Social reforms

In response to demands of political and social equality the proponents of Hinduism claim that Hindu religion is egalitarian. The most contentious of all the issues related to social structure of India is caste. According to apologists of Hinduism caste was originally associated with occupation or voluntary occupation based on one’s understanding of his true nature. They would quote Gita which says that the varnas were created according to qualities of action. Later on they became rigid and were ascribed “by birth”. This produced innumerable occupation based, hierarchical and endogamous castes. Here one should maintain a distinction between varna and caste. Varnas are only four: Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas and Shudras. Castes run into thousands. Varnas have an all-India nature and are non-hierarchal but castes are local and hierarchical. Gandhi supported the varna system though he opposed the caste system. To him, varna was the principle of socializing the new generation at home in various arts, crafts and social activities. It is not inconceivable to think of a system in which the new generation has the advantage of accumulative wisdom of the predecessors devoted to a specific calling but which reward all activities and thus all sections of society more or less equally. This was reportedly the strength of the varna system. This is noteworthy that when the caste system became more rigid and hierarchical Hinduism inspired many saints and preachers to fight the rigidity of caste system and evolve an egalitarian religion in which everybody has the same place before God. We can say that looked at from this perspective Hinduism is opposed to caste inequalities and suggests that all activities must be rewarded equally.