The Four Varṇas
idea · 2 works · 2 mentions · 4 anchored passages
also in the atlas: The four varnas the group
four classes of people · four kinds of humankind · four varṇas · proper duty · the four orders of society · the four varṇas
in the texts
Slokantara
The fourfold social classification system (Brāhmaṇa, Kṣatriya, Vaiśya, Śūdra) said to originate from the body of Brahmā, each with distinct duties.
Humankind is of four kinds.
[Slo_78s-ab] > *From the forehead is born the vipra;
They came forth from the arms of the holy god Brahmā.
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa
The prescribed duties of the four social orders (brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra), held up as an ideal to be maintained.
and the śūdras, engaged in their own prescribed duty, were in service to the three varṇas.
Rāghava will establish dynasties of kings a hundredfold, and will set all four orders of society in this world each to its own proper duty.
In Ayodhyā there was no brāhmaṇa who had not established the sacred fires, none who had not performed sacrifice, none who had not given thousands in gifts — and none who had allowed inter-caste confusion.