Hi! I’ve been really racking my head about this. How did caste system work in the time of the Buddha, in brahminist regions that accepted the practice?
I’ve been trying to figure it out, but it’s so difficult because there’s so many moving parts; Gotra, jati, varna, kula……
That and theres alot of conflicting sources on how gotra works (especially for non brahmins) whether varna was action or birth based…or if it was even in practice for that matter.
So my question again is, at the time of the Buddha, how did what we now call “caste system” actually work? How did it function? What set of systems is the Buddha criticizing when he speaks about it?
The exact details of all the various caste systems are too complicated and far beyond what I know or can reliably relay. There’s many moving parts, and degrees of social mobility that is codified and such, but generally speaking, it can be narrowed down to being born to a certain caste that describes what profession you’re allowed to practice and your social standing.
Brahmanavagga is an interesting and plain exploration of just what Buddha was criticising, that is, being a brahmin (a specific caste), meaning a holy / spiritual man, not by birth, but by merit.
Not by matted hair or family,
or birth is one a brahmin.
Those who are truthful and principled:
they are pure, they are brahmins.
This is one of those topics where the discussion never remains objective or non-contentious.There are dozens of threads already on this topic and many of them have had to be closed down because of derailments or acrimony.
Please use the search function with search term “caste” and you will see a whole bunch of threads with hundreds of comments.
