When did caste system become rigid in India?

 Scholars believe that caste system became rigid during the Post Vedic times (1100BCE- 500 BCE)

Literary evidences:

Kautilya (375 BCE - 283BCE) , also known as Chanakya, was the Royal advisor to the Mauryan king Chandragupta Maurya.

Credit : Wikipedia

Kautilya in his political treatise Arthashastra, gives us details of the caste system practiced during his times.

Arthashastra: Book 3 :

Chapter 7 - Distinction Between Sons

[1]

“On the birth of a natural son, Savarna sons shall have one-third of inheritance while asavarṇa sons shall have only food and clothing”

“Sons begotten by Brāhmans or Kshatriya on women of the same caste (anantarāputra) are called savarnas ; but on women of lower castes are called asavarṇas. (Of such asavarṇa sons), the son begotten by a Brāhman on a Vaisya woman is called Ambhaṣṭha; on a Sudra woman is called Nisada or Parasava. The son begotten by a Kshatriya on a Śūdra woman is known as Ugra; the son begotten by a Vaiśya on a Śūdra woman is no other than a Śūdra.”

“Sons begotten by men of impure life of any of the four castes on women of same castes are called Vratsyas. The above kinds of sons are called anuloma, sons begotten, by men of higher on women of lower castes.”

“Sons begotten by a Śūdra on women of higher castes are Ayogava, Kṣatta, and Candala; by a Vaiśya, Magadha, and Vaidehika; and by a Kṣatriya, Suta. But men of the names, Sūta and Māgadha, celebrated in the Puranas , are quite different and of greater merit than either Brāhmans or Kṣatriyas.—The above kinds of sons are Pratiloma, sons begotten by men of lower on women of higher castes, and originate on account of kings violating all Dharma”

“The son begotten by an Ugra on a Niṣāda woman is called Kukkutaka, and the same is called Pulkasa if begotten in the inverse order. The son begotten by an Ambhaṣṭha on a Vaidehaka woman is named Vaina; the same in the reverse order is called Kusilava. An Ugra begets on a Kṣatta woman a Svapaka. These and other sons are of mixed castes (Antarālās).”

“A Vainya becomes a Rathakara, 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 sudra , if they are not born as Candalas.”

“The king who guides his subjects in accordance with the above rules will attain to heaven; otherwise he will fall into the hell.”

“Offsprings of mixed castes (Antarālās) shall have equal divisions of inheritance.”

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What can be inferred from above ?

1. Mixed caste marriages happened, but the sons begotten through mixed castes were discriminated.
2. A son who was born of an union between same caste groups was called “Natural born “
3. Those who are born of mixed origins - don’t inherit the property
4. Kautilya mentions that a Vainya should marry only among their castes. First step towards segregation.

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Book 3, Chapter 6 :

With regard to sons of many wives:

[2]

• Of sons of two wives of whom only one woman has gone through all the necessary religious ceremonials, or one of whom has been married as a maiden, and the other not as a maiden, or one of whom has brought forth twins, it is by birth that primogenitureship is decided.
• 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 subsistence.In the absence of the capable, all will have equal shares.
• Of sons begotten by a Brāhman in the four castes, the son of a Brāhman woman shall take four shares; the son of a Ksatriya woman three shares; the son of a Vaisya woman two shares; and the son of a sudra woman one share.

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Note : Brahman can marry four wives - he can take Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudra wives, but the Brahman wife’s son gets the highest share. A Sudra can’t marry an upper caste woman.

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Punishments based on Castes :

Book 4 : Chapter 13 - Punishment for Violating Justice

[3]

“He who causes a Brahman to partake of whatever food or drink is prohibited shall be punished with the highest amercement. He who causes a Kshatriya to do the same shall be punished with the middlemost amercement; a vaisya, with the first amercement; and a Sudra, with a fine of 54 pandas.”

“A Kṣatriya who commits adultery with an unguarded Brāhman woman shall be punished with the highest amercement; a Vaiśya doing the same shall be deprived of the whole of his property; and a Śūdra shall be burnt alive wound round in mats.“

“A man who commits adultery with a woman of low caste shall be banished, with prescribed mark branded on his forehead, or shall be degraded to the same caste.”

