"This social system did not exist in isolation. Thus, centuries of foreign domination must have had an impact on it. We can say a priori that when leading groups in society come to groan under the weight of foreign oppression, they themselves will weigh heavier on the lower groups.... A society that is put on the defensive, will harden and develop internal friction. Again it may sound like an easy explanation, but it is just quite plausible that a part of the inhuman traits of the caste system as recent generations found it, must be attributed to later outside influences like the impoverishing, brutalizing and demoralizing effect of Muslim rule. ... The essence of Varnashramadharma, the social philosophy that allots different duties to differently minded groups of people, as well as to the different age-groups, and that allows communities to develop at intermediary levels between individual and state, is quite the opposite of the uniformization so typical of totalitarian systems."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Quoted from Elst, Koenraad (1991). Ayodhya and after: Issues before Hindu society.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Caste_system_in_India
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Caste system in India
85 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Caste system in India →
Related Quotes
"What is the difference between Caste and Varna as understood by the Mahatma? I find none. As defined by the Mahatma, …"
"One thing I want to impress upon you is that Manu did not give the law of caste and that he could not do so. Caste ex…"
"[The racial theory of caste] not only runs counter to the results of anthropometry, but it also finds very little sup…"
"The Mahomedans themselves recognize two main social divisions, (1) Ashraf or Sharaf and (2) Ajlaf Ashraf means ' nobl…"
"“European students of caste (…), themselves impregnated by colour prejudices, very readily imagined it to be the chie…"
"The Brahmin of Panjab is racially of the same stock as the Chamar of Punjab". ... "Caste system does not demarcate ra…"
"The table for Bengal shows that the Chandal who stands sixth in the scheme of social precedence and whose touch pollu…"
"Caste was originally an arrangement for the distribution of functions in society, just as much as class in Europe, bu…"
"[A] problematic assumption in the genetics literature is that caste is unchanging."
"In India, institutional drift worked differently and led to the development of a uniquely rigid hereditary caste syst…"