UNIT 3 VARNASHRAMA DHARMA

Structure
3.1 Introduction
Aims and Objectives

3.2 Origins of the Concept of Varna

3.3 Varna in Post-Vedic Period
3.4 Parametres of Varnas
3.5 Gandhi on Varnashrama as Social Pattern
3.5.1 Varna as Hereditary Functionalism.
3.5.2 Demerits and Merits of the Caste (Jati) System.

3.6 Conclusion
3.7 Summary
3.8 Terminal Questions
Suggested Readings

3.1 INTRODUCTION
Gandhi stated that ‘varna is the law of heredity. Varna is not a thing that is superimposed
on Hindus, but men who were trustees for their welfare discovered the law for them. It
is not a human invention, but an immutable law of nature- the statement of a tendency
that is ever present and at work like Newton’s law of gravitation. Just as the law of
gravitation existed even before it was discovered, so did the law of varna’ (M.K.Gandhi,
Hindu Dharma, 1950, p.365). Gandhi views the system based on Varna as a classification
of different systems of self-culture and as the best possible adjustment of social stability
and progress and not as an arrogant superiority. He views the Varna dharma as an aspect
that satisfies the religious, social and economic needs of a community and that which leads
to the spiritual perfection. He reiterates that ‘varna is no man-made institution but the law
of life universally governing the human family. Fulfillment of the law would make life
livable, would spread peace and content, end all clashes and conflicts, put an end to
starvation and pauperization, solve the problem of population, and even end disease and
suffering’ (SWMG, vol.6, p.477). The Varna system as we see it today is a distorted
version, of high and low gradations and is vastly different from its original meaning and
purpose. Gandhi views Varnashrama dharma as a ceaseless search for truth that would
lead to spiritual evolution. Varna system preaches not the bifurcation of society but
enables one to follow one’s designated role in society. This Unit enables the learner to
understand the origins of the concept of Varna, its significance in the Vedic and Post-
Vedic period, and its nuances. It also gives an account of Gandhi’s views on the subject.
Aims and Objectives
After studying this unit you should be able to understand
 Varnashram dharma prevelant in India
 Gandhian view of Varnashrama dharma
 32 Gandhi’s Social Thought

3.2 ORIGINS OF THE CONCEPT OF VARNA

This section intends to familiarise the learner with the origins of the concept of varna. This
will enable us to understand the background of the subject matter.
Brahmano’ sya mukham asid bahu rajanyah pritah!
Uru tal asya yad vaisyah padbhyam sudro ajayata!! (Rigveda, X. 90.12)
In the Rigveda, the earliest work in human history three classes of society are very
frequently mentioned, and named Brahma, Kshatra, and Visha. The first two represented
broadly the two professions of the poet-priest and the warrior-chief. The third division
was apparently a group comprising all the common people. It is only in one of the later
hymns, the celebrated Purushasukta that a reference has been made to four orders of
society as emanating from the sacrifice of the Primeval Being. The names of those four
orders are given there as Brahmana, Rajanya, Vaishya, and Shudra, who are said to have
come respectively from the mouth, the arms, the thighs, and the feet of the Creator. The
particular limbs associated with these divisions and the order in which they are mentioned
probably indicate their status in the society of the time, though no such interpretation is
directly given in the hymn.
This origin of the four classes is repeated in most of the later works with slight variations
and interpretative additions. The Taittiriya Samhita, for example, ascribes the origins of
those four classes to the four limbs of the Creator and adds an explanation. The Brahmins
are declared to be the chief because they were created from the mouth, punning on the
word ‘mukha’ (‘mouth’ and ‘chief’). The Brahmans’ only duties are to study and teach
the Vedas, to offer sacrifices and to offer, and above all to receive, gifts. The Rajanyas
are vigorous because they were created from vigour. It is the duty of the Kshatriyas to
give orders, to protect the people, to offer sacrifices through the medium of Brahmans
and to study the Vedas. The Vaishyas are meant to eat, referring to their liability to
excessive taxation, because they were created from the stomach, the receptacle of food.
Therefore they must raise livestock, cultivate the soil, engage in trade, and give alms, not
neglecting either the sacred rites or the study of the written word. The Shudra, because
he was created from the feet, is to be the transporter of others and to subsist by the
feet. They have only one essential task – to serve the higher castes. Outside this system
there are only barbarous or despised peoples who have no access to the religious and
social life of the Brahmanic world, that is to say, foreigners or Mlechchhas (Muir, John,
1976, p.16). In this particular account of the creation not only is the origin of the classes
interpreted theologically, but also a divine justification is sought to be given to their
functions and status. The creation theory is here further amplified to account for certain
other features of these social classes. God is said to have created certain deities
simultaneously with these classes. The Vaishya class, the commoners, must have been
naturally very large, and this account explains that social fact by a reference to the
simultaneous creation of Vishvedevas, all and sundry deities, whose number is considerable.
We are told that no deities were created along with the Shudra and hence he is
disqualified for sacrifice. Here again, the social regulation which forbade a Shudra to offer
sacrifice is explained as an incidental consequence of the creation. What all these myths
had in common was the tendency to assert that the caste system was the creation of
super-human agency with separate duties.
The fact that the four classes are described as of divine origin, although in a later hymn,
must be taken as a sufficient indication that they were of long duration and very well
Varnashram Dharma 33

