Yellow - Religious Life

Dharma

duty, right, religion, law, obligation, justice, conscience - "it is better to do one's own dharma, than to do another's dharma" - Bhagavad Gita

Sanatan

universal, timeless, constant

Doing these duties upholds Rta (cosmic order)

duties - mercy, honesty, hospitality, purity, patience, ahimsa (non-violence) - Mary Has Hepatitis Please Provide Aid

Sadharana

general moral duties

Svadhama

a person's individual duties

Stridharma

a woman's duties

Catuvarnashramadharma - your duty according to your position in the four varnas of society and the four ashramas

Ahimsa - refraining from harming any living being - vegetarianism

Some duties are "context sensitive" - Doniger

Varna - Caste

Origins

Development

Current situations and issues

God mandated through the Bhagavad Gita - Krishna - "in order to distinguish among one's qualities and functions"

4 fold system - all equal

Brahmins - priests

Khsatriyas - warrior

Vaishyas - merchants

Shudras - unskilled labourer

fluidity, based on skills and qualities, no restrictions on marriage eating or jobs, social system

God mandated through the Rig Veda (holy text) - Hymn of Primal Man (Purusha Sukta)

head is the Brahimns (the purest), arms are the Khsatriyas (the strongest), legs are the Vaishyas (the skilled), feet are the Shudras (the impure)

hierarchy, purity and pollution, superiority, inferiority, hereditary by birth, karmic consequences, rigidity within the caste

commensality - no eating outside of your caste

endogamy - no marriage outside of your caste

Gandhi

noticed that untouchables (dalits, Harijans - children of God) were most disadvantaged so he proposed to absorb them into the shudra varna

Not all Brahmins are rich and not all Shudras are poor

Gautama's principle - Gautama accepts young boy as his student, even though he is not a Brahmin, Gautama asked the boy who is father was, the boy asked his mother and relayed the embarrassing answer to Gautama. The boy was accepted because he was "thoroughly honest"

Gunas

one of the 3 gunas will be the dominating characteristic of a person, but there will be a less obvious guna

Sattva - truth, evolution, wisdom, allows one to pursue what is right and progress spiritually

Tamas - dullness and the quality which tends to hold one back to avert progress

Rajas - active quality which makes us pursue things

Each varna is different

Brahmins - sattva/rajas - white - purity

Kshatriyas - rajas/sattva - red - passion

Vaishyas - rajas/tamas - yellow - earthly

Shudras - tamas/rajas - black - dullness

Varna and Jati

if people act out against their varna and their jati, they will affect cosmic order (Rta) and have a karmic consequence

"It is Jati which really dictates the rules and regulations of life for the average hindu" - Fowler

"It is a property of the body and cannot be removed" - Flood

Brahmin - priestly and intellectual - gatekeeper of knowledge of Brahman - Jati = priests, teachers and intellectuals

Kshatriya - lordliness - never surrender to external agression - Jati = police and government

Vaishya - create wealth and produce goods - care for those less fortunate - Jati = business and farmers

Shudra - manual labourers to be employed by others - serve other varnas - Jati = artists and craftsmen

Strengths and criticisms of Varna

'varna' means 'colour' - Brahmins are better than Shudras

criticisms

illegal but still continues - Article 15 (1) "The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on the grounds of caste" - Article 15 (4) AAP special provisions for dalits - article 15 is supportive of equality

one caste is superior to another - caste system worked until 5th Century with the basic law book for Hinduism - Manava Dharma Shastra - Manu's doctrine forbids mobility among 4 castes and a Brahmin who is scholarly excels others

Restricted mobility - the idea of applying a function to a caste was abandoned when the Manu allowed downwards mobility of Brahmins under certain circumstances

used to justify discrimination - Srinivasan recounts where as a child he saw a shudra stop to pay respect to a brahmin and another where a brahmin beat a shudra for harvesting crops too early - discrimination is shown in jobs and marriage - commensality and endogamy

strengths

Caste system today

India won independence from Britain in 1947

1950 - Article 15

Article 15 (1) - the "State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of caste"

Article 15 (4) - "special provision for the advancement of backwards classes" - AAP meant that non-brahmins had 'reserved seats' in unis and they could also seek public office - example is Ambedka (Dalit) became Law Minister

impact

limited uni places so self-immolation attempts and hunger strikes occurred - 1990 Delhi Uni student attempted to self-immolate

Reality of the system

Srinivasan "The 5,000 year old Indian culture refuses to give up caste in its private life even while it dances boldly with modernity in public" - there is no fluidity amongst castes because of economic reasons and lack of interest - marriage outside caste is preferred because of preferences

security through a community - Tully - "the system provides a wider support group"

you can't separate caste from Hinduism - Parsons - "Hinduism as a religion is but an aspect of this social system"

social justice is best served by universal law

Kishwar - "strong community ties" - greater social security for the poor than any other sytstem

Ashrama

1st half of catuvarnashramadharma

upper 3 castes for men only

2nd part of catuvarnashramadharma

4 stages of life

has values which are relevant to today's society

stage 1 Brahmacharya - Ashrama is celibacy, study, respect, 12-15 years of age, intoxication should be avoided, Manu "restrain his senses which run wild among alluring sense objects"

stage 2 Grihasta - Ashrama is artha and kama (wealth and pleasure within legitimate bounds), longest, most important, most lenient, wedding is called Vivaha, must provide for family and society "as all creatures depend on air for life in the same way all ashramas subsist on the support of grihastas"

stage 3 Vanaprastha - Ashrama is contemplation and being an advisory role, 'retire to the forest', isolated personal reflection, "when the skin becomes wrinkled"

stage 4 Sannyasa - Ashrama is to be celibate and gain awareness of God, give up the material world, attain moksha if 3 previous life stages are achieved, Fowler - "treated with a great deal of respect ... mingled with fear"

respect - produces greater cohesion in the family - orderly society - respect for teachers facilitates better transmission of knowledge

live for others - sewa (welfare for all) - Grihasta stage of life allows one to fulfil one's legitimate desires in a spirit of care and responsibility - self sacrifice can prevent the breakdown of marriages

Dalits

Who

outcaste, below and outside caste system, Gandhi named them "Children of God", untouchables

Status

considered physically unclean, spiritually impure, excluded from vedic religion, punished with karmic justification, discrimination through exclusion and schools and wells, night soil remover could be richer than a Brahmin

Gandhi vs Ambedka

Gandhi

Vaishya

loved Bhagavad Gita and wanted to revert as current system lead to untouchability "blot on Hinduism"

wants Dalits absorbed into Shudras "all are sparks of one and the same fire"

Ambedka

Dalit

wants to eradicate varna completely as it is "easier to change the law than people's hearts"

didn't agree with unity so converted 4 million people to Buddhism

believes that all humans are of equal value and are worth equal respect - based on Advaita Vedanta

believed in political mobilisation of the Dalits