Was it the Hindu religion that created Caste?

Original Source: https://www.jeyamohan.in/185101/
28-Jun-2023

In the field of ideologies, the one thing we must realize is that any ideology is a product of its times. We must understand the ideology only through its origin, its logical methods etc. We must also be re-evaluating that ideology constantly through the contemporary perspectives.

When European researchers arrived on our shores, they saw the caste system that was prevailing here. During their research, the proponents of caste system cited the scriptures that emphasized the Varna system. The researchers interpreted this to mean that the Hindu scriptures were propounding the Varna system. They theorized that the Varna system was the one that morphed into the Caste system

Two centuries have elapsed whence this occurred. Several scientific studies like sociology and anthropology have since been developed. There are now myriad new principles. We now have the facility to collect and analyze on all information from around the world.

But even today, many among us have been deliberating only through the theories of those ancient European researchers. I am not talking about the religious fanatics nor the politicians, rather those from the general public.

D.D.Kosambi, a researcher of Marxist ideology, has studied about the Indian Caste system in detail. Let me provide an overview based on his study.

Let us consider the social life of India's tribals, which a researcher named Verrier Elwin had researched in detail. Every tribe has its own identity and do not mingle with other tribes. Many tribes do not even touch people from other tribes. They are quite intent on maintaining their uniqueness.

I have seen it in person. Western Ghats tribes Paliyans and Kurumbas do not interdine. A researcher named K.Panoor has recorded that till 20 years ago, they wouldn't touch one another. Even today in the Bargur hills near Erode, Sholagas and other tribes do not share water, nor do they have a common well. The government that decrees abolition of untouchability cannot preach that among tribals.

Tribals have purification ceremony as well. If a person touches another tribe or people from other tribes sit in their places, tribals purify by smearing with cow dung. Tribals from Tamil Nadu do this even today.

Until the times of motorized vehicles, nobody could enter the mountain forests. Other people didn't have any contacts with the tribals. Their language was quite different. Even today, there are some tribal groups in Orissa who have not evolved towards clothes. How did they develop these divisions and purification customs? Did 'Manu Dharma' teach them? Did Brahmins teach them?

Kosambi remarks that India's social structure can be easily understood. There are cloth-less tribes in India; they lead a life from 50 millenniums ago. On the other hand, we have people leading the ultra modern 21st century lifestyle in downtown Mumbai. And we have various levels of lifestyles within these two extremes. If we stratify them, we can understand the evolution of last fifty thousand years.

Examined as such, we can easily understand how castes originated. Among the tribals, there are many groups, which are called tribes. In the Northeast states, there are no castes, rather there are only tribes. Those tribes have been warring among themselves even till today. If the governance becomes weak even a tad, then they start massacring each other.

This destruction had been happening for thousands of years. Therefore, increasing their population was the only way to survive. So, the ancient tribes welcomed others into theirs. They kidnapped women from other tribes. Either through war or through marital alliances, they assimilated smaller tribes among themselves.

That is, they assimilated others but retained the identity of theirs and increased their numbers. They were the ones who became castes. The tribes which couldn't grow were defeated and destroyed. Those who were in dense forests were the ones to survive and have been living the tribal life till now.

Tribes combine and in the course of time become the caste. Consequently, in India, every caste has its own cultural identity. Customs and orthodoxies are unique. Deities are different. Their facial forms are unique. Even their food is different.

India has an amusing irony. Everyone will berate the casteist structure and would suggest that they have been oppressed. But nobody will be ready to forsake their own caste. They won't forgo their casteist pride.

If Brahmin conspired and gave you the Castes, then why have it? If 'Manu Dharma' gave you the castes, then why don't you throw it away? You can't. Is it not because of the reason that you feel the caste to be your identity? Isn't it a fact that even the lowest castes do not forgo their caste identity?

Therefore, people do not protest Castes, rather it is the stratification of castes. They protest against the categorization of castes into higher and lower levels. Every caste alienates itself from the ones below it and opposes those that are above it. Even brahmins are not exceptions to this. Even among them, there is a stratification due to which we can see strife among them.

How did that stratification come about? This can also be seen in the North-east. Among the tribes, those with higher population and violence are counted as higher and other tribes are considered as lower. The smaller tribes must be obedient towards larger tribes, else there will be a direct and bitter violence and it happens constantly. It becomes a news only if several lives are lost. If this ethnic stratification lasts for a thousand years, it becomes caste.

We know for fact that every caste has many sects, with each one having unique identity. Even today, in many castes, inter-sects marriage do not happen. One sect considers another as lower. Don't we have scores of sects within a caste?

Should we think that all these divisions and sub-divisions were created by Brahmin? Did a single scripture named 'Manu Dharma' created these several thousands of divisions in India? Can that happen? Were they all Gods to create such divisions among crores of people and create castes?

In any case, were our ancestors foolish to get divided into such thousands of groups just because someone says so? I wont say that about my ancestors.

Smaller tribes combined to form larger tribes. Tribes became castes. In due course, castes also got merged. Only during the caste-based census conducted in 1910 under British rule, did castes under the same stratification level came together and formed a common name for themselves. But beneath that, they still have their uniqueness.

People did not get divided as castes, rather they got grouped as castes. That is how Indian society formed and is still evolving. Even in the last 3 decades, we have seen several similar-level castes getting combined. This kind of grouping would continue in future too.

Today, caste has an economic foundation. Caste identity is also an individual's identity in our society. If both these factors recede in the course of time, caste-structure would also recede. Someone with even a foundational Marxist learning can also judge this. Caste is just the facade; economics is the structure. The structure needs to change for the facade to change.

I am not a proponent of casteism. I believe that in today's life, caste identity is unnecessary and I have built my personal life against this casteist structure. But I would view caste on its historic basis. It is a structure that formed when the Indian society evolved from the tribal lifestyle. Nobody created it. Religion did not create it.


References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varna_(Hinduism)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_in_India

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damodar_Dharmananda_Kosambi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verrier_Elwin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paliyan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurumba_(tribe)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._Panoor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soliga_people