WIKIPEDIA: THEORIES OF CASTE SYSTEM

 

WIKIPEDIA: THEORIES OF CASTE SYSTEM

Traditional theory :- 

According to this theory, Brahma, the creator the universe had created the caste system. Different castes were born out of various body parts of Brahma. Like, from his mouth came the Brahmins, from hands the Kshatriya, from stomach the Vaishyas and so on. People belonging to different castes then function as per the source of their origin. In ancient India, various sub-castes were born out of these castes and this has received a classical interpretation in the account of Manu. The theory has been criticized for its being a supernatural theory and for its base being just divine.

Wikipedia Caste knowledge.

Political theory :- 

According to this theory, the Brahmins wanted to have a full control over the society in order to curb and rule them. So, their political interest created a caste system in India. Nibey Dubais, a French scholar, originally put forward this theory that was also supported by Indian thinkers such as Dr. Ghurey.

Religious theory :- 

It is believed that various religious customs had given a birth to the caste system in India. People connected to religion like Kings and Brahmins were given higher positions. Different people used to perform different tasks for the administration of the ruler that later on became the basis of caste system.Along with this, restriction on food habits had led to the development of caste system. Earlier there were no such restrictions on taking food with others as people used to believe their origin was from one ancestor. But as they started worshipping different Gods, their food habits changed. This laid the foundation of caste system in India.

Occupational theory :- 

Nesfield originally gave the name occupational theory, according to which castes in India developed as per the occupation of a person. Concept of superior and inferior caste also came with this as some persons were doing superior jobs and some were into lower kinds of jobs. All those people who were doing the task of purohits were superior and they were the ones who used to do specialization. Superior caste with time grouped into Brahmins.

Similarly, other groups were also formed leading to different castes in India.

The fluidity of the caste system turned into suffering from the appearance of the British. The British introduced with them their very own traditional shape of presidency, and as Christians, they did not have tons sympathy for the Hindu institutions. For the duration of the preliminary days of the British East India company's rule, caste privileges and customs had been recommended, but the British law courts commenced to disagree with the discrimination towards the decrease castes. But, British guidelines of divide and rule contributed closer to the hardening of caste identities. As British civilization expanded in India, but, it become fatal for the individuals of various castes, affecting the beliefs they have about touch and “using the equal contraptions on the price of conventional repulsion”.

 As an example, whilst the British government desired to put in a water machine in Bombay, there has been a amazing outcry before everything from the higher castes. They couldn't consider that natural and impure, twice-born and Shudra, have been going to be ingesting from the equal faucets as themselves. This changed into, but, resolved by the panchayat, that's an assembly of 5 clever and respected elders selected and regular via the village network. They claimed that the tax raise via the British administration for this canalization can be taken into consideration as reparation and that it'd redeem the sins to which this sharing of taps might divulge them too. Britain did no longer simplest affected the Hindu humans by oblique approach however a certain wide variety of traditional caste-linked crafts had been made not possible to make because of the huge number of importing manufactured goods from the city. Due to this, many weavers had to show to agriculture. 

In other places, occupations that had been handed down from generation to generation had to be closed down because of newly opened factories. From those events, now not handiest had been occupations changed, but the very social conditions among the castes had been affected. The three supporting pillars of the caste gadget—hereditary specialization, the sacred hierarchy, and mutual repulsion—have been essentially without delay undermined by the British administration.