Why don't people care that Hinduism institutionalizes racism through its caste system?

Question

I mean, is it just coincidence that the lower castes have darker skin color? Shouldn't we be more concerned about this when we do business and travel to India?

Some good answers, some bad. So are we saying that if someone graduates from college they can offiically say they are no longer "untouchable?"

Answer 1

Good point. IMHO it does not institutionalze racism... it IS racism. But at least, caste does not play a major role anymore in the modern business scene and among educated Indians, as far as I know.

Answer 2

The caste system was orignally intended to show Hindus being connected to God. Brahmins were the head of god, Kshatriyas were the arms, etc. It was just a way to show a connection between man and God. When the British invaded, they twisted the caste system into what people think it is today. They said they were at the top because they're "Aryan" and were fair-skinned. They made the caste system based more on race/color even though it is based primarily on spirituality and how close certain groups of people were to God and how important people were in society. Brahmins were at the top because they preached God's word. Brahmins did not have money and were simply just priests. Kshatriyas were warriors, kings, and government officals who kept peace and protected India. Vaishas were the merchants who fed India. Shudras did menial tasks to make sure Indians would be able to function normally. The untouchables were those who wanted no part of Hinduism and did not want to help society.

Answer 3

Rian and tinu have explained well.... all the misconceptions against hindus are mainly handiwork of missionaries using money and strong media

However i must add here that there is no Question of Black racism in India.

As rian said, most of our gods are depicted black.

south Indians are most dark skinned, all castes included...and they are not hated by anyone in India. Rather south Indians are very intelligent and are top on the lists of IT professionals

hence your prejudice is not correct.... perhaps if you mix with indians more and more you will be able to understand our culture well

And please try to read Gita or core Hindu philosophy !! You will change...and may become a hindu after reading such a logical and scientific explanation about Mind, Matter, Karma, Life, death and Ultimate Truth

Answer 4

Hinduism as a religion has never institutionalized racism even through its caste system which in teh current scenario is losing its definition and boundaries.

If you really delve deep into teh Hindu philosophy you'd know that profession / vocation and not inheritence was the basis of caste. a learned man is a learned man no matter what the color of his skin is. one with knowledge outshines all even the so called self professed fair skinned 'literates'.

So please dont just say things merely for saying it without truly understand the country and the culture. making a few business / pleasure trips a year doesn't give you the right to judge people whom you yourself are doing business with and visiting the place for your own recreation.

If it bothers you so much then please spare us Indians with your visits and comments.

Answer 5

It seems everywhere on this planet if there are differences in opinion then there will bound to be some sort of racism. Tribes of Africa, tribes in Iraq, everywhere these differences exist. The interpretation of Faith is what usually causes alot the problems. Take for example the Islamic extremist, they interpret the Koran to an extreme and even ad lib in some cases. The Crusades were not exactly a just cause in some peoples opinion. There can never be complete peace with a difference of opinion.

Answer 6

hey man first of all r u a hindu....well if u r ine and if u really live in india then ull know what the caste system is all about it wasnt based on the peoples color that this system came into being it was really based on the type of occupation that people followed in our earlier times ....then it was ****** manipulated by the so called higher castes into religious aspects and the color difference is just on who was more in the sun and who wasnt......and if u think i am sayin all this crap coz i belong to the lower castes sry bro i am from the so called higher castes which does bug me a lot.....so never judge people by their color or castes thats wway toooo sick and moreover get a life

Answer 7

I don't think so; most people have a progressive mindset and just like with any other religion, certain concepts get slowly phased out. Hinduism is, at heart, a peaceful religion, and they really haven't started any beef with anyone else.
Some people will always use religion to commit their crimes, but we can't judge a whole group of people by the action of radicals.

Answer 8

Because not enough people deal with or travel to india....I agree with your point but until their religion spreads to the point where it becomes a rival to Christianity in US most americans wont bother with it...its like "Free Tibet"....everyone knows what it is but thats where it ends....

+ Caste systems have existed in religion or have been accepted by religion for all time...(Mexico post conquista...or all of Latin america fro that matter)

Answer 9

No, it is not racism because all of those involved are the same race.

What is racism is your assumption that because you are from somewhere else, you have the right to force your "enlightened" views on another culture.

Answer 10

Because they did not.

That coincident in just your head.

