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How did India’s racial system come into being?

Both ancient India and ancient China once created splendid civilizations and made indelible contributions to human civilization.

However, as a country with four ancient civilizations, China’s development achievements over the past thousands of years are encouraging, while the development of Indian society is not satisfactory. The slow development of Indian society is precisely because of the influence of the strict caste system that has always prevailed in India.

In 2000 BC, the Aryans invaded the Seven Rivers Valley of India and conquered the Dravidians, the indigenous people there. The Aryans considered their fair skin a symbol of nobility; the Dravidians’ naturally dark skin meant inferiority.

In order to distinguish them more clearly, the Aryans used the word Varna in the occupied area, so that Aryan Varna and Dasavarna appeared. The Aryans always believed that they had noble qualities, so they always refused to intermarry their children with the Dravidians, which formed the original caste system.

With the development of society and the differentiation of occupations, it was only limited to distinguish the caste difference between Aryans and non-Aryans, but the scope continued to expand.

At the same time, the difference between the rich and the poor among the Aryans led to internal differentiation. The monks engaged in sacrifice and the samurai group headed by the tribal leader were separated from the general Aryan people, forming two privileged classes. The general public became the third class within the Aryan society. In this way, together with the conquered indigenous peoples, four social classes with different status gradually formed in Indian society, and the strict hierarchy of the caste system appeared.

With the further intensification of social division, the rigid caste hierarchy has evolved into a social system. Under the caste system, ancient Indians were divided into four castes: Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra.

The first surname, Brahmin, is the monk class, priest aristocrat who masters sacrificial culture and education. It mainly masters theocratic power, fortune-telling, reports on agricultural seasons, and monopolizes culture. It has the highest status in society. Followed by the Kshatriya, the warrior class who mastered the military and politics, including officials at all levels below the king, mastered all the powers in the country except the divine power. Vaishyas are merchants, handicraftsmen, and peasants engaged in farming.

They are the middle and lower classes of Aryans, and they must pay taxes to the state. The lowest caste is the Sudra, which refers to those freedmen who lost their land and conquered Dravidians, including farmers, shepherds, servants and slaves, who are actually in the status of slaves.

In reality, Brahman and Kshatriya, two high-ranking surnames, occupied most of the wealth of ancient Indian society. As the ruling class, they do nothing all day, relying on the brutal exploitation of sudras to make a living. The occupations are hereditary among the various castes, and no intermarriage is allowed to maintain strict boundaries. Those children born to men and women of different castes are called untouchables. They are not included in the caste and are therefore most discriminated against by society.

The caste system has a profound impact on India’s development in terms of politics, economy and diet.

Politically, the caste system caused the Indian people to hate each other and lack unity; the society was divided and divided. When foreign enemies invaded and destroyed their homes, the Indian people hated each other because of the caste system and could not unite against foreign enemies. So the history of India is actually a history of humiliation often conquered by foreigners.

When India got rid of colonial rule and became independent, the caste system strictly divided people into very distinct classes, which caused intractable contradictions in the electoral process. So there are often fights and conflicts between people.

Economically, the caste system seriously hinders economic development. Under the influence of the racial system, society is divided into different groups. People only proceed from their own positions, just to safeguard their own interests, causing social division and discord. For a nation, national unity is very important, it is related to the survival of the country.

In India, the caste system leads to ethnic division, which is not conducive to economic development. The caste system also causes people to believe that they are born with fate, that each person’s social status and occupation are pre-determined and passed down from generation to generation. In this way they have lazy thoughts and no passion for struggle.

In terms of diet , the caste system strictly requires those of the lower castes not to eat meat, fish and eggs. This makes the Indian people not get enough nutrition, hinders the development of body and mind. This also makes it difficult for many people in India to improve their physical health, and some are even weak and sickly. Because the caste system implements endogamy, it is very easy to cause consanguineous marriages, which affects the intelligence of children.