What is the caste system and its historical context?

Answer 1

The Caste System was an oppressive hierarchical social system designed by the ancient rulers and religious leaders of India. That system was economically similar to other equivalent systems of the highly developed civilizations of the world. The caste system is equivalent to the class system that is practiced in most developed nations of the world. That system was designed to function in a similar manner as honeybees and army ants. The caste system was more rigid and oppressive than the class system. The superior caste/class established rigid social separations between the working class and the masters. Religion was used to endorse this bigotry by proclaiming that the divisions were established by their Gods as part of a graduation process called reincarnation. Approximately five thousand years ago there was a rebellion among the religious heads with respect to the crude rituals which involved animal and human sacrifices. These leaders also held significant differences of opinions regarding the social oppression practiced under the corrupt caste system. The rebel group eventually created their own belief system known as Jainism. Another religious leader came along at around 500 BC creating his own belief from samplings of other systems and it was called Buddhism. Then there came Emperor Asoka who reigned over most of India. Emperor Asoka was a follower of the Buddhist belief and consistent with the practice of Imperialism, he introduced his beliefs as the superior religion to the old oppressive Vedic religious practices. His actions significantly reduced the horrible atrocities of the Vedic religion for some time. The new religious teachings had more respect for human rights and equity it also made the citizens more docile through the concept of non-injury and nonviolence. The dismantling of the social structure resulted in many divisions within the society which eventually made it easy for the Islamic Mongolian invasion. The various factions of beliefs that existed before the Islamic invasion, came together against a common enemy that threatened to annihilate their cultures and beliefs. A modified version of the old oppressive Vedic religion was created to include some aspects of Buddhism and the caste system was further weakened. Gandhi came along as the ultimate human rights activist under the terrorism of British Christian imperialism and he condemned the caste system for creating divisiveness among his people. Science and civil rights activists have become the ultimate nemesis against the oppression, terrorism and bigotry of religion, exposing the deceit and injustice of religion and its various forms of bigotry. As a result the caste system and all other forms of bigotry will eventually be outlawed