...The social position of each Varna is related to purity of its place of origin. There are four places of origin, the mouth, the arms, the thighs and the feet. The body parts above naval are considered pure and below it are considered impure. The purest part of these four is the mouth so the Brahmanas from it are considered most pure and have highest social position. The second most pure part is arm so the Kshatriyas who were born from arms have the second highest social position. The Vaisyas were born from thighs which are considered as impure. They were impure is also evident from their earlier manual labor occupations of cattle rearing and agriculture. However they were partly pure and partly impure as they were entitled to thread ceremony making them eligible for Vedic rites. The feet are the most impure of these four and Shudras originating from them were considered most impure and denied thread ceremony that made them ineligible for Vedic rites. Over a period of time another group with impurity more than the Shudras also emerged. This group was that of Antyajas or untouchables. They had the lowest position in the society...
No comments:
Post a Comment