defined, even though the exact demarcation of their functions, the regulations guiding their
inter-relations, and the extent of their flexibility may not be referred to in the main body
of the Rigvedic literature, which is avowedly of a liturgical nature.

3.3 VARNA IN POST-VEDIC PERIOD

The Brahmanic literature of the post-Vedic period, while reiterating that there are only four
varnas, mentions certain mixed castes (sankara jati) and also a group of out-cast classes
(antydvasayin). The sacred laws of the Aryas are designed to expound ‘varna-dharma’
i.e., the duties ostensibly of the four orders. The text-books of the different schools may
broadly be analysed into four parts. The first part, generally very short, deals with the
‘ashramas’ (four stages in individual life) and their duties; the second part, forming a large
portion of the book, really deals with ‘varna-dharma’. Much of the law is treated in this
section under the heading, “duties of the Kshatriya”. The two other parts deal with
expiatory acts and inheritance. Though the main bulk of the law is treated under ‘varna-
dharma’, the ‘Shudra’ does not figure much in these texts. The ‘varna-dharma’ of the
‘Shudra’ is such that it does not require elaborate regulation. It may justly be said that
the ‘Shudra’ was left to himself as far as his internal affairs were concerned. Their case
is provided for by the general dictum, that the peculiar laws of countries, castes, and
families may be followed in the absence of sacred rules (Vasishtha, 1882, p.4). The other
classes are considered derivative, and therefore so much beneath notice that only four-
fold humanity is always alluded to and prevention of the confusion of these castes
(varnasaiikara) is considered as an ideal necessity. Mixtures of castes is regarded to be
such a great evil that it must be combated even though the Brahmins and the Vaishyas
have to resort to arms, a function which is normally sinful for them. As the outcastes were
deprived of the right to follow the lawful occupations of the twice-born men, and after
death, of the rewards of meritorious deeds, it follows that the lawgivers had no concern
for them. They were enjoined to live together and fulfil their purposes, sacrificing for each
other and confining other relations to themselves.
Among the four varnas, the old distinction of Arya and Shudra now appears predominantly
as Dvija and Shudia, though the old distinction is occasionally mentioned. The first three
varnas are called Dvijas (twice-born) because they have to go through the initiation
ceremony which is symbolic of rebirth. This privilege is denied to the Shudra who is
therefore called ‘ekajati’ (once-born). The word ‘jati’ which is here used for ‘varna’,
henceforward is employed more often to mean the numerous sub-divisions of a ‘varna’.
It is also the vernacular term for a ‘caste’. A rigorous demarcation of meaning between
‘varna’ and ‘jati’, the former denoting the four large classes and the latter only their sub-
division cannot, however, be maintained. The word is sometimes indiscriminately used for
‘varna’.
The pre-eminence of the Brahmin was so great that the Mahabharata declared that really
speaking there was only one ‘varna’, viz., the Brahmin and the other varnas were merely
its modifications (Mahabharata, Shanti Parva, 50, 90). Though Gautama quotes the Vedic
texts which declare that the Kshatriyas assisted by the Brahmins prosper, and that the
union of the two alone upholds the moral order, yet he lays down that when a king and
a Brahmin pass along the same road the road belongs to the Brahmin and not to the
king. Vasishtha declares that the Brahmin’s King is Soma. The Mahabharata goes even
further, and emphasises the subordinate position of the Kshatriya, whose only support is
pronounced to be the Brahmin.
 34 Gandhi’s Social Thought

