Some facts about the origin of the caste system in India-02
The influence and role of varNa in ancient Hindu educational system
(From the book Education in Ancient India by Dr.A.S.Altekar)
It is usually held that the varNa-vibhAgam--system of class distinctions had rigidly determined the occupations and made the teaching line a monopoly of the BrAhmaNas.
• We shall however find that KShatriya teachers of Vedic and philosophical subjects existed down the 6th century BCE; and that
• the keen intellect of the Brahmana community was for a long time utilised to further the bounds of human knowledge in several branches of non-Vedic studies.
It was only in later times that religious and literary education came to be confined to the BrAhmaNas and professional and industrial training to non-BrAhmaNas.
• Interdining with lower castes, which used to be an anathema among the orthodox upper castes in the earlier centuries, was not so in ancient India.
DharmashAstra writers like Manu (4.253) and Apastamba (2.1.3-4) permit a BrAhmaNa to dine in the house of a barber, a milkman and a tenant and employ a ShUdra cook even for preparing the sacrificial food.
• Inter-caste marriages were allowed by the majority of the SmRties, provided the bridegroom belonged to a higher caste.
Non-BrAhmaNas as Vedic teachers
• Although SmRties have laid down that BrAhmaNas alone should impart Vedic education, it was not so in the earlier period. There is evidence to show that non-BrAhmaNas also sometimes used to become Vedic teachers, with appropriate rituals. (kAThaka samhitA 9.16).
• Some KShatriyas composed Vedic hymns: eg, VishvAmitra in the Rig Veda. In the UpaniShadic period KShatriyas took an important part in the development of philosophy and were the exclusive custodians of many esoteric doctrines, which BrAhmaNas could learn only from them and not without some difficulty. (Ch.Up.5.3.7, Br.Up.2.1.15)
• There are several cases of BrAhmaNas approaching renowned KShatriya teachers like Ashvapati, Janaka and PravAhana Jaivali as humble students of philosophy and religion. (Br.Up.2.1.14, 4.1.1, Ch.Up.4.4.1, etc.)
We should therefore note that the varNa system succeeded in making Vedic and religious education a monopoly of the BrAhmaNas only at about 300 BCE. Nor was it a lucrative monopoly in practice; it was a monopoly to beg. The income of even the most famous Vedic teachers was a precarious one and compared very poorly with the gains of a successful Vysya or a senApati--army captain.
BrAhmaNas as teachers of non-Vedic subjects
• SmRties lay down that except in times of difficulties, BrAhmaNas shoud not take up the occupations of Vysas or kShatriyas. For a long time, however, BrAhmaNas were following a number of non-Vedic pursuits and professions and also figuring as their teachers.
• The PANDava and Kaurava heroes were not trained by a KShatriya but by a BrAhmaNa teacher--DroNAchArya.
• BrAhmaNas were also trainers of horses and elephants (Manu 3.162).
• JAtakas also show that at Taxila, BrAhmaNas used to impart education in several practical professions like the military art, medicine and snake charming, etc., both to BrAhmaNas and KShatriyas (Asadisa J.181, see also Thusa J.338).
• Dhanur Veda lays down that BrAhmaNas are as eligible to be teachers of the military science as KShatriyas (1.4).
It was only in later times, from 500 CE onwards, that BrAhmaNas ceased to be teachers of useful arts and professions owing to the growing rigour of the varNa system.
VarNa system in the curriculum, domination of Vedic studies
• SmRties lay down emphatically that all BrAhmaNas should devote twelve years after their Upanayanam, to Vedic studies. In practice, however, only about a fifth of the BrAhmaNa community, used to devote itself to Vedic studies, when new branches like grammar, philosophy, law and classical Sanskrit literature came to be developed.
This was alright because, for preservation of the oral tradition of the Vedas, the services of only a small section of the community who could take up the rigours were necessary. The rest were required only to study the Vedas and other scriptures only for their prayogam--practice, in Vedic rituals.
Vedic studies of the KShatriyas and Vysyas
• The term dvija included the KShatriyas and Vysyas along with BrAhmaNas. So the SmRtiti requires even the KShatriyas and Vysyas to pursue Vedic studies after their Upanayanam, although such studies were never deep or prolonged.