A Śūdra or a Svapaka who commits adultery with a woman of low caste shall be put to death, while the woman shall have her ears and nose cut off.

Points to be noted :

1. If the victim is a Brahmana, the punishments are usually severe
2. If the victim is a Shudra - punishments are mild.
3. If the offender is Shudra - he gets the severe punishment. In the above case, if he commits adultery with a Brahmana woman - he will be burnt alive.
4. There seems to be no punishment for a Brahmana committing adultery with a Brahmana woman.
5. Adultery with a low caste woman - will result in loss of caste.

Fun fact :

Whoever commits adultery with the queen of the land shall be burnt alive in a vessel (kumbhīpāka).

That includes all castes.

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All the above examples show how the system of discrimination existed even during Mauryan times. The system got even worse during medieval times.

Footnotes

[1] 

Distinction Between Sons [Chapter 7]

[2] 

Special Shares in Inheritance [Chapter 6]

[3] 

Punishment for Violating Justice [Chapter 13]

What is the largest thing in the solar system?

 

It's not Sun.

It's the magnetic field of Jupiter.

See, jupiter is a big planet, but looks puny against its magnetic field.

Charged particles in the solar winds stretch the field away from Sun, like a comet's tail.

It stretches 7 million km towards the Sun, and over a billion km in the opposite direction— Saturn orbits inside it sometimes.

If you could see the field from Earth, it would appear 5 times larger than a full moon.

Jupiter's magnetic field is roughly 20,000 times stronger than Earth's. What generates it?

Deep beneath the clouds, the pressure is so high that hydrogen is crushed to a metallic liquid, and conducts electricity.

This conductive ocean rotates around the core at high speeds. It generates electricity like a dynamo.

Jupiter's magnetosphere also creates stunning auroras. They're not larger than earth’s auroras, but larger than Earth.

What’s the coldest thing in the solar system?

 

Neptune’s moon Triton.

It gets as cold as -235°C. But that isn't what makes it so weird.

Neptune has 14 moons. With the exception of Titan, all the moons are very small, and come in two varieties— regular and irregular.

The regular ones orbit close to the planet, and irregular ones are generally farther from Neptune, with all sorts of crazy orbits..

And then there's Triton. It was discovered by amateur astronomer William Lassell, who, in 1846, spotted the moon a mere 17 days after the discovery of Neptune itself.

There are many reasons that make it strange.

For one, Triton is big. The 7th largest moon of Solar System. It’s over 200 times bigger than all the other moons of Neptune combined.

Second, it's one of the irregular moons, for it orbits the wrong way. It orbits backwards relative to Neptune’s spin, and orbit is almost perpendicular to its parent planet.

Third, it looks like a cantaloupe.Covered in bumpy, wrinkly features nicknamed cantaloupe terrain.

Fourth, it's actually no mere moon, but instead a victim of an interplanetary kidnapping.

Triton is likely a Kuiper belt object, like Pluto and Eris. Long ago, it fell into the vicinity of Neptune and got captured by the planet’s gravity.

Either Triton just got unlucky and had the exact wrong orbit to land itself near Neptune, or it suffered some collision with one of Neptune's own moons and losed enough energy to remain in orbit.

Sadly, it's future isn’t bright either. Due to tidal forces Triton’s orbit is decaying, and it's slowly spiralling into its doom. It’ll either crash into Neptune or will be ripped apart into a spectacular ring system— more dazzling than Saturn's..

Which is the biggest planet and smallest planet of our solar system?

 The largest planet in the solar system is Jupiter, and the smallest is Mercury.

…

Hah, you think I am just going to write some super short answer? Please, that’s just is not my style.

So, let’s start off with the smallest, and one of the coolest planets in my opinion:

Mercury!

Ahh, good ol’ Mercury.