The Mahabharata says that the Shudra can have no absolute property, because his wealth
can be appropriated by his master at will (ibid.) If the master of a Shudra has fallen into
distress, the latter shall be placed at the disposal of the poor master. The king is enjoined
to appoint only persons of the first three classes over villages and towns for their
protection.
The Sudras were not everywhere. In many parts of India, they had been rulers, and
slave-owners. The Buddhist literature speaks of Sudra kings. Even from the post-Vedic
literature, it will be seen that all Sudras were not slaves. Gautamadharma Sutra, for
instance, says that the Sudras could be merchants and exercise any trade or profession
they liked. They were not slaves as a caste. They became slaves only under circumstances
and conditions that made even the Brahmana a slave. The biggest slave owners on the
Malabar Coast were the Nairs or the Sudras. The severity index of Malabar slavery will
be seen from the fact that even after liberation, most of the Paraya and Pulaya slaves
preferred to stay with their masters in preference to and being taken to plantations to
slave under European planters. Though slavery was abolished there over a century ago,
even now descendants of the old slaves could be found living happily attached to the
descendants of their former masters. It is not due to their slave mentality; but it is due
to the advantages which they could still claim. The slaves there had never been menial
servants or household attendants of the masters. The untouchability and unapproachability
saved them from the horrors of the Negro slaves elsewhere. The slaves themselves were
not free from caste or jati restrictions among themselves. The Parayas, and the Pulayas,
for instance, had no social contact, intermarriage or inter-dining and between themselves,
they observed untouchability and unapproachability.
Facts being such, it is nothing short of absurdity to imagine that the Sudras were the
Dravidian slaves of the Aryans, and the degraded condition of the Sudras was due to
their Dravidian lineage. The Nairs of Malabar are as much Dravidians as the Parayas and
the Pulayas but they have always been masters and rulers. If the complexion of the
Parayas and Pulayas is darker than that of the Nairs or the Sudras, it is because that
the Paravas and the Pulayas like the Oraons and the Munaas of the north, lead an open-
air life, in a climate more humid than hot.
In the Santi-parva, Bhrigu makes the following statement:
“There is no difference of caste: this world, having been at first created by Brahma
entirely Brahmanic, became (afterwards) separated into castes in consequence of works.
Those twice-born men who were fond of sensual pleasure, fiery, irascible, prone to
violence, who had forsaken their duty and were red-limbed, fell into the condition of
Kshatriyas. Those twice-born who derived their livelihood from king, who were yellow,
who subsisted by agriculture and who neglected to practise their duties, entered into the
state of Vaisyas. Those twice-born who were addicted to mischief and falsehood, who
were covetous, who lived by all kinds of work, who were black and had fallen from
purity, sank into the condition of Sudras. Being separated from each other by these
works, the Brahmans became divided into different castes.”
This is different from what Manu has said. According to Manu-Smriti every one is born
a Sudra, action makes one a dvija, and knowledge of Brahma makes one a Brahmana.
According to both Manu and Bhrigu, the divisions into Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaisya and
Sudra are not according to birth or heredity (The Laws of Manu, 1886, p.2). It is
according to one’s own action guided by his inclination. Just as one could have become
a carpenter or a blacksmith, one could have become a Brahmana or Kshatriya by choice.
Varnashram Dharma 35

