The main theories which explain the origin of caste

system in India are:-

1.Brahmanical Theory

2.Occupational Theory

3.Traditional Theory

4.Racial Theory
 According to this theory caste system originated
and developed in India because of Brahmins

 Made by Brahmins for Brahmins

 Restrictions on eating,drinking,social
relations,etc with Non-Brahmins,to preserve purity

 Gave themselves high status,special privileges &

prerogatives in the Brahmanas

 Declared others inferior to them

 The Brahmanas said:

 “Whatever a Brahmins says is a social norm s.”

 “A Brahmin can can never be severely punished,so

much so that even for offences for which other
persons are liable to be hanged , a Brahmin will
only shave his head.”

 “The salvation of individuals and society depends

on the performance of the elaborate rites by
brahmins;without his ministry,even the king’s
prayers and offerings were unacceptable to gods”.
 The Brahmanical view supports divine sanction.The
purpose of creation is stated by Manu thus:

• “For the sake of preserving the universe the Being

devoted separate duties to those who sprang
respectively from His mouth,His arms,His thighs
and His feet.”

• “That man is purer above the naval,but the self-

creating power declared the purest part of him to
be his mouth.Since brahmana sprang from the
most excellent part,since he was the first born and
since he possess the Veda,he is by right the chief
of the whole creation.”
Diagrammatic representation of the hierarchy
of the castes:
 The whole basis of the caste system is the division
of occupations, & that the social gradation of
castes corresponds precisely to the different
periods of civilization during
which their traditional occupations originated

 Brahmins got the highest status, being specialized

in the ‘occupation’ of sacrifices, hymns, rituals
,important at that time
 Brahmin was the first born of castes,the model
upon which all the other castes were subsequently
formed.

 Denzil Ibbetson explains the origin of castes as the

result of interaction of three forces:
1.Tribe
2.Guilds
3.Religion
He says that tribes developed as occupational
guilds & they came to function on religious lines &
thus developed as castes in the process of social
evolution.
 The traditional theory believes that the caste system has
been established by divine ordinance or at least with
divine approval.

 It considers caste as a naturally determined

organization of social functions & explains the
membership of an individual in a particular caste in
terms of karma &dharma doctrines.

 Krishna has said in Geeta:

“The four-fold system(chaturvarnya) was created by me
according to the division of qualities(gunas) and
functions(karma).”
 According to karma doctrine , a man is born in a
particular caste because of his actions performed
in his previous incarnation.

 According to dharma doctrine , a man who accepts

the caste system & the norms of his particular
caste, is living according to dharma.

 Observing the rules of his dharma and karma leads

to birth in a higher caste,otherwise birth in a low
and poor caste.

 Each caste has separate function & this function is

determined by the nature(swabhav) & the
qualities(guna) of the caste members.
 Sir Herbert Risley laid stress on the racial basis of
caste, showing that difference of race & difference
of colour were the foundation of the Indian caste
system.

 There seems reason to suppose that the contact of

the Aryans with the indigenous people of India was,
to a large extent, responsible for the growth of the
caste system.
 Westermarck observes that India was inhabited by
the dark people(dasyus) before the fairer Aryans
took possession of it.

• Their bitter contempt for foreign tribes & heir

strong antipathies of race found vent in the sharp
distinctions which they drew b/w themselves & the
conquered population

• It were these distinctions which originated caste

system.