Ancient India Simulation Reflection

Caste Simulation Follow-up Discussion

Based on what you know from your textbook
reading so far, what elements of ancient
Indian society did you exhibit during this
simulation?

Do you think there are castes or social levels
in today’s society? If so, what do you think
separates the levels?

Caste System now?

◻ The caste system was abolished in 1949

(constitution developed after independence*)

*From the early 18th century, India was gradually
annexed by and brought under the
administration of the British East India Company
and then administered directly by Great Britain
from the mid-19th century. The caste system
was legalized in the late 1800s under the British.
Then, India became an independent nation in
1947 after a struggle for independence which
was marked by non-violent resistance and led
by Mahatma Gandhi.

Caste System now?

◻ NOW it is illegal to discriminate against people

based upon caste or untouchability in India
today. However, remnants of the ancient system
are found, particularly outside India's large
cities.

◻ endogamy = obligation of marrying only within

one's own caste

◻ Most Dalits (Chandala or Untouchables) and

members of other lower-caste communities
continue to live in segregation and often face
persecution and discrimination.

Traditional values today

◻ Traditional Indian family values are highly valued, and

multi-generational patriarchal joint families have been
the norm in India, though nuclear families are becoming
common in urban areas.

■ An overwhelming majority of Indians, with their

consent, have their marriages arranged by their
parents or other family members.

■ Marriage is thought to be for life, and the divorce

rate is extremely low.

■ Child marriage is still a common practice,

particularly in rural India. More than half of women
in India marry before the legal age of 18.

Hinduism perpetuates the caste system

◻ Above all, Hinduism supports and nurtures the caste

system, particularly through the doctrine of
transmigration of souls: a person who leads an
honest life in harmony with the cosmic order,
respectful of the rules of his/her caste, can hope to
pass into a superior caste in a future transmigration,
until reaching that supreme level of purity allowing his
or her dissolution into the Absolute, thus escaping the
cycle of migrations, which Hinduism regards as a
curse.

◻ The Hindu is motivated by this hope of promotion

after death.