3.4 PARAMETRES OF VARNAS

Varna or Varnashrama distinctions might not have had any more significance than four
classifications like A, B, C and D or 1, 2, 3 and 4. It was not just in respect of human
beings that the ancient Hindus used the terms Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudra for
classification. It can be seen from the Silpasastras, or treaties on architecture, that they
used the same terms for classifying the land according to the extent and quality, and also
to signify certain constants 1, 3, 5, and 7 in certain formulas. They divided the land into
four Varnas, white, yellow, brown and black. The white soil they called Brahmana, yellow
soil Kshatriya, brown soil Vaisya and black soil Sudra. A plot of land, or an area whose
length was equal to breadth was called Brahmana, a plot whose length was one and one-
eighth times the breadth they called Kshatriya, and those plots that had the length one and
one-sixth, and one and one-fourth times the breadth they called the Vaisya and Sudra
respectively. Then certain perimeters, which they derived from the length, hiding the
element of breadth by use of constants 1, 3, 5, and 7, they designated as Brahmana,
Kshatriya, Sudra and Vaisya.

LX8 + 1
Brahmana perimeter =
3

LX8 + 3
Kshatriya =
3

LX8 + 5
Sudra =
3

LX8 + 7
Vaisya =
3
where L = length.
Having forgotten the real significance of these formulae and classifications the orthodox
architects and the later day authors of the Silpasastras have been asserting that the
Brahmana Perimeter is to be used in the design of a Brahmana’s house and the Sudra
perimeter was for the Sudra’s house, and so on. If it were so, the dimensions of a
Brahmana’s house must be the smallest. Likewise if the colour qualification of the land
was exclusive the Brahmanas should live only on certain sea-coasts and desert regions,
while the rich black cotton growing tracts of central India should be exclusively for the
Sudras.
Manu represents the various castes as the result of mixed marriages between the four
original castes. According to him the four primitive castes, by intermarrying in every
possible way, gave rise to 16 mixed castes, which by continuing their intermarriages
produced the long list of the mixed castes.
The violation of caste rules may often create a new caste. Illegitimate or illegal sexual
relations may cause the nucleus of new caste formations; illegimate relation between a
Brahmana woman and a Sudra man may create a new caste. Dharmasastras as well as
the Arthasastras give many instances of such caste formations. In Kautilya’s Arthasastra
the following instances are given:
 36 Gandhi’s Social Thought

