INTD 2045 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Asceticism, Vedas, Jawaharlal Nehru
Document Summary
Lecture 3 - indian cosmologies and social orders. Name the four basic categories in the varna caste system. Describe the difference between modern religion and older cosmologies or knowledge systems. Form an opinion about the role of religion in the partition of south asia into. Caste by varna differs from caste by jati. Varna has nothing to do with birth, rather is about the type of work in society. Jati developed later on and is based on birth. Caste has operated in different parts and places in india and south asia in different ways, with varying degrees of intensity. The religious/spiritual justifications for caste comes from a particular understanding of karma, wherein your karma in a previous life determines your caste in a future life. Hinduism - there is a logic to the balance of the universe. Religion dictates that this is how we do things.