Mercury is the smallest, and innermost planet of our solar system. It is quite similar to our very own Moon, both in looks and surface features. In fact, I like to look at Mercury as the inverted color version of the Moon, because the higher areas of Mercury are darker, and the deep craters are brighter (opposite of our Moon.) Some of these craters, in fact, are so deep, sunlight never reaches parts of those craters. And, in some of those craters, there is actually water ice, just hanging out. This is quite amazing, since the day time temperature on Mercury can reach several hundred degrees Fahrenheit.

Another really cool thing about Mercury is that it has an unusually large iron and nickel core for its size. Scientists think that the core makes up 85% of the planets entire radius. This also makes it the second densest planet, only behind the Earth. Scientists have two different theories as to why the core of Mercury is very large.

The first, and older theory is that Mercury had a collision with another planet when it was first forming, and this blew off most of the silicates and lighter stuff off of baby Mercury and the other planetoid, while also merging the two cores of the planets, making one smaller planet, but with a huge core.

The second, and more exciting theory is that Mercury, a long time ago, used to be a gas giant. But, as it got closer and closer to the sun, more and more of the gas was stripped away from the intense solar winds, until all that was left was a small, metallic core that most gas Giants have. This theory is really cool because it would make our solar system seem a bit more normal, since many other stars have gas giants that orbit really close in to its parent star, but ours does not. It is also a nice feeling to think Mercury used to be a giant once upon a time.

Now, for the largest planet in the Solar System:

Jupiter!

Jupiter is a lot different from Mercury, in almost every way imaginable. First of all, Jupiter is HUGE. Jupiter has a radius of 43,441 miles, compared to tiny Mercury, which only has a radius of 1,516 miles. This means that you could place 28 Mercury-sized planets next to each other, stretch them in a straight line above Jupiter, and Jupiter would still have a larger diameter. Jupiter also has a very thick hydrogen atmosphere, with a cloud layer 30 miles thick, before you reach a point inside Jupiter that is very bizarre.

Once you get past that cloud layer, the hydrogen is so dense now that it takes on a liquid form. But, this isn’t a cold liquid, but is extremely hot, like the molten parts of our planet, only made of hydrogen gas. Past this layer, the hydrogen continues to become more dense to the point it acts like a superheated metal. At this point, anything inside would be burnt beyond recovery, but if you were to send something down there, this is as far as you could get. Below the metallic layer of hydrogen, you have a small rock and ice core (similar to Mercury, actually).

Jupiter has the most moons in the solar system as well, counting 67 so far. Most of these moons are small asteroids that were caught by Jupiter’s immense gravity, but 4 of them, the Galilean moons, are quite unique. The closest one in is Io, which is one of the most volcanically active objects in our solar system, and its surface has a weird mix of colors. Europa has a huge water ocean underneath its thick icy crust, and it is a possible contender to support life because of that. Callisto has one of the oldest surfaces in the solar system, and Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system, and is bigger than Mercury.

So, there you have it, the largest planet in our solar system, and the smallest, along with some cool details and theories about them. And no, Pluto doesn’t count, it’s classified as a dwarf planet, so leave it at that.

Can a "planet" be too large to be classified as a planet?

 This is Jupiter:

It’s a big ball of hydrogen.

This is the Sun:

It’s also a big ball of hydrogen.

Basically, if an object is primarily composed of hydrogen, it will start undergoing fusion once it reaches a certain mass. We call those objects “stars”. However, the line between a star and a planet is not clear. There are small star-like objects known as brown dwarfs which are either too small to undergo fusion or, if they do, are too cold to emit strongly in visible light. However, if they don’t orbit another star, they’re not planets by definition. Astronomers tend to call them “brown dwarfs” because, well, they’re small, brownish balls of hydrogen.

Just like Jupiter.

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Edit: For those of you complaining that Jupiter isn’t a star, you’re missing the point. Yes, stars fuse hydrogen and Jupiter doesn’t. And, yes, I agree that defining “star” based on nuclear fusion is the best possible definition.

However, that doesn’t affect my answer.

Jupiter is a ball of hydrogen.

If it was about 13 to 15 times more massive, it would be able to fuse deuterium and we’d call it a brown dwarf. However, it would STILL be a ball of hydrogen.

If it was about 80 times more massive, it would fuse hydrogen and we’d call it a star. However, it would STILL be a ball of hydrogen.

