(full text 3200 words, it takes 5 minutes to read)
When I watched One Piece, I first came into contact with the magical species "Chenlongren". As a "higher creature" that is defaulted by the world government, the Tianlong people have the following privileges:
1. The status is always higher than that of ordinary people. If the Tianlong people pass by the crowd, all the civilians must kneel down and bow their heads, give them a spacious road and wait for the Tianlong people to pass.
2. The Tianlong people can treat anyone else as their slaves at will. In order to prevent the slave from escaping, they will inject sedatives into the slaves and wear explosive collars. Some Tianlong people will even imprint the "Tianxiang Dragon's Hoof" on the slaves.
3. The Tianlong people can take anyone they like as their spouse. As long as they get tired of playing, they can throw it away. Even if the Tianlong people kill civilians in front of everyone, the others can only regard it as if they didn't see it.
At that time, I was quite angry at this setting in the comics. How could there be such a species that can ignore any law and have no restrictions on all behaviors? Later, when I learned about the existence and history of the "caste system", I realized that I was too young and too simple. It turned out that the "noble race" setting in this comic has long existed in reality, and even even today, the most representative country is the famous "yes, it's right" India.
Speaking of India, in addition to some funny news in daily life, India is also the birthplace of Buddhism, one of the three major religions in the world, , and our Chinese Buddhism was passed down from India. But in India, Buddhism is not the biggest religion, the largest religion in India is Hinduism.
Buddhism and Hinduism are two completely different systems.
Buddhism originated from the theory founded by Buddha Shakyamuni. It believed that after death, people will enter the six realms of reincarnation. If they do good in their lifetime, they will be reincarnated and enjoy happiness in their next lifetime. If they do evil in their lifetime, they will suffer all their suffering in the next lifetime, which is the so-called "good will be rewarded with good, and evil will be rewarded with evil." Buddhism talks about "no self". People, individuals, people and animals are equal, and there is no distinction between boundary classes. Therefore, in the Buddhist concept, “all sentient beings are equal” is the principle of practice.
Hinduism originated from the reincarnation of Harapa and the theory of immortality of the soul. It believes in polygods. In their divine spectrum, there are three main gods of , namely Brahma , Vishnu , and Shiva . In Hinduism, people are believed to have souls and will be reborn after death. This kind of reincarnation has no beginning and end. To be liberated, one must reach the state of unity of soul and god. The Hindu practice method emphasizes "having me", and the advocated concept is "Some people are born inferior races, and they must be superior people through lifelong tolerance and accumulating blessings in the next life. The class system must be strictly distinguished."
More than 80% of people in India believe in Hinduism. In addition, the surrounding Nepal , Mauritius , Bangladesh , etc., have more than 1.2 billion people around the world believe in Hinduism, second only to Christianity with 2 billion believers, Islam with 1.4 billion believers, and even far exceeds Buddhism with 400 million believers. However, the spread and influence of Hinduism in the world is not as large as Buddhism. The reason why Hinduism cannot be widely spread around the world is inseparable from one thing, that is, the "caste system" we mentioned in the previous article.
caste system was founded by Aryan . The Aryans were an ancient nomadic people on the grasslands in the southern Ural Mountains of Russia. They had their own civilization, which was the Veda civilization. This was also an early religion. Later, the hymns about these religions began to be included in a collection, and the result was compiled into " Rig Veda ", which was compiled about 1,000 BC.
There is an article in "Rigveda" called "The Song of the Original Man": " Brahman is the mouth of the original man, Kshatriya is the arms of the original man, Vaishya is the thigh of the original man, and Shoudra is the feet of the original man."
In this song, all humans are called " Valna ", and through the division of functions and rights, led by Brahmins, it forms a rigorous four orders:
Brahmin: the highest Valna, which is also the core of the entire order.
Khatriya: The second-highest Valna has the right to share "rule all creatures" with the Brahmins. The warriors and rulers have actual political and military power, but are excluded from the complete priest process, so they do not have religious power. In addition, he has the responsibility to protect the Brahmins.
Vaishya: The third-class Valna, a farmer or shepherd, the task is to produce food and provide various sacrifices. Vaishya can engage in farming, commerce, animal husbandry and lending.
Shudra: the lowest Varna, a slave without personal freedom, responsible for providing various services.
also has the fifth type of "unpreience", but they are excluded from the original human body.
