Caste Systems, East and West
The only people who want to keep the caste system in America are those who are at the top of it. The only people who want to deny, ignore and keep it in the closet are those who are defaced and shamed at the bottom of it. Hindus in America who are hanging on to a discriminatory system that’s been disavowed in its own country of origin should welcome being disabused of the fundamentally elitist, hierarchical pattern of beliefs.
It is, itself, a late cultural import into the Indian sub-continent, riding on the wings (or more accurately, on horseback and by chariot) of the waves of Indo-Iranian invasions and the immigration of elitist Vedic warriors. They carried with them their five-tiered caste system of the plains warriors and their priestly cult of the all-male trinity consisting of Ram, Mitra and Varuna. The lightest skinned descendants of the Vedic invaders became the ruling Brahmin priestly caste, and the dark-skinned descendants of the indigenous Dravidians, related to the Tamils of today, for the most part became the Dalits, non-caste (“not of The People”) or “Untouchables.”
Coming over the Khyber Pass from the Iranian Plateau in pre-history, the invaders first contacted the ancient and evolved land and sea-trading Indus River Valley Civilization and its major cities of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro. They stayed and spread their hegemony across the subcontinent, extending their grip east across the high Himalayas, with Hindu caste system blending with Indigenous shamanist beliefs, and south to the southernmost tip and beyond.
Concepts from the Rg Veda, Avestan scriptures and the warriors’ oral traditions travelled south and east with the invading northern tribes, seeding cultures as far as the islands and atolls of the South Indian Ocean. The system reached as far as the island chains that would eventually become the Philippines, which were also part of the Indian Empire at one point.
In the West, the waves of Indo-European invasion by these same horse warriors of the Eurasian Steppe brought the same basic five-tiered caste system, evident in the social structuring of Germanic (Gaulish), Angle, Saxon, Norse and Celtic tribes. Lasting through the feudal era in Europe, and to this day in Norman-subjugated Britain, the Western system was originally structured close to the Vedic pattern. The priestly caste was positioned at the top rung–Brahmins in the Vedic system, Levites, of whom Moses was one, among the Hebrew tribes, and Skalds, Druids, Bards, Seers, Wicce/Wicca, and other sacred roles among Indo-European descendants. The warrior caste occupied the second rung, from which came chieftains and, eventually, hereditary rulers, royalty and aristocrats.
In the West, the warrior caste eventually usurped the priestly caste, putting the shamanist priestesses and priests in subservient roles to royalty and rulers, as advisors, sages and court prognosticators. Below them, in third place, the Merchants, Traders, Craftsmen/Smiths, Landowners, Skilled Workers and Manufacturers of valuable goods–weapons and sacred regalia, temple and shrine ornaments, talismans and sacred objects, etc.–were positioned. Those who were close to the earth, who performed earthly or bodily tasks or who worked the land came below them–farmers, unskilled labourers without a lodge, guild or craft, and recompensed servants.
At the bottom were those who would become the “serfs” in the feudal system. Like the Dalits or “Untouchables,” they were otherized and deemed a spiritually “polluted” non-caste (non-person) category of chattel, possessions or slaves. Usually consisting of the conquered indigenous peoples of the invaded or dominated lands and their descendants, they collected the “night soil” (shit) of their social betters, worked in the fields for what they could scavenge from the winnowings, had no rights or privileges, and were basically socially invisible.
The five social levels in feudal society consisted of:
1.Kings and Queens and High-Ranking Clergy
2.Lords and Ladies
3.Knights
4.Peasants
5.Serfs
Basically, Feudalism formalized the westward horse riding, chariot building invaders’ Indo-European/Indo-Iranian caste system for posterity, rendering Western society into a top-down hierarchy of Monarchs and Rulers (Royalty, The Church, Ranking Clergy), Nobles (Aristocracy), Knights (Gentility, Vassals), Peasants (Free or Independent Farmers, Craftspeople, Brewers, Traders and Merchants) and, at the bottom, Serfs (Chattel, Slaves, Possessions, Non-persons).
Sound familiar?
