Lehal Library

18 The Punjab and the Birth of Sikhism Another result of the Aryan settlement in India was the birth of the caste system. The tall, blonde, and blue-eyed invaders devised this system to maintain the purity of their race and reduce to servitude the dark--skinned inhabitants among whom they had con1e to live. They divided the populace into four classes which reflected the degree of racial purity, and assigned specific functions to them. On top naturally were the creators of this social system, the Brahrnins. They reserved for themselves the exclusive monopoly of priesthood: the reading of the sacred tens and the imparting of knowledge. After them in descending order were Kshatriyas, or warriors, who had to defend the country; Vaishyas, or tradesmen, and Shudras, who were the workers. The pure aboriginal had no social privileges. He was pushed out in the wilderness or utilized to do the most unpleasant jobs. To prevent his coming in by the back door, he was made an outcast whose very touch could pollute. The caste system has been rightly described as Brahmanical Hinduism, for it was the Brahmins who moulded this pattern of social order to suit their own ends. The most imponant aspect of Hinduism was neither its pantheon nor its social order, but the philosophy and poetry of the Vedas and the commentaries written about them. While the gods gained or lost in stature and the social order of the caste system was criticized and condemned, the sacred texts remained inviolate. The hymns of the Vedas gave spiritual sustenance, the Upanishads the philosophical justification, and the epics the ethical code of behaviour to the Hindu masses. These texts gave Hinduism the strength co face the challenge of other religions, such as Jainism, Buddhism, and Islam. It was obvious that a religion which was a confusion of gods and which degraded a large section of the people by treating them as sub-human would not go unchallenged for long. The first to revolt against Brahmanical Hinduism were Mahavira (5th cent. BC) and Gautama the Buddha (567-487 BC). Within a hundred years of the death of the Buddha, his teachings had swept Hinduism off its feet and spread all over northern India. At the birth of Christ and for seven hundred years or more, the predominant faith of India was Buddhism.