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Shudras
Shudra or ''Shoodra'' (Sanskrit: ') is one of the four varnas of the Hindu class and social system in ancient India. Some sources translate it into English as a caste, or as a social class. Theoretically, Shudras constituted a class like workers. According to Richard Gombrich's study of Buddhist texts, particularly relating to castes in Sri Lankan Buddhist and Tamil Hindu society, The word ''Shudra'' appears in the ''Rigveda'' and it is found in other Hindu texts such as the ''Manusmriti'', ''Arthashastra'', dharmaśāstras and jyotiḥśāstras. In some cases, Shudras participated in the coronation of kings, or were amatya "ministers" and rajas "kings" according to early Indian texts. History Vedas The term ''śūdra'' appears only once in the ''Rigveda''. This mention is found in the mythical story of creation embodied in the '' Puruṣasuktam''. It describes the formation of the four varnas from the body of a primeval man. It states that the brahmin emerged from his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Varna (Hinduism)
Varna (, ), in the context of Hinduism, refers to a social class within a hierarchical traditional Hindu society. The ideology of varna is epitomized in texts like '' Manusmriti'', which describes and ranks four varnas, and prescribes their occupations, requirements and duties, or '' Dharma''. *Brahmins: Vedic scholars, priests or teachers. * Kshatriyas: Rulers, administrators or warriors. * Vaishyas: Agriculturalists, farmers or merchants. * Shudras: Artisans, labourers or servants. This quadruple division is a form of social stratification, quite different from the more nuanced system of '' Jātis'', which correspond to the term "caste". The varna system is discussed in Hindu texts, and understood as idealised human callings. The concept is generally traced back to the '' Purusha Sukta'' verse of the Rigveda. In the post- Vedic period, the varna division is described in the '' Mahabharata,'' ''Puranas'' and in the '' Dharmashastra literatures''. The commentary on the Varna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caste
A caste is a Essentialism, fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (endogamy), follow lifestyles often linked to a particular occupation, hold a ritual status observed within a hierarchy, and interact with others based on cultural notions of social exclusion, exclusion, with certain castes considered as either more pure or more polluted than others. The term "caste" is also applied to morphological groupings in eusocial insects such as ants, bees, and termites#caste, termites. The paradigmatic ethnographic example of caste is the division of India's Hinduism, Hindu society into rigid social groups. Its roots lie in South Asia's ancient history and it still exists; however, the economic significance of the caste system in India seems to be declining as a result of urbanisation and affirmative action programs. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manusmriti
The ''Manusmṛti'' (), also known as the ''Mānava-Dharmaśāstra'' or the Laws of Manu, is one of the many legal texts and constitutions among the many ' of Hinduism. Over fifty manuscripts of the ''Manusmriti'' are now known, but the earliest discovered, most translated, and presumed authentic version since the 18th century is the "Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) manuscript with Kulluka Bhatta commentary". Modern scholarship states this presumed authenticity is false, and that the various manuscripts of ''Manusmriti'' discovered in India are inconsistent with each other. The metrical text is in Sanskrit, is dated to the 2nd century BCE to 2nd century CE, and presents itself as a discourse given by Manu (Svayambhuva) and Bhrigu on dharma topics such as duties, rights, laws, conduct, and virtues. The text's influence had historically spread outside India, influencing Hindu kingdoms in modern Cambodia and Indonesia. In 1776, ''Manusmriti'' became one of the first Sanskrit texts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kshatriya
Kshatriya () (from Sanskrit ''kṣatra'', "rule, authority"; also called Rajanya) is one of the four varnas (social orders) of Hindu society and is associated with the warrior aristocracy. The Sanskrit term ''kṣatriyaḥ'' is used in the context of later Vedic society wherein members were organised into four classes: ''brahmin'', kshatriya, '' vaishya,'' and '' shudra''. History Early Rigvedic tribal monarchy The administrative machinery in Vedic India was headed by a tribal king called a Rajan whose position may or may not have been hereditary. The king may have been elected in a tribal assembly (called a Samiti), which included women. The Rajan protected the tribe and cattle; was assisted by a priest; and did not maintain a standing army, though in the later period the rulership appears to have risen as a social class. The concept of the fourfold varna system is not yet recorded. Later Vedic period The hymn '' Purusha Sukta'' in the ''Rigveda'' describes the symbolic crea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Purusha Sukta
Purusha Sukta (, ) is a hymn in the Rigveda, dedicated to the Purusha, the "Cosmic Being". It is considered to have been a relatively late addition to the scripture — probably, to accord theological sanction to an increasingly unequal Kuru polity — and is the only hymn to mention the four '' varnas'' in explicit, alluding to a hierarchical division of the society. The hymn is also found in the three other Vedas but in slightly different forms. Contents The Purusha Sukta gives a description of the spiritual unity of the universe. It presents the nature of Purusha, or the cosmic being, as both immanent in the manifested world and yet transcendent to it.The Purusha sukta iDaily Invocationsby Swami Krishnananda From this being, the Sukta holds, the original creative will (identified with Vishvakarma, Hiranyagarbha or Prajapati) proceeds which causes the projection of the universe in space and time. The Purusha Sukta, in the seventh verse, hints at the organic connectedness of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vedic Period