In other words: if Jupiter was bigger, it would have enough mass to produce a fusion reaction and we’d call it a star.

The mass of the object is the only thing that makes a difference, so please stop being pedantic and saying I don’t understand the difference between planets and stars.

Why wasn't the Hindu caste system destroyed despite centuries of Muslim and British rule over India?

 There is this big myth that caste system or Varna system is an inherent part of Hinduism and has nothing to do with other religions in India.

The caste system is a characteristic of Indian society as a whole and is not limited to any religion.

The Muslim rulers came and adopted it,so did the Christians.

Let me mention in detail about the caste system among South asian Muslims and Christians.

Caste system in the Indian muslim community

There are various aspects of the caste system practised by muslims in the subcontinent.

Some of those systems include Ashrafism,Syedism,Zatism,Sharifism,Biradari system etc.

There is also a concept of religiously “clean” and “unclean” among muslims here. Muslims of higher castes are considered “Paak”(or clean) and locally converted muslims(usually considered lower castes) are considered “napaak”(unclean).

HISTORY OF CASTE SYSTEM IN ISLAM(ALL OVER THE WORLD)

Islam in general abhors caste and social stratification but when it reached India and Persia,it adopted the existing the caste system.

Some Persian works like Siyastnama by Nizam Ul Mulk(11th century) and Akhlaq-i-Nasiri by Al Tusi(13th century) describe the social stratification in Persia in detail.

Cover of the Siyasatnamah

Social stratification in arab society and inspiration from India’s caste system

There was a war of succession after Prophet Muhammad’s death in the 7th century. This lead to a division in the arab society where members of the Prophet’s family were considered above others.

The “ahl al-bayt” is the term for the family of the Prophet and many say that it has its origins in India where the earliest muslims(arabs) used to practice this stratification in the 8th century.

This was the first form of division between arab muslims and non arab muslims.

Among non arabs,furthur division took place between early converted muslims(Khadim al-islam) and recently converted muslims(jadid al-islam).

Caste system in India

Among south asian muslims,arab-turk originated muslims and higher caste converted hindus were considered higher caste(unch zat) and locally converted muslims were called lower castes(neech zat).

The Indian sultan(Mughal) here might have been unch zat(high caste) and the man bowing to him is locally converted neech zat.

When islamic conquests happened in large numbers in the 12th century,many of the turkic rulers brought their own caste system to India and adopted the already existing caste system from the hindus.

The conquerers and foreign originated muslims were considered “ashrafs”(or noble) and the locally converted muslims with dalit and shudra backgrounds were called “pasmanda”.

Pasmanda means “those who have fallen behind”.

All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz

Many social anthropologists(M.N Shrinivas) say that either the muslims converted from Hinduism brought the caste system in islam or the muslim rulers adopted it themselves(Louis Dumont).

A 14th century political thinker from the Delhi Sultanate times,Ziauddin Barani had recommended that sons of Muhammad should be given higher social status than the “lower born”(aljaf).

He had made many analyses on caste system in islam and considered that state laws(Zawabi) should be considered above Sharia.

Ziauddhin Barani

He also mentioned that sins in islam are not only because of wrong deeds but also “lower birth”.

Various castes which were formed at this period include “sheikhs”(cultivators,sanitation workers), ”Quereshis”(butchers), ”Ansaris”(weavers) etc.

Muslim weaver

There is this concept of “Kafaah” in marriage. Kafaah means equality and “equality in marriage” meant marriage between people of same castes.This was promoted by the ulemas to promote endogamy too.

Various social stratification systems:-

Syedism/Ashrafism

Syedism is a system of inequality where the Syeds/Saiads/Sayyads are considered to have a higher grasp on islam and all social/political matters.

The various castes in this system include:-

• Ashraf(foreign origin)-Sayyid,Mughals,Abbasi
• Converts from Hindu upper castes(Brahmins,Kshatriyas)-Muslim rajputs, Muslim jats
• Converts from Indian tribes(Scheduled tribes)-Darzi, dhobi ,Gaddi, Faqir, Julaha, Mirasi, teli etc
• Converts from untouchable caste-Muslim mochi, bhangi

There is furthur division among ashrafis depending on who is closer to Muhammad.

