SOCIAL GROUPING BASED ON OCCUPATION
"For the three varnas, three
pursuits have been indicated in the sacred texts... When these are followed,
the world's welfare is ensured."
Social organization in the age of the
epics was based on the chaturvarna, a broad, four-fold division of society based
on occupation. It is likely that this was initially an open, fluid grouping that
became increasingly rigid over time. Conventionally traced to the Purusha Sukia hymn of
the Rig Veda, chaturvama looks at society as an organism with its head, hands,
thighs, and feet formed by those involved in ritual, administration, trade, and
service activities. These make up the four varnas-Brahman. Kshatriya. Vaishya,
and Shudra. In the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna explains the origin and function of
the caste system to Arjuna, telling him, "This fourfold order was
established by me on the basis of the divisions of quality and work. But though
I have created it, understand that 1 am incapable of action or change. The
division of society into varnas, therefore, assumed divine origin and sanction.
To use the term "caste" for
varna is not strictly accurate, for each varna is further divided into smaller
groups-jatis-whose rules of membership more closely match the Western definition of
caste. However, in common usage, caste is used interchangeably for both varna
and jati. It broadly refers to an endogamous group, its position in the social
order is defined by occupation and entry into it is defined by birth.
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