I am a member of the Brahmin caste.
The Brahmin castes are the priests. Although I can do any job I like (my brother is a taxi driver), nobody except for Brahmins can be priests.
My duties are that I am a priest in my village mandir. Villagers come to me for advice about their horoscopes. I tell them whether they are going to have a happy marriage, a successful business and what names they should call their babies.
However, most of my time is taken up with offering puja (worship). I offer prayers, food and flowers and light candles and incense to my special goddess who is Saraswati.
If I live a good life and follow all the rules of my caste, and devote myself to God I may be rewarded. Instead of being reincarnated I will become one with God, and reach moksha.
Brahmins follow very strict caste rules, for example, I cannot marry anyone from another caste so my wife is also a Brahmin. She was a teacher before we married but now she looks after our children. When I am 60 I will give up my role in the temple and leave my family to become a holy man. By living a life devoted only to God I hope to avoid being reincarnated after I die.
Brahmins are at the top of the caste system and Hindus try in each of their lives to reach this caste. I have to keep myself ritually pure so I cannot accept food from someone from another caste. My wife can only buy food from a shop run by a Brahmin.
Some Brahmins will cross the road so that the shadow of another caste doesn’t fall across them, but I’m not that strict.
My name is Ramakrishna Ghose. I was named after two of our most heroic gods, Rama and Krishna, and I am a member of the warrior caste.
We are traditionally the warriors and rulers of the Hindu caste system. Hundreds of years ago, my caste was traditionally the equivalent of the army. I had this painting done of me in traditional warrior dress for my 21st birthday.
I run my own electrical business but as a member of the warrior caste, my duty (dharma) is to defend my people if ever called upon to do so. I’ve never wanted to join the army so I think I would find that very difficult to do. If I refused to join the army when called upon to do so, I would bring bad karma to myself and might be punished when I am reincarnated and come back as a lower caste.
However, if I did fight to defend my country I would be fulfilling my duty and could be rewarded in the next life with a better rebirth such as a returning as a Brahmin.
I could also choose to go into politics, as my caste is traidionally involved in serving the community and in government, but I am not really interested in that.
For now I am happy to live my life according to Hindu tradition. I visit the mandir (temple) once a month and pray to our gods Rama and Krishna at home on a daily basis. When I get to the main temple I will go around the outside of the building on my hands and knees as a mark of respect for Krishna, and in the hope that he will grant my wish.
My name is Rajinder Gandhi and I am a skilled metalworker. My father was a grocer and the name Gandhi, which is one of the most common names in India, means ‘grocer’. I didn’t want to follow my family tradition and be a grocer but I still stayed within the caste by becoming a metalworker and businessman.
The Skilled worker caste are businessmen and can have all kinds of jobs such as trading and craftwork. My duties are to produce metal work to the best quality I can, charing a fair price and providing a good service to my customers. I am also a businessman as I run my own metalworking company, and I try and run my business honestly and efficiently. I employ one other metalworker and I think I treat him well.
Each village has its carpenter, potter, builder because people do what their caste duty is. Otherwise, people like me might just have done something else and the village wouldn’t have the skilled craftsmen it needs to survive and prosper.
I think the caste system is very unfair because it has so many rules which make one person “better” than another. I think we should all be treated the same. My father says we must respect our traditional beliefs as the caste system was a part of creation.
One good change is that nowadays however, people don’t always follow the duties of their caste and choose to do something belonging to a different class and it’s becoming more acceptable to do so.
My name is Madhva and I am of the Shudra caste. That means I traditionally have to serve the other three castes as Shudra means servant.
I had little education so I have not been able to get a good job. Most Shudras today work in factories and for a time I worked in a carpet weaving factory. My parents sold me to the owner when I was 10 years old as they could no longer afford to feed me. This sounds very cruel but is accepted in India where so many people are very poor. I hated it as I had to live in the factory and wasn’t allowed a day off. Eventually I escaped, but I never found my parents again.
I have had lots of jobs but I get bored easily and move on to another one. I usually have jobs working for farmers or on factory production lines. I know I should be doing something good to stop my soul from being reborn as a Shudra again but I can’t be bothered. Perhaps I’ll try harder in my next life. At least I haven’t done anything really terrible. My friend was sent to prison recently for killing and eating a cow – he was starving at the time and had a wife and eight children to feed. Killing a cow is a very bad religious crime as cows are sacred in India and he knows he will be further punished after he has died. His soul is likely to return as an animal or insect as punishment for his crime.
My name is Anesh – that’s me on the left of the picture. I’m one of those people called an Outcaste. I prefer the word Dalit which means “of no caste”.
At the moment I’m a beggar and have no where to live. I usually sleep by the side of the road, or sometimes in empty sewage pipes. I spend my day begging and hoping someone will give me enough food or money to survive. Some people will do so, as in Hinduism it is good karma to offer charity to others.
According to Hindu tradition I have been born an Outcaste because I did something wrong in my previous life and now I am being punished. Many Hindus see me as being ’unclean’ and believe I will pollute them if I touch them so I make sure I keep a distance between myself and anyone who does give me charity.
Occasionally I do work that other Hindus will not do because they are seen as polluting eg removing dead bodies.
Life as an Outcaste is horrible. Some higher caste Hindus treat us really badly. I wish I knew what I’d done wrong in my previous life to deserve this. I’m trying to make sure I never do anything wrong so that when I’m reborn it will be higher up the caste ladder. However, I’m not allowed into the temples because I’m unclean, so it’s difficult to do all the things I should be doing like worshipping God and going on pilgrimages.
Luckily, things are changing and it is now illegal to discriminate against my caste. We have been given more employment opportunities and people are no longer allowed to treat us badly.
In fact one of the last presidents of India was from my caste !!