The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, between the end of the urban Indus Valley Civilisation and a second urbanisation, which began in the central Indo-Gangetic Plain BCE. The Vedas are liturgical texts which formed the basis of the influential Brahmanical ideology, which developed in the Kuru Kingdom, a tribal union of several Indo-Aryan tribes. The Vedas contain details of life during this period that have been interpreted to be historical and constitute the primary sources for understanding the period. These documents, alongside the corresponding archaeological record, allow for the evolution of the Indo-Aryan and Vedic culture to be traced and inferred. The Vedas were composed and orally transmitted with precision by speakers of an Old Indo-Aryan language who had migrated into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ram Sharan Sharma
Ram Sharan Sharma (26 November 1919 – 20 August 2011) was an Indian Marxist historian and Indologist who specialised in the history of Ancient and early Medieval India. He taught at Patna University and Delhi University (1973–85) and was visiting faculty at University of Toronto (1965–1966). He also was a senior fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He was a University Grants Commission National Fellow (1958–81) and the president of Indian History Congress in 1975. It was during his tenure as the dean of Delhi University's History Department that major expansion of the department took place in the 1970s. The creation of most of the positions in the department were the results of his efforts. He was the founding Chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) and a historian of international repute. During his lifetime, he authored 115 books published in fifteen languages. He influenced major decisions relating to his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Origin Myth
An origin myth is a type of myth that explains the beginnings of a natural or social aspect of the world. Creation myths are a type of origin myth narrating the formation of the universe. However, numerous cultures have stories that take place after the initial origin. These stories aim to explain the origins of natural phenomena or human institutions within an already existing world. In Greco-Roman scholarship, the terms founding myth or etiological myth (from 'cause') are occasionally used to describe a myth that clarifies an origin, particularly how an object or custom came into existence. In modern political discourse the terms "founding myth", "foundational myth", etc. are often used as critical references to official or widely accepted narratives about the origins or early history of a nation, a society, a culture, etc. Nature of origin myths Origin myths are narratives that explain how a particular reality came into existence.Eliade 1963, p. 21 They often serve to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephanie W
Stephanie is a female name that comes from the Greek name Στέφανος (Stephanos) meaning "crown, wreath, garland". The male form is Stephen. Forms of Stephanie in other languages include the German "Stefanie", the Italian, Czech, Polish, and Russian "Stefania", the Portuguese ''Estefânia'' (although the use of that version has become rare, and both the English and French versions are the ones commonly used), and the Spanish ''Estefanía''. The form Stéphanie is from the French language, but Stephanie is now widely used both in English- and Spanish-speaking cultures. Given names Royalty *Stephanie, Queen of Navarre (died after 1066), Queen consort of king García Sánchez III of Navarre * Stephanie of Castile (died 1 July 1180), illegitimate daughter of Alfonso VII of León and Castile * Stephanie of Milly, Lady of Oultrejordain (died 1197), an influential figure in the Kingdom of Jerusalem * Stephanie of Milly, Lady of Gibelet, an influential figure in the Kingdom of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion, diffused there from the northwest in the late Bronze Age#South Asia, Bronze Age. Sanskrit is the sacred language of Hinduism, the language of classical Hindu philosophy, and of historical texts of Buddhism and Jainism. It was a lingua franca, link language in ancient and medieval South Asia, and upon transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia, East Asia and Central Asia in the early medieval era, it became a language of religion and high culture, and of the political elites in some of these regions. As a result, Sanskrit had a lasting effect on the languages of South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, especially in their formal and learned vocabularies. Sanskrit generally connotes several Indo-Aryan languages# ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romila Thapar
Romila Thapar (born 30 November 1931) is an Indian historian. Her principal area of study is ancient India, a field in which she is pre-eminent. Quotr: "The pre-eminent interpreter of ancient Indian history today. ... " Thapar is a Professor of Ancient History, Emerita, at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. Thapar's special contribution is the use of social-historical methods to understand change in the mid-first millennium BCE in northern India. As lineage-based Indo-Aryan pastoral groups moved into the Gangetic Plain, they created rudimentary forms of caste-based states. The epics '' Ramayana'' and the '' Mahabharata'', in her analysis, offer vignettes of how these groups and others negotiated new, more complex, forms of loyalty in which stratification, purity, and exclusion played a greater if still fluid role. Quote: "Among the major historians of ancient India in recent times, Thapar's emphasis on social history differentiates her approach from that of the cu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aryan
''Aryan'' (), or ''Arya'' (borrowed from Sanskrit ''ārya''), Oxford English Dictionary Online 2024, s.v. ''Aryan'' (adj. & n.); ''Arya'' (n.)''.'' is a term originating from the ethno-cultural self-designation of the Indo-Iranians. It stood in contrast to nearby outsiders, whom they designated as non-Aryan (). In ancient India, the term was used by the Indo-Aryan peoples of the Vedic period, both as an endonym and in reference to a region called ''Aryavarta'' (, ), where their culture emerged. Similarly, according to the Avesta, the Iranian peoples used the term to designate themselves as an ethnic group and to refer to a region called '' Airyanem Vaejah'' (, ), which was their mythical homeland. The word stem also forms the etymological source of place names like '' Alania'' () and ''Iran'' (). Although the stem may originate from the Proto-Indo-European language, it seems to have been used exclusively by the Indo-Iranian peoples, as there is no evidence of it having s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
