FSCN 3615 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Caste System In India, Hindu Calendar, Churra
21 May 2018
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Hinduism Continued
● Based on caste system
○ Brahmins are teachers and priests
○ Kshatriyas/Chhetri are soldiers or warriors
○ Vaisyas are merchants or farmers
○ Sudras are laborers
○ Outside of the social group are the untouchables
■ Now called alit (butchers, leather workers)
● Hinduism: Male
○ Life of a Hindu male should be divided into 4 stages:
■ Stage 1: Student (brahmachari), 12-24 years of age
● When you live a life of celibacy and education
■ Stage 2: Householder (Grihasta), 24-50 years of age
● When you marry and work hard to support your family
■ Stage 3:Hermit (Vanaprasta), 50-72 years of age
● When you retire from worldly attachments
■ Stage 4: Ascetic (Sanyasi), beyond 72 years of age
● When you leave your home and society to merge with God
● Life of Hindu female
○ Childhood, working within the family
○ The Hindu woman’s role is defined as:
■ Supporting her husband
■ Doing house chores and duties
■ Being a mother, especially of a son
● Even today, Indian families are obsessed with having a male child
● Female infanticide lurks among families wishing for a boy
● Purity in Hinduism
○ Is a moral concept and a ceremonial goal
○ One should regulate their appetite and cravings through self-control
○ Pollution is the opposite of purity and should be avoided
■ All human body products are polluting, feces, urine, saliva, menstrual flow
and afterbirth
○ Elaborate rules regarding foods and drinks lead to purity of mind and spirit, concepts of
food customs and purity and pollution intertwine in Hinduism
Dietary Practices
● Dietary restrictions and attitudes vary among the castes
● Ahimsa or the practice of non-violence extends to not eating meat
● The cow is considered sacred and is not to be killed or eaten; ghee form the cow is
considered pure of puja ceremonies
● Many high caste Hindus are vegetarians
● Pork is usually avoided as well
● Rice
○ Pure food
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○ Cooked rice passes from Brahmins down to other caste, but Dalits may not serve cooked
rice or water to upper castes
○ To avoid problems, parties and weddings serve flattened rice (churra), not cooked rice
● Water
○ Water is considered “pure”
○ Use of water is the most common method of purification, it easily absorbs pollution
and carries it away
○ It is often tossed on people who have come in contact with untouchables
● Law of Manu states
○ “No sin is attached to eating flesh, drinking wine, or gratifying sexual urge, for these are
natural propensities of men, but abstinence from these bears greater fruits”
○ Pious Hindus may also abstain from alcohol
● Hindu Feast and Fast days
○ Hindu calendar has 18 major festivals
○ Feasting includes sharing food among family, friends and community members
○ Fasting practices vary according to one’s caste, family, age, sex and degree of orthodoxy
○ Fasting varies from totally avoiding food to just avoiding certain foods
○ Tej: women fast for their husband’s health and long life
○ First day of the new and full moon of each lunar month and Sundays for the Surya (sun
god) and Monday for Shiva, Tuesday for Ganesh and others
■ The anniversary of the death of one’s father or mother
○ Temple sacrifice, Saturday is the holy day
● Krishna
○ He is the eighth avatar of Vishnu
○ Krishna means “one with dark complexion and one who attracts all”
○ Often seen with a flute
○ Portrayed as a prankster, a lover, a divine hero, and a supreme being
● Ganesha
○ Known as the lord of success and destroyer of evil and obstacles
○ He is also worshipped as the god of education, knowledge, wisdom and wealth
○ Very popular god
○ He is the son of Shiva and Parvati
○ He has an elephant’s head (Denotes wisdom), a pot-belly of a human
○ The noose in his hand is a way to capture all difficulties, the god in his upper right hand
helps him propel humankind forward, and the snake around his waist represents energy in
all forms. He is humble, shown by riding the lowest of creates, the mouse
● Yama Rai, God of Death
○ He decides what level the souls of the deceased shall be reincarnated again on Earth
● History
○ King Pratap Malla (1641-74) constructs Hanuman Dhoka Palace and Rani Pohari (pond),
this becomes the site for the annual Gai Jatra (cow festival), used to take census counts in
the Valley
● Gai Jatra Festival of the cows
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Document Summary
Outside of the social group are the untouchables. Life of a hindu male should be divided into 4 stages: Stage 1: student (brahmachari), 12-24 years of age. When you live a life of celibacy and education. Stage 2: householder (grihasta), 24-50 years of age. When you marry and work hard to support your family. Stage 3:hermit (vanaprasta), 50-72 years of age. Stage 4: ascetic (sanyasi), beyond 72 years of age. When you leave your home and society to merge with god. The hindu woman"s role is defined as: Being a mother, especially of a son. Even today, indian families are obsessed with having a male child. Female infanticide lurks among families wishing for a boy. Is a moral concept and a ceremonial goal. One should regulate their appetite and cravings through self-control. Pollution is the opposite of purity and should be avoided. All human body products are polluting, feces, urine, saliva, menstrual flow and afterbirth.
