keep up appearances of outward purity . . .It is chiefly to the scrupulous observance of.
such customs that the Brahmins owe the predominance of their illustrious caste" (58). The.
oldest religious justification for the division of society into the four varnas is found in the.
tenth mandala (circle) of the Rig-Veda, the oldest and holiest Hindu scripture. This.
passage describes the creation of the universe as the sacrifice of a gigantic original man,.
Purusa, whose "mouth became the Brahmin; his arms were made into the Warrior, his.
thighs the People, and from his feet the Servants were born. . ."(Fieser and Powers 8).
Because the Brahmins came from his mouth, they were the keepers of the holy word and.
law, and therefore the most prestigious. The Kshatriya are warriors because they came.
from the part used for fighting, the arms; Vaishya are the tradesmen because they came.
from the legs; and Sudras are servants because they came from the lowest part of the.
cosmic body, the feet. These four classes seem to have actually existed in the ancient.
Aryan society in northern India. The members of the three higher varnas were probably.
mostly Aryans, while the fourth and lowest varna was probably mostly darker-skinned,.
conquered peoples (Basham 137). 2 However, the original varnas were not the castes that.
exist today, for there is evidence that people could, and did, change their varnas, and.
inter-marriage between persons of different varnas was allowed (Basham 146). The.
rigidity of the caste system came about later, possibly due to the development and.
acceptance of such religious ideas as karma and reincarnation. Neither of these concepts.
were Aryan ideas, and it is possible that they were the indigenous tribes" contribution to.
the religion that became Hinduism (Glucklich 28). If one believed in reincarnation, one.
saw one's place in the caste system as determined by one's character in a previous life. If.
one was reborn an Untouchable, one had obviously been more sinful than if one was.