New Caste
Brahman father and Vaisya mother Ambastha
Brahman father and Sudra mother Nishasha or Parasva
Kshatriya father and Sudra mother Ugra
Vaisya father and Sudra mother Sudra
Kshatriya father and Brahman mother Sum
Ugra father and Nishadha mother Kukkutaka
Nishadha father and Ugra mother Pulkasha
Ambastha father and Vaidekaka mother Vainya
Vaidekaka father and Ambastha mother Kusilava
Sudra father and Brahman mother Ayogava
Sudra father and Kshatriya mother Kshatta
Sudra father and Vaisya mother Chandala
Few of these castes are known now by these names. Evidently they have changed their
names or assumed new occupational names. A tendency to adopt occupational names will
be seen even in the Arthasastra; where it is stated that a Vainya, “becomes a Rathakara,
or chariot-maker, by profession ‘ members of this caste shall marry among themselves,
both in customs and avocations they shall follow their ancestors, they may either become
Sudras, if they are not born as Chandalas” (Kautiliya, 1976edn, p.165).
The mixed marriages such as these were once legitimate; the laws for disinheriting children
from such marriages were of later origin. Even the illegitimate sons known as Antaralas,
were to have equal divisions of inheritance in parity with legitimate sons. “In the case of
sons such as Suta, Magadha, Vratya and Rathakara, inheritance will go to the capable;
and the rest will depend upon him for sustenance. In the absence of the capable, all will
have equal shares”. But “partition of inheritance shall be made in accordance with the
customs prevalent in the country, caste, society (sangha), or the village of the inheritors”.
Most of these mixed castes are in reality the professions, trades, and guilds of a half-
civilised society. They did not wait for mixed marriages before they came into existence.
Professions, trades, and handicrafts had grown up without any reference to caste. Some
of their names were derived from towns and countries where certain professions were
held in particular estimation. Servants who waited on ladies were called Vaidehas, because
they came from Videha. In other cases the names of Manu’s castes were derived from
their occupations. The caste of musicians, for instance were called Venas from vina, the
lyre. Now it was evidently Manu’s object to bring these professional corporations in
connection with the old system of castes, assigning to each, according to its higher or
lower position, a more or less pure descent from the original castes, The Vaidyas, for
instance, or the physicians, evidently a respectable corporation, were represented as the
offspring of a Brahman father and a Vaisya mother, while the guild of the fishermen, or
Nishadas, were put down as the descendants of a Brahman father and a Sudra mother.
Thus a new system of caste came in of a purely professional character, though artificially
grafted on the rotten trunk of the ancient castes. This is the system which is still in force
in India, and which has exercised its influence on the state of Indian society for good and
evil.
Varnashram Dharma 37

3.5 GANDHI ON VARNASHRAMA AS SOCIAL

PATTERN
3.5.1 Varna as Hereditary Functionalism
Gandhi accepted the social philosophy of Varna. An equalitarian society based on active
mutual love and harmony was his goal and, hence, although he accepted the sociology of
the Varnashrama he refused to acknowledge any sense of distance and subordination
between the Varnas. According to him, the Hindu sociology of Varna eliminated unworthy
competition, was natural to man in his regenerate and civilised state and, although
determined by birth, could be retained only by the willing performance of the obligations
entailed by it. He thought of it as a functional organisation of society determined by
Nature or God and oriented to the realisation of the harmony of the community without
there being any sense of constraint and domination from the sections following intellectual
and military professions.
Several times he would use Varna and caste interchangeably and attributed to
the latter an organic, functional and non competitive character. He wrote: “The spirit
behind caste is not one of arrogant superiority; it is the classification of different
systems of self culture. It is the best possible adjustment of social stability and progress.
Just as the spirit of the family is inclusive of those who love each other and are wedded
to each other by ties of blood and relation, caste also tries to include families of a
particular way of purity of life (not standard of life, meaning by this term, economic
standard of life). Only it does not leave the decision, whether a particular family belongs
to a particular type, to the idiosyncracies or interested judgement of a few individuals”
(Young India, 29-12-1920).
Gandhi even regarded the Hindu social structure based on Varna to be true socialism. (i)
If the principle of Varna was followed in its original Vedic sense of functional organization,
(ii) if all members of society participated in bread labour, (iii) if all labour should carry
the same value, the primary wants of all being the same, then, according to Gandhi it was
nothing but socialism (Amrit Bazar Patrika, 03-08-1934).
Although a believer in Varna determined by birth, Gandhi was emphatic in stating that it
conferred no privilege and resulted in no social subordination. He wrote: “It is against the
genius of Hinduism to arrogate to oneself a higher status or assign others to a lower. All
are born to serve God’s creation, the Brahman with his knowledge, the Kshatriya with
his power of protection, the Vaishya with his commercial ability, the Shudra with his
bodily labour. This does not mean that a Brahman is absolved from bodily labour, but it
does mean that he is predominantly a man of knowledge and fitted by training and
heredity, to impart it to others. There is nothing again to prevent a Shudra from acquiring
all the knowledge he wishes. Only he will best serve with his body and need not envy
others their special qualities for service. A Brahman who claims superiority by right of
knowledge falls and has no knowledge. And so with the others who pride themselves
upon their special qualities, Varnashrama is self restraint and conservation and economy
of energy”(Young India, 06-10-1921, p.317).
He pleaded for the restoration of the essential principle on which the original Varna was
based – the elimination of competition and the realisation of the common good through
duties done in proportion to one’s attainments and faculties.
 38 Gandhi’s Social Thought

