How did the caste system start in ancient India and what were the purposes of the different castes?
The caste system in India is very ancient. It derived from the Vedic period, during which the Hindu-influenced law or Dharma was created to regulate society. It had similar characteristics to Buddhist thought but was also challenged by it. Hindu-society had also come to be dominated by the Aryan invaders who saw the caste system, mandated by Dharma, as a means of perpetuating their own superior positions in society. Consequently, the Aryan influence on the caste system was to associate it with racial elements and the immutability of social immobility. In other words, Buddhist thought suggested that it was possible for an individual soul to accumulate enough good (or bad) karma to move from one caste to another. This was something the Aryans would not accept because it posed a threat to the so-called ‘Racial Purity’ that they maintained. Of course, the concept of ‘Racial Purity’ has been used by very many people throughout history to justify abuse or mistreatment of people from other ethnic groups and it is always nonsense because all people of the world contain a mixture of all kinds of ethnic groups who have intermixed and intermarried through the long history of human society.
In any case, the schematic caste system consisted of four categories, although in reality things were a little messier than priests and princes might like to acknowledge. Each caste had its own specific purpose and designated membership. It was not expected that castes would customarily mix, at least not on an equal basis and the lower caste would have to give way to the higher one whenever their paths crossed.
The highest caste was that of the Brahmans, who were the only ones permitted to read the Vedas (from which they drew their power) and their role was to spread knowledge and teaching throughout the world. The second caste was the Ksatriya, who were the warrior-nobles of society. It was Ksatriyas who dominated positions in government and temporal society and their power was superior to all but the religious Brahmans. Below them were the Vaisyas, who were a form of bourgeoisie, including traders, shopkeepers, artisans and skilled workers of various kinds. They were worthy of receiving knowledge of the Vedas and respectable people in their own right but should remain in their place. Commerce, consequently, was inferior to governance, which was in turn inferior to religion. Ancient Chinese society had a similar means of organisation. The final caste was that of the Sudras, who were the servile class whose task it was to serve and support the other three castes. Some Sudras could be classified as the unclean untouchables, while others became a slave class. Social mobility was, supposedly, a process that only ever moved people downwards.
