Caste
idea · 5 works · 5 mentions · 10 anchored passages
caste · brahmin · castes · kṣatriya · outcaste · the problem of the origin of Castes · vaiśya · śūdra
in the texts
Cittaviśuddhiprakaraṇa
The system of hereditary social/ritual status (brahmin, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, outcaste), which the text repeatedly denies has any real spiritual significance.
[restored] One born from a fisherwoman's womb, [though] of the caste of an outcaste, has by ascetic practice become a brahmin;
it is impermanent, suffering, and empty — there is no [fixed] caste, nor anyone possessing caste.
this lump [of a body] is indeed made of that — so who is a brahmin and who an outcaste?
Ancient Law
Social institution described as a degenerate outcome of unwritten custom left uncodified.
and that division into classes which at a particular crisis of social his tory is necessary for the maintenance of the national existence degenerates into the most disastrous and blighting of all human institutions—Caste.
Dissertations on Early Law and Custom
The Hindu social-religious classification system underlying both cosmology and law.
he is to keep the four castes, and the four orders of Student, Householder, Hermit, and Ascetic, in the practice of their several duties;
‘Men of all castes, if they fulfil their assigned duties, enjoy in Heaven the highest imperishable bliss.
Lectures on the Early History of Institutions
The problem of how hereditary professional or religious classes become closed castes, addressed via Irish and Indian examples.
We are thus brought face to face with a problem which possesses interest in proportion to its difficulty—the problem of the origin of Castes.
A Caste would thus be formed, in the eyes of its members the type of all Castes.
The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana
Social/caste rank that governs the suitability of marriage partners and the applicability of customs.
When a girl of the same caste, and a virgin, is married in accordance with the precepts of Holy Writ, the results of such an union are:
And this way of gaining over a girl, says Ghotakamukha, is unexceptional, because Dharma can be accomplished by means of it, as well as by any other way of marriage.
This is applicable to persons of all castes.