Caste in India: The Facts and the System c7.s5.1

c7.s5.1

CONCERNING the genesis of the castes the Hindus possess nothing but a few legends which signify very little. They bear a symbolic and superficial stamp. The most widespread—the one with which we are already familiar—is that which derives the Brahmans from the mouth, the Kshatriyas from the arms, the Vaiśyas from the thighs, and the Śūdras from the feet of the demiurge. Even where it is pressed into service, as in Manu, it is obviously an adjunct which disturbs the order of the cosmic theory. This is still clearer in the Rāmāyaṇa, in which, finally, the castes appear to be derived from Manu, wife of Kaśyapa,¹ somewhat as in Iran the three classes are in turn derived either from Yima, the first king, or from Zarathuśtra, the great religious initiator.²