VARNASHRAMA DHARMA It can also be put as the presence of varna in different

ashramas of life. The description of the emergence of this

 Human society is inherently divided into four orders dharma supported by texts from ancient epics will support
o The first order is the intelligent class, the theory of origin. Subsequently different interpretations
o Second is the martial class, or theories of emergence would be deliberated upon.
o Third is the productive class and
o The fourth is the labour class Often Varnashrama dharma is also thought to be
synonymous with the caste system which is very much
endemic to India. The term paper will clarify the difference
The emergence of these divisions has been touched
between the two concepts.
upon by many scholars and different reasoning have been
put up for the same.
THE EMERGENCE OF THE DHARMA
Varnashrama Dharma is a Sanskrit name given to the In order to bring out the meaning of the word-
divisional structure of the Indian society Varnashrama dharma, delving deeper to bring out the
When this order of society is intertwined with the four orders meaning of the fragments in required.
of life or the ashramas, i.e.
o Brahmacharya or the student life According to Manu, Dharma is that which is
o Grihastha or the householder’s life practised by those who know the Vedas and the Shastras
o Vanaprastha or the retired life and and are people without any bad quality like jealousy and
o Sanyasa or the devotional life, it gives rise to the passion. It includes practices recognised by the mind as
Varnashrama dharma. correct.
 Varna is the organised division of the human society and the people. Looking after people, collecting weapons to
into four blocks depending upon the occupation which one punish those who did wrong, engaging in dharmic wars,
pursues and Ashramas are the four stages in a person’s life winning over enemies’ army and ruling the world were the
i.e. celibacy, family life, semi saintly life and life after essential duties of a kshatriya.
renunciation.  The third varna was the Vaishya Dharma. Manu says that
the vaishyas should give charity, perform yajnas, should get
The Varna system mingled with the four Ashramas of knowledge, carry out trade in cereals, gems, gold, silver and
one’s life on the path of dharma becomes the Varnashrama other articles, should give money on loan and cultivate the
Dharma. land.
 The fourth Varna, i.e. the Shudra dharma encompassed
In Hindu society this dharma was divided into four service to people of other dharmas. He has also talked about
different groups of people who pursued four different Varna Sadharana Dharma which included those dharmas
dharmas in their life to attain the ultimate goal of their life, which would have been common to the people of all the four
i.e. realisation of god. varnas.

 The first of such kind was the Brahmana Dharma. The first reference to the Varnashrama system is made
According to Manu, learning Vedas, teaching of Vedas, in Purush Sukta verses of the Rig Veda (book 10, hymn 90)
conducting yagnas and conducting yagnas for others, giving where the different sections of the society are regarded as
alms and taking alms for others are the six important duties the limbs of the great self. When objectively viewed, these
in a Brahman’s life. The greatest Tapas a Brahman can do is Varnas were sophisticated organisation of the society that
to chant Vedas again and again. intelligently divided the population into different groups that
 The next group of people were the Kshatriyas. They were would help the society function smoothly. Another property
those people who belonged to the clan of the kings and of the varna system was that what may be desirable for one
soldiers and used to look after the safety of their territory section of the society could be degrading for another. For
 example: absolute non-violence which includes refraining (priest),Rathestha (warrior), Vastrya Fsuvant (head of the
from animal sacrifice is considered unworthy of a Kshatriya. family) and Huiti (manual worker) which corresponds to the
Underlying all these differences is the one common goal of four fold division in our society.
advancing in spiritual life based on Sanatana dharma.
The origin of the Varnashrama dharma is traced by
THEORITICAL INTERPRETATIONS OF THE two theories. One is the Brahmanical view and the other is
VARNA SYSTEM the western view. The western view mainly focuses on the
existence of this organisation in the Aryan society. It is
The complicacies of this fourfold division of the believed that the Aryans brought this sophistication into
society lead us to think about the main question on which Indian land which was subsequently adopted by other tribes
this paper is based, i.e. the origin of this dharma. This of that time. At that time, the dasyus were the original
organisation of the society has been there in Indian society inhabitants of India who are said to be the ancestors of the
since time immemorial but there are different theories Sudras. When the Aryans conquered India, they suppressed
regarding the emergence of this dharma. and enslaved the dasyus who were dark in colour. Varna
also means colour. So it was also proposed that the division
 Firstly, it should be accepted that in any kind of society, was also based on the colour of one’s skin but then division
different fragments of people perform different services and existed even among the fairer group. History suggests that
based on such services a division is formed. Such division there was always a rift between the Aryans and the dasyus
among the intelligentsia and the working class existed in all (and between their religious observances) and that might be
civilisations. It has been deduced that such division was the reason for the exclusion of the Sudras from the religious
healthy. For instance, the clergy, the nobility, the burghers rites of a vedic type.
and the serf and proletariat into which European society was
divided was similar to the four varnas. Even Iran was The Rig Vedic society was mostly composed of
divided into four fold divisions namely Atharva pastoral lands and cattle were considered to be the
 wealth. War was a means of livelihood. The chief income of i.e. quality work rather than body based restricted scope
the king used to come from the spoils of war. The priest also of work to each of the four groups, i.e. varna karma.
used to take a substantial share from it. In the later vedic
period, the society got fragmented from a tribal set up to a Backing the divine origin theory, Geeta says that the
kind of occupational segregation in which the intellectual order is created on the basis of quality work-
class started asserting its power over the serving class Chaturvarnayam  mayasrushtam  gunakarma  vibhagasaka.
subsequently. This fourfold division was not meant to be a rigid
compartment of fixed occupations and it is quite clear when
The other theory is the Brahmanical view which Geeta says – tasya kartaramapi mam
supports the divine sanction. The Purusha Sukta in Rig veda vidyakartaramavyayam.  According to the divine origin
mentions…. theory, the organisation of this fourfold division was to
serve the society but with the coming of Kali yuga, this
 The purusha who is the world spirit who has produced the division which was flexible before became rigid due to the
Brahmana from his mouth formation of many sub castes and with one sect at
 The Kshatriya from his arms and the Vaishya  from his loggerheads with the other. Sticking to one’s own caste
thighs became the norm. The Marxist theory gives another
 The Shudra is said to have sprung from his feet. interpretation to this division and bases the varna system on
class division.
Manu states the reason of such creation of different
groups as “for the sake of preserving the universe the being The Varnashrama dharma is often confused to be the
(Brahma, the creator) devoted separate duties to those who same as the caste system imbibed in the Indian society. The
sprang respectively from his mouth, his arms, his thighs and Varnashrama is a natural organised division of the society
his feet”. But it has always been meant to be guna karma, which would lead to a content society that would be
interdependent on each other. The purpose of
the Varnashrama social system is to provide a structure practised and the group within which one could marry
allowing people to work according to their natural shrinked smaller and smaller. No varna remained a single
tendencies and to organize society so that everyone, unit and groups among them based on diet, religious
regardless of their position, makes spiritual advancement. practices etc were formed. The all embracing idea that
This philosophy says that people can only work together people from all caste are children of the god was now
with a cooperative spirit if there is a central point of focus. It practised only on spiritual sphere. There was no equality on
is different from the caste system in a way that it has not got the social sphere because of the accretion of parrabdha and
a hint of racial prejudice. sancit karma. The decline in harmony in the society was
reemphasised by the inferior position of women and people
THE PRESENT PICTURE OF THE VARNASHRAMA from the lower castes. This led to the advent of social evils
DHARMA like sati, child marriage, child widows etc.

