• Hinduism—A Search for Liberation
    Mankind’s Search for God

    • 16. (a) How do most Hindus view the caste system? (b) What did Gandhi say about the caste system?

      16 A universally known aspect of Hinduism is varna, or the caste system, which divides society into rigid classes. (See box, page 113.) One cannot help noticing that Hindu society is still stratified by this system, although it is rejected by Buddhists and Jains. However, just as racial discrimination persists in the United States and elsewhere, so likewise the caste system is deeply embedded in the Indian psyche. In a way it is a form of class consciousness that, in a parallel way, can still be found today to a lesser degree in British society and in other lands. (James 2:1-9) Thus, in India a person is born into a rigid caste system, and there is almost no way out. Furthermore, the average Hindu does not seek a way out. He views it as his predetermined, inescapable lot in life, the result of his deeds in a prior existence, or Karma. But how did the caste system originate? Once again we have to turn to Hindu mythology.

      17, 18. According to Hindu mythology, how did the caste system start?

      17 According to Hindu mythology, there were originally four major castes based on the body parts of Purusha, mankind’s original father-figure. The hymns of the Rig-Veda state:

      “When they divided Purusha how many portions did they make?

      What do they call his mouth, his arms? What do they call his thighs and feet?

      The Brahman [the highest caste] was his mouth, of both his arms was the Rajanya made.

      His thighs became the Vaisya, from his feet the Sudra was produced.”​—The Bible of the World.

      18 Thus, the priestly Brahmans, the highest caste, were supposed to have originated from Purusha’s mouth, his highest part. The governing, or warrior, class (Kshatriya or Rajanya) came from his arms. The merchant and farmer class, called the Vaisya, or Vaishya, originated from his thighs. A lower caste, the Sudra, or Shudra, or laborer class, resulted from the lowest part of the body, his feet.