In order to ensure their ruling power and maintain a certain number of people in various jobs, the Aryans created a "caste system" based on this song. They divided the people under their rule into four levels. Each level has strict regulations on status, rights, occupation, obligations, etc.:
The first level "Brahmin" is mainly a monk and noble, with the privilege of interpreting religious scriptures, sacrificing gods, and the right to enjoy dedication. He is mainly responsible for education, and his audience is Kshatriya, who is responsible for monopolizing cultural education and reporting on the farm season and interpreting religious discourse. In addition, Brahmins enjoy many privileges, such as not being punished, not being killed, and being able to reclaim some of the confiscated lost property.
The second level of "Kshatriya" is generally a military aristocrat and an administrative aristocrat. It has the privilege of collecting various taxes and is a rank of military and political power. The king generally still belongs to Kshatriya, but Kshatriya is not limited to kings and royal families. Kshatriya was responsible for protecting the Brahmins for generations.
third level "Vaisya", they are ordinary Aryans, mainly responsible for business and have no political privileges. Moreover, the "Vaisyas" must be offered (key points) in the form of donations and taxes, and they are not engaged in the production labor of at all, and they are not engaged in the production of "Brahman" and "Kshatriya". However, the "Vaisya" is also a member of the Aryan clan tribal commune and can participate in the religious rituals of the commune. Therefore, like the Brahmins and Kshatriya, they belong to the "rebirth tribe". The fourth level of
"Shudra", most of them were conquered indigenous people, not within the Aryan commune, and belonged to non-Aryans. Because he did not have a member of the commune, "Shudra" could not participate in religious rituals and also lost the right to be protected in politics, law, religion, etc. As for "Varna", "Shudra" is a person who suffers from low status and needs to engage in various professions that were considered low at the time. If a "Shudra" loses its means of production, it will become a hired worker or even a slave.
is right, "Shudra" is not the worst. In addition to the four major castes, there are also a large number of "fifth castes". They are called the " untouchable " class, also known as "unfamiliar" or " Dalit ". "Unpardon people" are not considered the people and are not included in the four major castes. They mostly engage in the lowest professions.
At the beginning, this social system was to ensure the ruling power of the Aryans while maintaining a certain number of people in all kinds of jobs. Later, as foreign Islamic conquerors such as Mamluk and Mongur ruled India, this "caste system" was constantly adjusted for the needs of regimes from all sides. During the British Indian period, it was formulated into a more fixed, rigid and strict class system to meet the needs of colonists.
, and what is even more exaggerated is that, like the "Chenlong Man", unless you give up on it yourself, the caste system can be inherited from generation to generation. Therefore, a person's social status and economic conditions are basically determined as soon as you are born, because the class is too large and it will become a caste. Once the caste is completed, it is basically impossible for the lower class to rise.The existence of the caste system of
is not conducive to national unity, but also to national unity, and will lead to a long-term stagnation and backwardness of society. Later, after India's independence, it also felt that this thing was too anti-human, so it announced the abolition of the "caste system", but this time was a little late, in 1947. In other words, before this, the caste system had been "popular" in India for 3,000 years.
To this day, although the "caste system" has been abolished in India for many years, it is still in people's "concept". In some still conservative rural Indian villages, some people have to avoid people when walking because they cannot let their shadow fall on passers-by; and even more, some people carry brooms and sweep away their footprints while walking. They work for the people in this village, but are not allowed to live in the village; they cannot fetch water in the wells of the village, and even if children can go to school, they must go to specialized schools.
is right, these are the "untouchables" we mentioned above, namely "untouchables" and "dalits". According to census data, India currently has 200 million "dalits", accounting for 16.6% of the total population.
ending
wrote this article because I saw a news two days ago that a 15-year-old Indian student was beaten with a stick by a teacher of a high caste because of a spelling error in class. After being beaten, he fainted for a while. After being beaten by the teacher for more than two weeks, he unfortunately died. The student's family asked the teacher involved for compensation, but was insulted by him. The reason why the students and his parents were treated in this way was simply because their surname belonged to the lowest caste "Dalit" in the Indian caste system.
Official data from the Indian government also shows that in recent years, crimes against "Dalits" in India have been on the rise: in 2019, there were about 46,000 criminal activities against Dalits in India, and in 2020, this figure rose to more than 50,000, an increase of nearly 10%.
caste system will lead to a long-term stagnation and backward society, but the division of caste is actually the division of classes, and the core is apartheid . This system is just in line with the interests of the rulers. As the high caste of the rulers, rulers of all generations will certainly not easily abolish it. If it had not been reduced to a British colony, India would have been unlikely to become a unified country until today.
Although with the development of India's economy, the advancement of science and technology, and the improvement of education level in recent years, it is rapidly destroying the foundation of the "caste system" among the people, judging from India's class solidification, it is still a long time to truly eliminate the "caste system" from people's hearts.
(full text, thank you for watching, the picture comes from the Internet)
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