With the passage of time, Varnashrama got rigidly Lord Metson quoted in “The Untouchables of India” that
compartmentalised and rituals and traditions started to be caste moderates personal ambition and checks the
followed very strictly. With the coming of the Muslim bitterness of competition. It gives a man, whatever his
empire, the Hindus got aware of their identity and the station in life, a society in which he can be at home even
constant ‘identity tussle’ made them exhibit their religion as when he is among strangers. For the poor man, it serves as a
superior to that of the others. Mingling with other factors, club, as a trade union and a mutual benevolent society, all
this led to the transformation of the Varnashrama dharma to rolled into one. It ensures continuing and a certain inherited
a compulsory form of segregation that accepted the form of skill in the arts and crafts. And in the moral sphere it means
caste system in India. The orthodoxy that fell on the defence that every man lives in content with that place which destiny
at the very approach of Islam thought it wise to respond to has allotted him, and uncomparingly does his best.” But
the new challenges by imposing restrictions on marriage and practically none of the plight of those who were the victim
other ceremonies. Anuloma or Exogamy was no more of the system was beyond addressable. But with the coming
of the European and the spread of English culture in some The Arya Samaj which was inspired by the Brahmo
parts of India, the Indian scholars who took up to rational Samaj was founded by Dayanand Saraswati, made Veda
thinking found the system too suffocating to live in. And as the centre of purifying all the evils gulping the rational
from there started the string of reforms. A pioneer of such behaviour of human beings at that time. The efforts of
reform movements was Raja Ram Mohun Roy who raised Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Swami Vivekanand could not
his voice against social evils. be left behind while counting the number of steps that we
have moved ahead of the unfortunate days. The
With the advent of twentieth century and the coming of Theosophical society founded by Madame H.P. Blavatsky
many modern means of communication, the hiatus between and Colonel H.S. Olcott has also contributed its part. The
different caste and religious groups got plugged in. Some contribution of all these enlightened men has brought us to a
famous reformers introduced various societies to cover up phase which is vastly different from the landscape of ancient
the social evil of untouchability. The Brahmo Samaj India. The evil of casteism is not totally obliterated from the
founded by Raja Ram Mohun Roy was one of the societies social picture but the condition has substantially improved
that aimed at removed social evils like sati, untouchability, giving rise to a harmonious heterogeneous existence.
etc. He was a great social thinker to suggest inter-caste
marriage as the only remedy for breaking down barriers of
caste system. The leading social reformer Mahadev Govind
Ranade founded the Prarthna Samaj under the CONCLUSION
inspiration of Keshab Chandra Sen. It also aimed at
forming a heterogeneous society where no social Tracing the path of origination of the varna system, this
impediments would exist nurturing a healthy environment project acquaints us to the Brahmanical and the western
for budding India. theory of interpretation of the emergence of the varna
system. Taking in excerpts from the Geeta and emphasising
on the words of Manu, it can be concluded that the varna
system has reshaped itself over time. Four major varnas
were formed due to societal segregation for various reasons
but it has eventually taken a rigid form. The contribution
from various scholars in transformation of this system has
led to a different picture that exists in today’s time. The
division of society has existed in all times and will keep on
existing in some other form if not in this form.