaha

 PRAYING

 Bhajana

 Pathana

______________________________________________________

FOOD

Shri

Shraa, Shraadha (Food offered to God and departed relatives)

COOK

Shrapayati

Siddha

Pachakaha

COOKING ROASTING

Bhajja

Bharjana

Patharaha

(Source : English-Sanskrit Dictionary by Prof. Vaman Shivram Apte,
Mumbai, 1920)

But this apart, Hindu Shastras (religious texts) have a different
explanation to offer as per the Holy scriptures ' Brahma Janayate Iti
Brahamana' i.e. a Brahmin is a
person who has mastered the essence of Brahma (Universe). In the
Bhagavad Geeta, Sri Krishna says that the caste divisions have been
created by Him.

But if the earlier theory is correct it would justify the origin of
Brahmins as a profession of cooks. It is quite possible that this is
the explanation behind the Brahmin
insistence on cleanliness and purification which quite logically seem
to be a corollary of the culinary profession.

In fact even the Yagna fire sacrifice of today is a ritualisation of
the original cooking function. During the Yagna; milk, honey, grains,
clarified butter and small figures
of animals Pista Pashu) made from wheat flour have to be offered to
the fire. A Yagna is accompanied with mass feeding of people. As
mentioned in an earlier
chapter in the original Yagna ritual, which is today observed only by
some Sadhus (ascetics) is a process in which almost all primitive
social life has to be recreated.
You have to produce fire by friction of two pieces of wood, to build a
cottage where no iron is used but only specific wood and grass, to
milk cows, to make curds,
pound corn with stone (not even a stone mill), kill and skin animals,
boil and cook them". This description brings out the close resemblance
between the original
Yagna ritual and the function of cooking on which Brahmin's had come
to acquire hereditary monopoly.

But this hereditary monopoly over the cooking function in Vedic times
also gave this section the priestly functions of invoking the fire-god
in favour of the tribe. Thus
they came to be looked upon as representatives of God, whose word
carried divine sanction. This being so they also came to acquire the
exclusive right of learning
(and writing) religious scriptures and virtually of all knowledge.
This was so as, in ancient India, most knowledge had scriptural
overtones. Astrology, Astronomy,
Mathematics, Philosophy, linguistics, Law, etc., were the main areas
which were developed in ancient India and all these subjects were
closely bound up with
religious dogmas.

Brahmins who had become the clergy, could thus virtually monopolise
the areas of acquiring and imparting education, to the exclusion of
other castes.
_________________________________________________________
DO YOU YAHOO!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com