• Some JAtaka stories however mention that some princes used to study all the three Vedas as well as eighteen practical sciences (Dummedha J.50).
• MahAbhArata mentions that the Kaurava princes were experts in Veda, VedAnta and various branches of military science (1.118, 133).
Although in the early times Vedic and philosophical studies were included in the curriculam of the prince, they were left out in course of time. From about the beginning of the Christian era, KShatriyas and Vysyas gradually gave up undergoing the Upanayanam, so became ineligible for Vedic studies. (Hence the observation of DalhaNa, a medical writer, in Sushruta, sharIra 10.52). By about 1000 CE they were reduced to the position of the ShUdras and were debarred from Vedic education.
Vedic education and the ShUdras
• Sacred texts have laid down in very emphatic terms that the ShUdra should be rigourously excluded the Vedic education and rituals. This injunction has been always carried out in practice.
• Some early texts allow the carpenter to be eligible for Upanayanam and Vedic study; however in those times, he was a member of the Aryan and not the ShUdra community.
• The exclusion of the ShUdras from the Vedic studies undoubtedly appears as unjustifiable to us at present, but there were peculiar circumstances that necessitated this step in early times.
• In the preservation of the Vedas by oral tradition, the AchAryas believed that if there was the slightest mistake in the pronunciation of the Vedic mantras, a disaster would inevitably issue (PANINIya shikShA 5.52).
• As the Vedic Sanskrit was not the mother tongue of the ShUdras, it was feared that Vedic hymns would be transformed out of recognition, if they were transmitted orally in ShUdra families from generation to generation, which in the eyes of AchAryas, would be a great disaster.
• Later on, when female education began to lag behind, and women as class ceased to be educated in Sanskrit, in is interesting to note that the BrAhmaNa AchAryas did not flinch from placing their own mothers, wives, and daughters in the category of the ShUdras and declaring unhesitatingly that they also were unfit for Vedic studies.
Theological animus or pride was thus not at the root of the exclusion of the ShUdras and women from the Vedic education. Nor did it amount to a total denial of religious education; for women and ShUdras were permitted to get religious enlightenment from the study of SmRties, ItihAsas and PurANas.
Conclusion
With the exception of the ShUdras from the Vedic education, the varNa system for a long time did not result in restricting occupations to specific varNas.
• Gautama Dharma Shastra 1.6.16 mentions, "rAjanyavaishyakarmA vidyAhInaH", prescribing the occupations of the KShatriya and Vysya for dull BrAhmaNa children.
• Ambitious BrAhmaNas were also not prevented from the military profession, where glittering prizes awaited the successful adventurer.
• A BrAhmaNa priest of holy Benaras is to be seen sending his son to Taxila to learn archery, because it was predicted that he was to be a king (SArabhanga J.no.522).
• It was ambition alone that was responsible for sovereignity being vested in BrAhmaNa families like those of Shungas, KaNvas, Kadambas.
• Army recruitment was not confined to the KShatriyas; inscriptions make it clear that it was largely recruited from the agriculturists and the ShUdras. Dhanurveda also contemplates military education for all four varNas.
It is interesting to note that when Yuan Chwang was in India in the second quarter of the 7th century CE, the kings of Ujjain, Maheshvar and Assam were BrAhmaNas; those of PariyAtra and Kanauj, Vyshyas; and those of Matipura, and Sindh, ShUdras.
The commericial and industry lines were also very often followed by BrAhmaNas and KShatriyas. The varNa system therefore made education rigid only to a limited degree and that too from c.800 CE.
varNa and the Buddhist education
• Since Buddhism was against the Vedas, education was provided to members of all varNas. Persons were admitted to the Order irrespective of the varNas, although servants, slaves, and debtors were refused admission to the Order. UpAli, a favourite disciple of Buddha, was a barber before he joined the Order.
• However, it is interesting to note that among famous Buddhist teachers and scholars, the vast majority consisted of people who earlier were BrAhmaNas. Thus MoggalAna, SAriputta, NAgasena, Vasubandhu and NAgArjuna were all BrAhmaNas before their conversion.
, please explain further, I don't understand.