It may be worth while to note here the difference between the ideas of Gandhi and
Dayananda with regard to Varna. Both claimed to champion the Varna in its Vedic sense
and both denounced the perversities of the caste system which is a degeneration of the
Varna. But, paradoxically enough, while the Brahmin Dayananda agreed that the determination
of Varna would be made in accordance with the criteria of Guna (qualities), Karma
(action), and Svabhava (psychological attainment or inherent nature), the western educated
Vaishya Gandhi was much more conservative and held that Varna would be determined
by heredity. While Dayananda quoted the Vedas in support of his view, Gandhi
interpreted the Gita word Srishtam (The Bhagavad Gita, IV, 13) as supporting the view
that the Varna is determined by birth.

3.5.2 Demerits and Merits of the Caste (Jati) System

Gandhi was candid enough, however, to recognise the grave social evils with which the
original Vedic Varna had become encumbered in the course of its evolution, and he
condemned in unmeasured terms the social enormities and perverse exploitation practised
in the name of caste superiority. The existing structure of innumerable castes was a
negation of the old Varna. It imposed unhealthy impediments on the growth of social
solidarity and hence was detrimental to the well-being of the Hindus as well as to the
development of nationalism. It encouraged complicated ritualism and ceremonialism, and
thus was a bar also to the development of genuine religious feeling. Hence Gandhi, who
recognised only the four Varnas as rational and fundamental, made a strong plea for the
abolition of the evils and injustices of the caste system.
But Gandhi generally took an evolutionary approach to history and social institutions, and
wanted to demonstrate the rationality of even the much condemned system of caste which
had been almost immanent in the historical evolution of the country. It is impossible to go
against the laws of one’s being. Neither an individual nor a society could take a
revolutionary leap and overturn the fundamental pattern of its action. Gandhi was a
reformer through and through, but he did not like to give a rough handling to social
patterns and institutions for the sheer delight of novelty and social experimentation. His
defence, in his earlier writings, of the sociological assumptions of the caste (as a
degeneration of the Vedic Varna) has to be seen in a historical perspective. He had
written: “The vast, organization of caste answered not only to the religious wants of the
community but it answered to its political needs. The villagers managed their internal
affairs through the caste system, and through it they dealt with any oppression from the
ruling power or powers. It is not possible to deny of a nation that was capable of
producing the caste system its wonderful power of organization” (Bose, N. K., 1959).
Gandhi defended the caste structure as a trade guild (Young India, 13-12, 1921, p.114).
It had these merits:
(I) It made possible the perpetuation of acquired professional skill through hereditary
transmission.
(II) It imposed restrictions on economic competition.
(III) It was an insurance against poverty. It regulated social service in the event of disease
and death. (Tendulkar, D.G., 1960, p.268)
(IV) It checked social disorganization.
Varnashram Dharma 39

