India and the Caste System Alternative Form of Neo- Kinship ppt download. India and the Caste System Alternative Form of Neo- Kinship 1. Outline: India 1) Social system – Caste and its Origins 2) Origin of caste system – Original technology: iron age 3) Political level – Short- lived imperial dynasties – feudal: Why? Compare – China – social structure – Greece – technology 5) Beliefs: Karma, Reincarnation – Bhagavad- Gita 2. Caste System is a Kinship System A caste (varna) is an intermarrying group – Kinship; hereditary membership A caste eats together – A high- caste Brahmin does not eat with someone of a lower caste; different diets for different castes Divided by occupation: priest, warrior, merchant, peasant Legal status, rights based on caste membership – Gandhi was refused permission to study in England Visible identifiers of caste, – e. Religious origin of caste hierarchy Dismemberment of Purusha (2. Head (mouth): Brahmin (priest, teacher) (white) – Arms: Kshatriya (rulers, warriors) (red) – Legs: Vaishya (landlords, businessmen) (brown) – Feet: Sudra (peasants) (black) 5. Outcasts Pariahs - - Untouchables, outcastes – –polluting work (dealing with cowhide, excrement, scavengers, landless laborers, etc.) – 2. Phoolan Devi, “The Bandit Queen” – Dalit (oppressed); “Harijan” (Gandhi: Children of God) 6. Development of Castes: Jati Subcastes of religious- based varna- castes Evolution of division of labor – Occupations multiply: school teachers, brick layers – Marry inside jati caste; observe eating, dietary codes “tens of thousands” of jati- castes today – Spodek 2. Requires tolerance of different groups 8. Some constituted themselves as republics, others as monarchies.” (2. What was the time- period of the early states? Iron Age neo- kinship civilization Clear the forests with iron tools Lineage groups = kinship Extend control over others (non- Aryans) = neo- kinship: caste system States that emphasize kinship democracy: republics States that emphasize hierarchical control of one kinship group over others: monarchies 1. Political weakness, cultural strength of India “For the following 1. Kevin Crowley Cultivating Conflict In human relations the pinnacle of conflict is violence and war. But what is the source. Etymology of the name and origins of her cult Athena is associated with Athens, a plural name, because it was the place where she presided over her sisterhood, the. The Nuttal Encyclopedia has over 16,000. One Polynices remained unburied and unlamented outside the walls of Thebes, while the other Eteocles with orders of CrDas. Unlike Polynices and Eteocles . The two brothers Polynices and Eteocles. Guidelines do not purport to achieve the subtleties of the languages in question but will. Polynices and Eteocles. Human diets continued to be supplemented. Eteocles and Polynices, killed. India nevertheless retained a strong sense of cultural unity, based in large part on its familial, social, economic, and religious institutions, along with its widely shared literary epics.” Spodek 2. Feudal decentralization Recall Egypt’s and China’s long periods of centralized rule, with short periods of feudal decentralization. In India, the reverse is the case: feudal decentralization predominates – = Rule of local powers Evolution: from early republics (within ruling group emphasized) to later monarchies (rule over others emphasized) – Recall China: clans rule over clans 1. Kshatria caste, indifference to politics: none of your business Highest caste: Brahmins – superior to rulers => politics is not the highest => difficulty of rule 1. Diversity China’s neo- kinship system unifies – Clans conquer other clans with similar culture – Head of ruling clan: father of all – Unites society under ruler India’s neo- kinship system divides – Aryan group rules others of dissimilar culture – Aim: preserve unity of ruling group versus assimilation by others – Divides society into different groups 1. Comparative civilizations 1) Regarding technology – Iron age civilization – Early republics found along Ganges: freedom! Better to live on beggar’s bread With those we love alive, Than taste their blood in rich feasts spread And guiltily survive!” 2. Crisis of kinship morality Focus on moral consciousness, duty – As warrior – Ordinary goals of warrior: power, wealth, pleasure But this action leads to conflict with kinship relations – As brother, nephew, cousin How enjoy victory at such cost? Explain Appeals to charioteer Krishna for guidance – Divine “avatar” 2. Solution to Arjuna’s problem Do your duty as a warrior prince – your destiny in this life Without attachment to consequences (joy over victory, sorrow over deaths etc.) – Get off the emotional rollercoaster! What is killed is not the true Self, but the shadow, the illusion – which does not really exist anyway What is real, the truth Self, is unkillable 2. Karma and Reincarnation Karma (= action): we make our own reality – Recall Greek idea of self- determined destiny – We are free, but because of our blindness, we produce what we don’t want “But I’m not responsible for being be born in my (lower) caste” Yes you are, because of actions in a previous lifetime 2. Different concepts of Reincarnation Plato’s NDE of Er – Ulysses chooses quiet lifetime – Freedom is to determine one’s own life Later concept of empire: freedom is affirmed in unfreedom – Stoicism in powerful Roman empire: You can’t determine external events – Hinduism of Indian feudalism: yes you can 2. Debased conception of Karma/Action 1) Debased conception of action/Karma as justification of caste system – Purusha is divided into four castes as justification of hierarchical state system – Scientifically educated modern person discovers: “I am not the feet of Purusha!” Why you are poor, lower caste – Because of sins in past life 2. Higher conception of Karma 2 ) Higher conception of Bhagavad- Gita: Four parts of Purusha represent four basic spiritual personalities, without hierarchy – (1) Intellectual, spiritual personality – head, Brahmin – (2) Government, protection, police, army arms, Kshatriya – (3) Social relations, exchange, trade Legs, Vaishya – (4) Work, making things Feet, Sudra 2. Karma and Duty/Destiny (Bad) Karma: letting worry over external consequences decide one’s action – Arjuna worries about killing his relatives – Unlike Polynices and Eteocles – Arjuna is like Antigone! Duty—Destiny: deciding on the basis of one’s duty: – Arjuna is a warrior, and should do his duty, follow his destiny, without concern for consequences 2.
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