Labour class works in sun. THEY GET TANNED . but There are as many fair skinned and dark sinned people in lower classs as in higher casts.

That racial theory was Imposed on Hinduism by Christian missioneries.

Stop lying you people . Or may be without maliging others with false propoganda, you people cannt feel better about yourself.

We idolise Dark skinned Gods:

The Lotus-Eyed God. Keshava, One Who Has Long, Black Matted Locks. Krishna, Dark-Complexioned Lord. It has been said that in Krishna we have the fullest and the most perfect manifestation of the Divine.

In the Mahabharata, Yudhishthira defines a Brahmin as one who is truthful, forgiving, and kind.

"a Sudra is not a Sudra by birth alone-nor a Brahmana is Brahmana by birth alone. He, it is said by the wise, in whom are seen those virtues is a Brahmana. And people term him a Sudra in whom those qualities do not exist, even though he be a Brahmana by birth. "

He clearly points out that a Brahmin is not a Brahmin just because he is born in a Brahmin family, nor is a Shudra a Shudra because his parents are Shudras.

"it is asserted by the wise, in whom are seen truth, charity, forgiveness, good conduct, benevolence, observance of rites of his order and mercy is a Brahmana."

" Therefore, those that are wise have asserted that character is the chief essential requisite. "Whosoever now conforms to the rules of pure and virtuous conduct, him have I, ere now, designated as a Brahmana."

The author of one of the hymns of the RigVeda says: " I am a composer of hymns, my father is a physician, my mother grinds corn on a stone. We are all engaged in different occupations."

The Adishankara had stated that by birth every human being is a Shudra. It is by education and upbringing that he or she becomes ‘twice born’, that is, a Dwija.

The Upanishads clearly states that the soul, whether of a Brahmin or a Chandal, is divine.


You have the same system in America. You have intellectuals [brahmanas], you have administrators and military men [ksatriyas], you have businessmen and farmers [vaisyas] and you have workers. The Vedic system just recognizes these groups, that's all. It's quite natural. "

Guy Sorman visiting scholar at Hoover Institution at Stanford and the leader of new liberalism in France, writes:

"The Invasion theory has today become the standard explanation for the caste system, though it came up only in the 19th century. Besides, all we have to attest the Aryan invasion is a specious interpretation of the Mahabharata, which is like searching the origins of European aristocracy in the works of Homer! In any case, it is doubtful whether a single invasion, which was more likely a slow infiltration of the North, could have succeeded in structuring so perfectly Indian society along ethnic lines for over three thousand years. Finally, in South India the caste system among the dark, skinned Dravidians is as rigid as it is in the North, though the Aryans in all probability never reached there.

The racial origin of caste hypothesis tells us little about India but it does tell us a great deal about the 19th century Westerners who invented the Aryan invasion theory. It was at the same time that Sieyes and Augustin Thierry claimed that the French nobility was of Germanic stock, whereas the lower classes were of Gallic origin; so the 1789 Revolution was a race war rather than a class war! It was also in the 19th century that appeared the myth of the Indo-Europeans being at the source of all Western civilization and for this we have to thank British authors who were taken up with evolutionist theory. Indian historians trained in Europe have fallen victim to this myth but that does not make it any more authentic. Later on, at the beginning of the 20th century, it became fashionable to support the Marxist theory which replaced race with class, though its premises were just as shaky."

(source: The Genius of India - By Guy Sorman ('Le Genie de l'Inde') Macmillan India Ltd. 2001. ISBN 0333 93600 0 p. 60-61).

For decades Christian missionaries have used malicious propaganda against the caste system in India and abroad.

It would be well for the missionaries to remember that Racism and Slavery are mentioned many times in the Bible.

In 1452 Pope Nicholas V authorized Portugese to abduct blacks from Africa and force them into slavery. Dum Diversas, a bull authorising the Portuguese to reduce any non-Christians to the status of slaves, was issued by Papal authorities. All black people were depicted as the descendants of biblical Cain who killed righteous Abel and was later banished by thier father to Africa. This invented legend gave Christians needed theological justification to abduct and enslave blacks. Bible is full of verses supporting slavery.

Its a western myth that lower classes are dark skinned and higher fair skinned. Instead of improving their own society, they try to defame others to feel better.

Go and clean up your own home.