Varna Ashram -9

...According to some people Varna system is a simple division of labor. Everyone is doing the job he is most suitable. However it can be a division of function between rulers, traders and servants etc. It cannot be division of labor in industrial sense. It is so because Varna system was born in agrarian conditions where no particular specialization of labor was needed. Anybody could do any job with little learning. The ancient technology did not require an advanced degree in engineering to perform any job. The job of potter or forger could have been performed by anybody. The endogamy most probably started with Brahmanas not with the Shudra artisans. This endogamy started most probably as matter of honor. The highest Varna was desirous of keeping its women away from the heathen people. Over a long period of time the ratio of men to women is one to one. All the Brahman girls were supposed to be married to Brahmans. Thus, all the Brahmans got married and there was no need for them to marry outside. In addition, a full-scale endogamy came into existence. Then it percolated down again as a matter of honor among lower jatis. Each jati had its relative honor to maintain depending upon its social rank. Each jati refused to marry into jatis below them and in turn inviting refusal to marry from higher jatis. So endogamy became a basic feature without which Varna system could not survive.

It was not essential to be a specialist to perform any production activity in an agrarian economy. Further, the upper castes that controlled land and capital in the society did not provide any labor. Therefore, any division of labor if it was there took place within last two groups. If it was a division of labor then Shudras could have simply changed their Varna at will by changing their occupation, which did not happen. Any such move would have required a reallocation of land, capital and authority which no higher Varna was willing to do.

One more thing about division of labor is that it is need based and not based on birth. In division of labor any worker can change his occupation if he does not get enough to eat. Such a change is not permitted under Varna system. Varna was, in fact, power based with extreme strands of purity. This power had to be acquired by taking birth in a suitable Varna.

Function wise there was no replacement for Kshatriyas killed in warfare. There are only 5 percent Kshatriyas in Hindu society at present. Considering a family of five only 1 percent of population is available to maintain the law and order and defend the country. This gives a ratio of 100 to 1 for the army and police combined together. And if one considers the society where there are no guns only swords, spears and bows and arrows then this ratio is too low. One man with sword cannot handle 100 men with sticks. The minimum ratio, for such a sword-based society is 10 to 1, which gives a population of 10 percent for able-bodied Kshatriyas. Again considering a family of 5 we find that Kshatriyas should be 50 percent of total population and not 5 percent as at present. The present population of Kshatriyas is too low. Where have all the Kshatriyas gone? Why they were not replaced? If it were to be a division of labor?

Considering the case of untouchables one finds that they constitute about 20 percent of Hindu population. This means that Hindu society needs 20 percent of its population or labor force to provide it with unclean goods and services. No society can have such a high demand or requirement for such goods and services that it needs 20 percent of its population to provide them. Only 1 to 2 percent people are needed for such jobs and that too without untouchability. So 18 to 19 persons out of every 20 untouchable are redundant. How does the division of labor explain this? On the other hand Kshatriyas fall short by 45 percent. Clearly it is not a division of labor. It is a power structure where entry of outsiders is not allowed.

Hindu society is simply a caste based society where control of everything is acquired by upper castes by natural act of taking birth and crippling the lower castes. A newborn upper caste child is predestined to be a controller and a newborn Shudra child a servant. And nobody can change that. The control over lower castes is passed on heredity basis. The upper castes get this control through inheritance. The cosmic forces are said to be behind this...