Caste system is considered the biggest bane of Indian society today, yet its roots lie in a social order that can be considered near perfect from the point of view of maximizing social productivity.

Thousands of years ago, the great philosophers and thinkers in India advocated and gave rise to the concept of 'dharma'. which literally means duty, but is somewhat erroneously equated with religion as understood by the Western world. It will be interesting for many to know that there is actually no religion called 'Hinduism', and the word 'Hindu' simply refers to people living in the Indus valley, or 'Hind' valley as called by Persians, words derived from 'Sindhu' meaning river, around which the Indian civilization grew. The Indian religion referred to as 'Hinduism' is actually called 'Sanatana Dharma', literally meaning 'Eternal duty' of the individual.

The 'Dharma' is the duty of the individual which he or she must fulfill - just like a follower of Christianity or Islam follows its religion - hence the similarity. 'Karma' is the action that he must perform to fulfill his 'dharma' and 'Bhakti' is his devotion to all that is there to cherish - beginning with the almighty supernatural power called god, and including the parents, teachers, elders, the Sun, the environment etc to whom he owes his existence.

However, the 'dharma' or 'duty' of everyone is not the same. For a soldier, killing is a duty, while for a scholar or a doctor, killing is a sin. Similarly, for a merchant it is duty to maximize his profits, but for a teacher or a doctor, holding profit above their professional ethics is unacceptable. The duty of the King is to rule, but it is also his duty to protect the scholars and wise men and respect them. The duty of a servant is not to rule, but to serve his master with all sincerity. Thus, the 'dharma' or duty of a person is very different depending upon his profession. This differentiation of duty of different professions is the core of 'VARNA SYSTEM', which became distorted over the years and exists today as the 'CASTE SYSTEM'.

'Varna' referred to the professional categorization of the individual. The whole society was divided into four Varnas:

1. BRAHMINS - the scholars, thinkers and philosophers, who were also the teachers, advisors to the king and the monitors of social value systems, apart from being the preservers and researchers of all knowledge and wisdom of the society. Their 'dharma' or duty was to live a life of austerity, refrain

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