The lower caste muslims are called “aljafs” who are considered “degraded” and do menial jobs like scavenging etc.

B R Ambedhkar had furthur mentioned the castes in the Aljaf community in bengal from Census of 1901 as:-

• Cultivating sheikhs who were not considered ashrafis yet-Pirali,Thakrai
• Darzi,Jolaha,Fakir,Rangrez
• Churihar,dai,gaddi,kalal,mallah,naliya etc
• abdal,bako,dhobi,hajjam,nal,panwaria,nagarchi etc

Biradari system

The term “biradari” comes from the Persian word “biradar” means brother.

This system consists of various “biradari” or “quom”/zaat into which muslims are divided.

Caste in Pakistan

There is furthur division here apart from Syedism,Biradari system.

The division is among ethnic communities like Balochi,punjabi,sindhi,pashtun etc.

This is why marriage in the same family is considered a good thing because the caste purity is maintained here.

In Pakistani punjab,the jats,gujjars etc have an influence over other communities.

Seyp system in Pakistani punjab-Zamindari system

This system is linked with the zamindars where the zamindars are considered the dominant caste and the kammis are considered the servers and are of “lower birth”.

Kammis include barbers,artisans,carpenters etc.

a book on the seyp system in Pakistan punjab

Caste system in Bengali muslim community

There are 35 muslim castes in bengal and they are divided into 3:-

• Ashrafi(high born)
• Atraf(lower born)
• Aljaf(bottom most)

Sharifism

Sharifism refers to the special status given to claimants of prophetic nasab (also qarabah), which means "closeness", or being descended from Muhammad, Muhammad's Quraysh tribe, or Muhammad's family.

Marriage and Discrimination

Muslims have to marry in their same caste to maintain purity and to stay closer to Muhammad’s family.Inter caste marriages are discouraged.

There is a lot of discrimination.The ashrafis do not consider the pasmandas as “true muslims” and lower caste muslims are not even allowed to be buried with high caste muslims.

a burial for Ashrafis exclusively in Lahore,Pakistan

The Ashrafis do not even take food from pasmanda muslims and do not allow them to touch their cooking vessels too.

This discrimination has its roots in the islamic rule in India where the foreign turkic,arab muslim rulers and their subjects used to discriminate against locally converted muslims.

Caste system in South asian Christian community

The Christian community in India is mainly a result of the conversions during the Portugese rule and the early migrations of Saint Thomas christians. The British did not involve much in conversion of Indians and mostly stayed away from the internal matters of Indians as is clearly mentioned in the Queen’s Proclamation of 1858..

The Queen’s(Victoria) Proclamation of 1858

The caste system in Christianity is similar to islam. The Christians converted from higher castes and of foreign descent discriminate against the dalit christians.

Caste system in various states:-

In Kerala

There are mainly three types of Christians here:-

• The Church of South India(Protestants)-4.5 percent
• Latin Catholics-13.3 percent
• Dalit and Nadar Christians-2.6 percent

The Saint Thomas Christians are considered above the recent converted christians here because they consider themselves to be evangelized directly by Saint Thomas.

Saint Thomas

Goa

The Christian brahmins and Kshatriyas are considered above the dalit christians here.

Moreover Christians of Portugese descent are also considered higher castes.

North India

The dalit christians here converted from the Chamar and Chuhra communities.

The “Bettiah Christian” Community consists of forward castes.

Roman Catholic Church of the Bettiah Christian community

Tamil Nadu

The Hindus from Paravar,Nadar,Mukkuvar,Udayar,Adi Dravidar,Vellalar communities were converted to Christians here.

The conversion of Paravars happened during Portugese rule and the Nadars were converted during British rule.

There is discrimination among these castes too.

Betrayal after conversion

Many lower castes like Chamars,Adi Dravidar,Chuhras are mass converted into Christianity and they think that it is “egalitarian” but after conversion,they realise that there is discrimination even in Christianity and they are still considered “dalit christians” or “New christians” because they are not considered to be related with any of the Christian saints.