Debate:Is the caste system supported by Hinduism?
- Is the caste system in its authoritative and discriminatory form comes from/ supported by Hinduism?
Proposition[edit]
A Hindu is defined as the one who has the following beliefs :-
1. Belief in the righteous law or Dharma. 2. Belief in a single god permeating the universe known as Brahman. (there are atheistic schools of thought in Hinduism but let us ignore them for the purpose of this debate) . 3. Belief in Atman or soul. 4. Belief in reincarnation. 5. Faith in the truth of Vedas, Upanishad and Bhagvad Gita.
P: Anything which is not promoted in the sacred texts of a religion cannit be attributed to the religion itself.
Q : None of the hindu texts promote the caste system in its discriminatory/authoritative form. The Vedas mention the class system where people in the society is divided in 4 parts on the basis of the work they do and not on the basis of the class they were born in.
From P and Q it follows that;
R: caste system in not an implicit hindu phenomenon but a cultural phenomenon. — Unsigned, by: LogicalIndian / talk / contribs
Hinduism itself ultimately derives from Proto-Indo-European mythologies, and since we don't find much evidence of a caste system reflected in other Indo-European mythologies (take Norse mythology for example), I think the caste system is indigenous to the Indo-Aryans, Zoroastrians don't possess a caste system as Hindus do, and Zoroastrianism also ultimately derives from the same root as Hinduism, the aforementioned Proto-Indo-European mythology, and Persians are Iranian peoples, related to Indo-Aryan peoples since both ultimately belong to the Indo-Iranian group of peoples. Ɖøn Ĵuan (talk) 15:27, 19 December 2018 (UTC)
- I reject P on the basis that many religions are purely oral traditions, and some, like Shinto, have books but they are not central, and trying to cram every supernatural belief system into a bible-shaped hole is unreasonable. Even in cases where a religion does have a sacred text, the premise is shaky. There's absolutely zero basis in scripture for anti-abortion ideology, and yet Evangelical Christianity and anti-abortion ideology are deeply and inextricably tied. Why? Because of cultural beliefs passed through religious messages and organizations. It's not a valid assumption, so the conclusion is unsupported by the deduction. ikanreed 🐐Bleat at me 16:14, 19 December 2018 (UTC)
- @Ikanreed Looking back, I don't think the caste system is purely indigenous to the Indo-Aryans, many Indo-European groups possessed a trifold caste system, the warriors, the priests, and the common folk (not necessarily in that order), remember in addition to the Hindu Brahmans there were also the Celtic druids. — Oxyaena Harass 11:28, 15 June 2019 (UTC)