Origin of Vedic Society

[Anup ( Shesh )]

Note - This article is completely based on personal perceptions and
not interpreted from any literature.

With the lessons from his experiences, man evolved into a self
dependent and strong creature on Earth. He learnt how to generate
fire, how to make his food taste good, art of building houses for
shelter, art of mining & metallurgy, and agriculture. So with time,
there was a rise of society. Man started generating his own resources.
But being nascent to the society life, he lacked experience in
managing the society. With lack of proper management, there were lots
of disorders in the early society - stealing of resources by
neighboring societies, improper waste disposal, diseases, lack of
education being bestowed to juniors, etc. So the leaders, during the
time, saw the need to bring in order to their societies. Thus giving
rise to Vedic Society.

The leaders learnt, they needed security to their resources, transfer
of knowledge bank from experienced elders to juniors, maintenance of
cleanliness and hygiene to prevent diseases and to trade the resources
they generate. Thus the leaders formed four different 'teams' (Varnas
in Vedas - a Sanskrit term meaning 'color') for bringing in order in
society.

1. Brahmins - the team of educators, scholars and preachers
2. Kshatriya - the military and political team
3. Vaishya - the team of merchants, cattle-rearers and artisans
4. Sudra - the farmers, craftsmen and sculptors

The Brahmins performed the duty of educating the mass, passing on the
knowledge, literature and experience gained, and preparing the juniors
for the new quests. Thus, Brahmins were given responsibility of
preaching the contemporary theories, and beliefs in Science and
Religion.

Kshatriyas constituted the military and ruling order of the society -
protecting the society from stealing of their resources, maintaining
discipline and protecting their people from foreign attacks. For this,
they were required to be physical strong. So they were given extensive
physical training, and were taught various fighting skills and use of
weapons.

Since the societies lacked some of the resources required for their
living, the concept of trading the excess of their resources to get
the required resources started. This trading was controlled by the
Vaishyas. Apart from this, Vaishyas consisted of artists, who traded
their talents too.

And the last, the Sudras. They performed the duty of maintaining
cleanliness and hygiene in the society. This responsibility was mainly
to prevent the diseases and maintain the hygienic environment in the
society. Sudras were also required to maintain the aesthetic values of
their society. Thus, they were involved in cleaning the streets &
important buildings, and proper disposal of all waste generated from
the public places. To add in beauty to their society, they were also
given job of sculpturing, building monuments, crafting wooden
furniture, etc.

In the beginning, the Sudras were free to join the Brahmins,
Kshatriyas, or Vaishyas depending on their interest and skill.
Similarly, Brahmins were free to join with Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and
Sudras. All the teams had equal importance in society building. But
with time, Kshatriyas, with their fighting skills and mastery in using
powerful weapons, felt they are the most powerful amongst the other
teams. Brahmins recognized the power of their brain-work and strong
knowledge. Hence started considering themselves most intelligent of
all. So these two teams - one being physically strong and other being
intellectually strong, started to consider themselves as the supremos
in the society, and deemed the Vaishyas and Sudras as lower in team
grades. Slowly, these 'low grade' teams came to be known as 'lower
class' (Sudra - the lowest), while the Brahmins and Kshatriyas were
categorized in 'upper class'. There was exploitation by physical &
mental power, making Sudras to serve the upper class (including
Vaishyas), as labors and servants. The transition from Sudras to
Brahmins, or to any of the upper class, ceased. Subsequently, 'class'
was considered as inheritance. Son of Sudra will be Sudra; Son of
Brahmin will be Brahmin, and so on. Thus, new ill concepts of
untouchable people, restricting the talents of Sudras, no-interclass
marriage rules and many more, got framed. So the upper class people
exploited the lower class people, especially Sudras.

This is how the good motive of effective society management turned
into the ill-social traditions that we still follow. The leaders of
then, brought in fairly good management practice with the concept of
'division of karma (duty)' in four 'Varnas (colors)' for the welfare
of society. But the modern man, with the thirst of power and supreme
knowledge, perverted the very purpose of the team formations. This
gave rise to inequality amongst the people of the same society itself.

In the modern world, the purpose of this noble 'division of duty' has
been forgotten. We fight for reservations, rights, communal supremacy,
etc. creating yet more differences in different class, castes, and
religions. Thus generating different states of worldly perception -
never to unite! We, the educated people of modern world, talk a lot
about leadership and management philosophies. Then why to believe in
class, castes, and religions in the world of 'leaders and managers'?
In this world, we should forget all the castes, class, creed,
religions and communities. We just need to remember the noble purpose
behind such actions taken by the past leaders.

So let’s unite on the human grounds and make this world more peaceful
and loving.

Yours
Anup Sheshadri
Executive Trainee (Mining) [B.Tech graduate from IT-BHU]
NMDC Ltd

[Neel Mani Chawla]

Nice article.

@Anup:Kudos for your effort in continuous writing.Would look more beautiful if its trimmed down and brought in readable range although this is just my personal feeling.

Thanks and Best Regards

Neel

[Nature (Sunil) The Place to Learn From (Bommu)]

Very Nice email. This is absolutely true. 

--
Thanks,
Sunil Bommu
Societies will prosper only when  individuals have awareness about a healthy ecosystem and right attitude towards building them.

[nisha malhotra]

Very Intriguing column!
But we all human being are Sudras according to God! as you have
rightly mentioned, its just the society, who has created this
discrimination!
Thank you!

[Anup ( Shesh )]

thanks Neel, Sunil and Nisha ..
:)

[Viraj Kansara]

Great Indeed. I like your skills.

On Wed, Sep 30, 2009 at 11:39 AM, Anup ( Shesh ) <anup....@gmail.com> wrote:

Sunil and