Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c11.s6.31

c11.s6.31

Varṇa. The Upanishads know of what is called *Varṇāśrama-dharma*, the system of Caste and Āśrama. As we have seen, Caste is first adumbrated definitely in the Purusha-sūkta of Rigveda [x, 90] where the four castes are described as the four limbs of the Purusha, related to one another as parts of a common organism. This idea is fully developed in the *Bṛihadāraṇyaka* [i, 4, 11 f.]: "Verily, in the beginning, this world was Brahma, one only. Being One, He did not flourish. He projected an excellent form, the Kshatriya, gods like Indra, Varuṇa, Rudra, Īśāna. Yet He did not flourish. He projected the Vaiśya, even gods like the Vasus, the Ādityas, the Viśvadevas. He did not yet flourish. He then created the Śūdra caste, Pūshan. This earth is Pūshan, for she 'nourishes' (root *push*) everything that is." This passage shows that the completeness of social life requires a variety of groups and functions, all of which are necessary for it. The Śūdra is aptly called Pūshan, as he is a child, a thorough-bred, of the soil, rooted in the mother-earth, supporting society by production of food. The tiller of the soil is the foundation of the social structure and remains so to this day. Thus *Śruti* or Veda does not differentiate between the different castes but treats them, as equally indispensable as members of the social organism, like the limbs of the body. Even the gods could not complete creation till the Pūshan was forthcoming, springing out of the mother-earth, to lay the foundations of economic and social life in agriculture. The paramount conception of functions in Caste without any suggestion of social inequalities in status or dignity is also indicated in other significant passages. In the *Chhāndogya* [vi, 1, 1], Uddālaka Āruṇi reprimands his son Śvetaketu Āruṇeya for his disinclination for learning, the prescribed function of a Brāhmaṇa, saying, "Verily, my dear, from our family there is no one who is not learned (*ananūchya*) and is a Brāhmāṇa by mere birth (*Brahmabandhu*)." In the same strain, the *Brihadāraṇyaka* [ii, 4, 6] states that "Brāhmaṇahood deserts him who knows Brāhmaṇahood in aught else than the Self." Again [iii, 5, 1]: "By what means would he become a Brāhmaṇa? By that means by which he does become such a one." Further [iii, 8, 10]: "If one performs sacrifices and worship and undergoes austerity in this world for many thousands of years, but without knowing that Imperishable, limited, indeed, is that work of his."