Ancient India Varna and Jati "Advantages and Faults

الملخص

 The Hindu social organization is remarkable for its Varnasrama Dharm or duty based on other and stages of life. This broad division was originally associated with the color conscious Aryans to distinguish them from the non-Aryans. The Purusha-sukta hymn( ), refers to the emergence of the four —fold social order from the four limbs, of the creator. The hymn is in the last book of the Rig-Veda, suggesting its late origin "This tradition of creation is accepted and even propounded by Manu( ), who refers to the assignment of different duties and occupation to different social groups".

A caste is ‘a collection of families or groups of families, bearing a common name which usually denotes or is associated with a mythical ancestor, human or divine; professing to follow the same calling; and regarded by those who are competent to give an opinion as forming a single homogeneous community”. According to Dr.V.A. Smith, a caste may be defined as “a group of families internally united by peculiar rules for the observance of ceremonial purity, especially in the mater of diet and marriage”.

Manu mentions the term "Jati" meaning caste. Originally these two terms had no doubt different connotations, but in later times they were considered as synonymous. The term varna meaning color was used to distinguish the Aryans from the non-Aryans. Later on, it stood for all the four groups. Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras, representing the four fold division of Hindu society. The other term jati connotes, according to the legal texts, not only the four castes or groups but also numerous new castes, created to accommodate the off-springs of inter-caste marriages. These castes became more or less water-tight compartments, with qualities, work and rights and obligations peculiar to each. For various castes, separate set of rules of conduct were framed. In course of time the various groups of people were accommodated in different stages of material and spiritual development into a composite pluralistic society. The (Jatis) or castes enjoyed considerable freedom in formulating the details such as marriage, food, communion etc. of their social life.