Slide 1: Definition: A type of social organization/hierarchy in which a person’s occupation and position in life is determined by the circumstances of his birth.
Slide 2: Untouchable Art
Art of the Hindu People
Slide 4: There are three main religions in India, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. The time of the Aryan invasion and the adoption of the caste system marked the beginning of modern Hinduism.
Slide 5: Shiva Shi·va n. Hinduism
One of the principal Hindu deities, worshiped as the destroyer and restorer of worlds and in numerous other forms. Shiva is often conceived as a member of the triad also including Brahma and Vishnu.
Slide 8: Rigid, hereditary membership into birth caste
Marriage only among member of same caste
Occupation choices restricted
Personal contact with other castes restricted
Acceptance of fixed place in society How Caste Shapes Society
Slide 9: Members of a caste rely on each other for support Caste Systems Benefits Each caste has an occupation(s) and contributes to the good of the whole
Slide 10: Caste Systems Benefits Each caste is born out of Brahma (the creator)
Slide 11: Traditional Village System Today…more of a market system
Slide 12: At the top of the caste system
were the Brahmans, or the priests and leaders.
These individuals we few in number. They were the only ones who were allowed to teach in schools and go to school, however the Brahman women could do neither.
Slide 13: Underneath the Brahmans was the Kshatriya, or the warriors. This group was not large in number. The Kshatriya were in the army or leaders in a way different from that of the Brahmans. Women could not be warriors but they could belong to this class.
Slide 14: Under the warriors were the vaishyas, these individuals were traders or farmers who owned their businesses or farming land. This group was made up of a great deal of people in India. Vaisyas – Skilled Traders, Merchants
Slide 15: Below these four castes are people who belong to no caste
Untouchables – Outcastes, Children of God
Concept of pollution…the most pure at the top (Brahmins) and the most polluted at the bottom (Untouchables)
Slide 16: Second to last were the shudras, who were servants and farmhands who did not own their own land or businesses and who were employed by other people in a higher class. Jobs include gardeners, potters, and clothes washers
Slide 17: At the very bottom of the caste system, technically not belonging to a class at all, were the untouchables. The untouchables held the worst jobs in society, usually collecting garbage and cleaning up human waste…
Slide 18: The slaves in India were thought to be below the untouchables and were not classified at all. They were not even seen as human but rather as property.
Slide 19: Belong to no caste
Expected to do the “dirty” jobs
Come in contact with animal skins, dead bodies and human feces
Avoid contact with “caste” Indians for fear of “pollution”
Slide 20: Living in ancient India, you were defined by your caste.
There was no way for an individual or their children in India to escape their caste and move up. Not even death could break the cycle.
Slide 21: There were extremely strict rules surrounding the caste system in India. People from different castes could certainly not marry each other or even become friends and they were not even allowed to eat in the presence of another class.
Slide 22: a modern art interpretation of Hindu art
Slide 23: caste Any of the hereditary, endogamous social classes or subclasses of traditional Hindu society, stratified according to Hindu ritual purity, especially the Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaisya, and Sudra castes. Su·dra (Untouchable) A member of the lowest of the four major castes of traditional Indian society, comprising artisans, laborers, and menials. How would it feel to be untouchable?
Slide 24: Hindus bathe in the
sacred Ganges River.
Untouchables are
discouraged
to bathe there.
Slide 25: the beauty of Hinduism...
Slide 26: the beauty of Hinduism???
Slide 27: Is there peace?
Slide 29: are these hands untouchable?