Caste System Role-Play Activity
Background: Hinduism is a religion from India that is different in many parts of the country. But one thing that is similar is the caste system.
The ancient Aryans, who created Hindu beliefs, divided Indian society into 4 castes: Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Sudra. The Untouchable are outcasts (not even technically part of the caste system). Each caste had to practice good dharma (the rules for their caste) and understand the idea of karma (your actions will have consequences) or else they might be reincarnated in a lower caste. However, if they practiced good dharma, they might move up the caste system in their next life.
Your Task: You will be told which caste you are in. Each person will be part of a group that has one student from each caste. As a group, you must read the attached article about the caste system.
Then you must make a poster that cuts out images and words from a newspaper and glue them onto a diagram. The diagram shows the levels of the caste system, so you must choose images or words that relate to each specific case and then, next to the level, explain how they relate.
The roles for each caste are:
- Brahmin - Supervise and direct the others. You are in charge of deciding which images go into the diagram, proofreading and editing what the Kshatriyas write, and keeping everyone on task.
- Kshatriya - You will write explanations describing how the images relate to the caste level. The Brahmin must proofread a rough draft of what you write before it is written onto the poster. While you are waiting for something to do, you must remain quiet and respect those in your own caste and those above your caste.
- Vaishya - You must glue the images onto the diagram in the right ways according to what the Brahmin decide. While you are waiting for something to do, you must remain quiet and respect those in your caste and those above your caste.
- Sudra: You must cut out the words and images, which the Brahmins decide on from the magazine. While you are waiting for something to do, you must remain quiet and respect those in your own caste and those above your caste.
- Untouchables: You are the clean-up crew. You are not allowed to speak to or interact with anyone outside your caste and you must clean up as people make a mess (For example, if there are scraps of paper, pick them up). They can speak to you, but you cannot speak to them.
Karma and Dharma Points: While doing this activity, there will be at least one karma and dharma monitor walking around the class. They will have lists of every student and be adding a “plus” or “minus” sign next to everyone’s name if they are practicing good or bad karma and dharma. At the end of the class, the dharma and karma points each student has will be added up, and that will determine your grade for the assignment. Remember, your grade is based on how well you act according to your dharma.
Answer the following questions using the reading; follow the rules given to you on the rules sheet on the back of your poster.
- How could one enter a higher caste?
- If one’s karma is bad, what might happen?
Thinking questions (what do you think?)
- Do you think the people of India questioned this system? Why or why not?
- The Hindus believe in reincarnation. What does this mean for those of you who may not be in the most ideal caste? What could you do to change that?
The Caste System
Photo courtesy of Carolyn Brown Heinz
These girls, who belong to the Untouchable caste, make dung patties which are used for fuel and heat by members of all the castes. This job was considered so unclean that other castes did not associate with the members of society that performed it.
If a Hindu person were asked to explain the nature of the caste system, he or she might start to tell the story of Brahma — the four-headed, four-handed deity worshipped as the creator of the universe.
According to an ancient text known as the Rigveda, the division of Indian society was based on Brahma's divine manifestation of four groups.
Priests and teachers were cast from his mouth, rulers and warriors from his arms, merchants and traders from his thighs, and workers and peasants from his feet.
What does "Caste" Mean?
Even today, most Indian languages use the term "jati" for the system of hereditary social structures in South Asia. When Portuguese travelers to 16th-century India first encountered what appeared to them to be race-based social stratification, they used the Portuguese term "casta" — which means "race" — to describe what they saw. Today, the term "caste" is used to describe stratified societies based on hereditary groups not only in South Asia but throughout the world.
Others might present a biological explanation of India's stratification system, based on the notion that all living things inherit a particular set of qualities. Some inherit wisdom and intelligence, some get pride and passion, and others are stuck with less fortunate traits. Proponents of this theory attribute all aspects of one's lifestyle — social status, occupation, and even diet — to these inherent qualities and thus use them to explain the foundation of the caste system.
The Origins of the Caste System
According to one long-held theory about the origins of South Asia's caste system, Aryans from central Asia invaded South Asia and introduced the caste system as a means of controlling the local populations. The Aryans defined key roles in society, then assigned groups of people to them. Individuals were born into, worked, married, ate, and died within those groups. There was no social mobility.
The Aryan Myth
The idea of an "Aryan" group of people was not proposed until the 19th century. After identifying a language called Aryan from which Indo-European languages are descended, several European linguists claimed that the speakers of this language (named Aryans by the linguists) had come from the north — from Europe.
Thus, according to this theory, European languages and cultures came first and were therefore superior to others. This idea was later widely promoted by Adolf Hilter in his attempts to assert the "racial superiority" of so-called light-skinned people from Europe over so-called dark-skinned people from the rest of the world — and thus provide justification for genocide.
But 20th-century scholarship has thoroughly disproved this theory. Most scholars believe that there was no Aryan invasion from the north. In fact, some even believe that the Aryans — if they did exist — actually originated in South Asia and spread from there to Europe. Regardless of who the Aryans were or where they lived, it is generally agreed that they did not single-handedly create South Asia's caste system.
Thus, it has been impossible to determine the exact origins of the caste system in South Asia. In the midst of the debate, only one thing is certain: South Asia's caste system has been around for several millennia and, until the second half of the 20th century, has changed very little during all of that time.
Time for Class
In ancient India, the ranked occupational groups were referred to asvarnas, and the hereditary occupational groups within thevarnaswere known asjatis.Many have immediately assumed that ascribed social groups and rules prohibiting intermarriage among the groups signify the existence of a racist culture. But this assumption is false.Varnasare not racial groups but rather classes.
Fourvarnacategories were constructed to organize society along economic and occupational lines. Spiritual leaders and teachers were called Brahmins. Warriors and nobility were called Kshatriyas. Merchants and producers were called Vaishyas. Laborers were called Sudras.
The Untouchables
In addition to thevarnas,there is a fifth class in Hinduism. It encompassed outcasts who, literally, did all the dirty work. They were referred to as "untouchables" because they carried out the miserable tasks associated with disease and pollution, such as cleaning up after funerals, dealing with sewage, and working with animal skin.
Brahmins were considered the embodiment of purity, and untouchables the embodiment of pollution. Physical contact between the two groups was absolutely prohibited. Brahmins adhered so strongly to this rule that they felt obliged to bathe if even the shadow of an untouchable fell across them.
Struggling against Tradition
Although the political and social force of the caste system has not disappeared completely, the Indian government has officially outlawed caste discrimination and made widespread reforms. Particularly through the efforts of Indian nationalists such as Mohandas Gandhi, rules preventing social mobility and cross-caste mingling have been loosened.
Gandhi renamed the untouchablesHarijans, which means "the people of God." Adopted in 1949, the Indian Constitution provided a legal framework for the emancipation of untouchables and for the equality of all citizens.
In recent years, the Untouchables have become a politically active group and have adopted for themselves the name Dalits, which means "those who have been broken."