3.6 CONCLUSION
Gandhi’s views regarding the Varna and the caste indicate his conservative historicism and
traditionalism. As a keen political leader, he knew very well that the foundations of long
accepted leadership especially in a tradition ridden country like India could lie only in the
social consensus of the majority of the people. Hence he could not afford to denounce
the principle of determination of one’s function by his birth. It is very true that he had
a flexible and resilient mind and had an infinite capacity to read new and even
revolutionary meanings into older concepts. Thus, when socialism became an emotion
stirring concept in Indian politics, Gandhi came out with the statement that the Varna
system was true socialism. He even stated that the Varna principle of functional
organisation would operate in the ideal society of Ramrajya. But while all the time, in his
later years, he was reading socialistic and functional notions into the traditional concept of
Varna, he could continue to adhere to the conservative and even reactionary doctrine that
an adult should follow the profession of his father because of psychological and other
environmental facilities. This latter notion of following one’s father’s profession has been
the deep foundation of the caste structure, as it has been conceived in the Brahmanical
Smritis and Shastras. Gandhi’s historicist conservatism is revealed in the view which he
held to the last that according to the law of Varna one has to earn his bread “by
following the ancestral calling.” It is clear that members of the backward and Scheduled
Castes would regard Gandhi’s view not only as a historicist apology but even reactionary.
Gandhi also seemed unaware of the contradiction involved in simultaneously bolstering up
the socialistic and the traditional interpretations of the Varna order.
There are indications that towards the end of his life, he said that in his ideal scheme of
Ramrajya there would be no place for a hierarchical structure based on castes and
classes. Gandhi also felt that as a result of marriages between caste Hindus and Harijans
“there will be only one caste, known by the beautiful name, Bhangi, that is to say, the
reformer or remover of all dirt” (Harijan 07-07-1946, p.212). He wrote: “Classless
society is the ideal, not merely to be aimed at but to be worked for and, in such society,
there is no room for classes or communities” (ibid., 17-02-1946, p.9). He began to
approve of and bless inter caste marriages (ibid., 04-03-1933, p.5). Perhaps it is correct
to state that Gandhi (at least towards the end of his life) accepted the concept of an
undifferentiated social structure. It appears that with the passage of time, Gandhi’s
historicist conservatism demonstrated in his defence not only of the ideal type of Varna,
but also to a certain extent, in the Hind Swaraj and other writings, of the caste in its
operative efficacy, slightly yielded place to some kind of radical social equalitarianism.

3.7 SUMMARY
Gandhi argued that castes are numerous and are man-made; they undergo constant
change. Similarly, Varnas are just four and not numerous. They do have sanction by the
Shastras [holy books]. Gandhi opined that this four-fold pattern exists everywhere but
people are not conscious of them. Rather this reflects on the following lines: one to impart
knowledge of God for the welfare of the world, another to protect the people against
manifold dangers, a third one to carry on the work of farming, etc., to sustain the
community and one class to work for these three classes. There is no feeling of high and
low to this division. Further, it is not understood as a great law of nature that leads to
the misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the concept. The changes are witnessed in
the changing patterns of the occupational choices of people. At present the significance of
 40 Gandhi’s Social Thought

this varna system is on the wane, leading to destructive competition for gaining selfish
ends. Gandhi firmly opined that the law of nature was to follow the system and tread the
path of progress. He argued that the varna system in its pristine nature is pure and
necessary and without any distortions or discrimination. ‘This would be to the good of
India as well as the whole world’. (Harijanbandhu, 19 January, 1936, CWMG, Vol.LXII).

3.8 TERMINAL QUESTIONS

1. What do you mean by Varnashrama dharma?
2. Point out the difference between Varna and Caste.
3. Examine Gandhi’s views on Varnashrama dharma.

SUGGESTED READINGS
Bandyopodhayaya, Jayantanuja., Social and Political Thought of Gandhi, Allied Publishers,
Bombay, 1969.
Bhattacharya, Buddhadeva., Evolution of Political Thought of Gandhi, Calcutta Book
House, Calcutta, 1969.
Bose, N. K., Selections from Gandhi, Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad, 1959.
Dhawan, Gopi Nath., The Political Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, Navajivan Publishing
House, Ahmedabad, 1962.
Gandhi, M.K., An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments With Truth, Navajivan
Publishing House, Ahmedabad, 1927.
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