by Anup Dixit

Created on: April 18, 2009

More than laws, a change in mindset is required. We should start beleiving and also advocating that casteism is a myth. It is only a false state of mind. Actually, there is no discrimination of any kind, whatsoever, between any two human beings. Such change in mindset is the solution, not any reform or revolt.

Various societies have suffered and are still suffering from some kind of discrimination or the other. It could be on grounds of religion, caste, colour, gender, financial and various other issues. We must understand that God created man, but man divided himself. But why?

Probably, it is our basic human nature to try and get higher recognition than other people. We all crave for maximum respect. However, each one of us has different abilities, and we keep trying all the time to outdo others. We need to note one fact, which maybe surprising to many people - that ancient India was among the most prosperous and peaceful places on the planet. There was a system of four major classes of people - Brahmin (Priest / Teacher / Advisor / Highly educated and knowledgable), Kshatriya (King / Soldier / Government), Vaishya (Business / Crorporates) and Shudra (Worker / Labour). We should all agree that even today these basic four categories of people are required in any society. So, how was their system any different from what we follow today in any society or country? Basically, it wasn't.

Now, as mentioned earlier, it is our basic human nature to crave for maximum respect. So, as time passed all these four classes of people probably started to impress more upon each other. The Brahmin started showing off his intellect, the Kshatriya started showing off his military power, the Vaishya started showing off his financial power, and the Shudra did not not have much to show off, so to survive, he decided to serve the other three classes of people. Probably this is how a whole lot of problems started. I guess the problem was that this system of differentiation was very well documented. People's minds were clear - who does what job. They passed on this system down the generations. Somewhere down the line, due to increase in population, there was scope for competition within the same class of people. Kshatriyas were fighting among themselves to gain more and more power, Brahmins were competing, as to who is more knowledgable, Vaishyas were trying to earn more and more money than each other, even if it meant more slavery for the Shudras. Whoever became most powerful declared

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