Abstract
Over the last century or two, the dominant accounts of the caste system have looked for its roots in the ancient history of India. The story is told about the rise of this social system that began in the era when an alien people called the Aryans is supposed to have invaded the subcontinent. The standard version of this history tells us that people called “the Aryans” invaded India around 1500 BC, conquered the indigenous Dravidians and imposed their culture, language and religion on the latter. They are said to have brought the Vedic religion, which later developed into Hinduism and instituted the religiously founded caste system. In this account, the idea of the caste system as an intrinsic part of Hinduism was not only reinforced but also the idea of an institutionalized form of discrimination along racial lines was also added to it.
An earlier version of this chapter was published in Vol. 11 (2015) Theatrum Historiae, pp. 63-89. It is published here with permission.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The translation of dasa as “dark” is not correct. It is a shortcut rooted in the nineteenth century interpretations of the Vedic descriptions of dasyus as “dark”, but the meaning of the darkness itself should be discussed properly (see Hock 2005, 286–290).
- 2.
For an overview and analysis of the debate and the available evidence, see Bryant (2001).
- 3.
- 4.
All citations from French works have been translated into English.
- 5.
Müller was the first to introduce the word “Arian” to designate the conquerors who brought the Vedic religion to India.
Bibliography
Anonymous. 1834. “Coup d’Oeil Historique, Sur Les Peuples de l’Orient, Par M. le Professeur Neumann, de Munich.” Journal Asiatique 80 (2): 81–114.
Anonymous. 1844. “The Kulin Brahmins of Bengal.” The Calcutta Review 2 (3): 1–31.
Arvidsson, Stefan. 2006. Aryan Idols: Indo-European Mythology as Ideology and Science. Trans. Sonia Wichmann. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Balagangadhara, S.N. 2005. The Heathen in His Blindness…Asia, the West, and the dynamic of Religion. New Delhi: Manohar.
Bryant, Edwin F. 2001. The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate. New York: Oxford University Press.
Burnouf, Eugène. 1833. “Discours sur la Langue et la Littérature Sanscrite, Prononcé au Collège de France.” Journal Asiatique 63 (2): 251–72.
Catrou, François. 1708. Histoire Générale de l’Empire du Mogol depuis sa Fondation. La Haye: Guillaume de Voys.
Croze, V. La. 1724. Histoire Du Christianisme Des Indes. La Haye: Les Frères Vaillant & N. Prevost.
Doniger, Wendy. 2009. The Hindus: an Alternative History. New York: The Penguin Press.
Elphinstone, Mountstuart. 1841. The History of India. Vol. 1. London: John Murray.
Elst, Koenraad. 2005. “Linguistic Aspects of the Aryan Non-Invasion Theory.” in The Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History, ed. Edwin F. Bryant and Laurie L. Patton, 234–81. London: Routledge.
Hock, Hans H. 2005. “Philology and the historical Interpretation of the Vedic texts.” in The Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History, ed. Edwin F. Bryant and Laurie L. Patton, 282–308. London: Routledge.
Huet,. 1727. Histoire du Commerce et de la Navigation des Anciens. Paris: Antoine-Urbain Coustelier.
Jones, William. 1788. “The Third Anniversary Discourse, Delivered 2 February, 1786, by the President.” Asiatic Researches 1: 415–31.
Jones, William. 1807. “Discourse the Ninth. On the Origin and Families of Nations. Delivered 23 February, 1792.” in The Works of Sir William Jones in Thirteen Volumes, Vol. 3, 185–204. London: John Stockdale and John Walker.
Kulke, Hermann, and Dietmar. Rothermund. 2010. A History of India. 5th Ed. New York: Routledge.
Langlès, Louis Mathieu. 1821. Monuments Anciens et Modernes de l’Hindoustan, Décrits Sous le Double Rapport Archaeologique et Pittoresque, et Précédés d’une Notice Géographique, d’une Notice Historique. Vol. 2. Paris: Didot.
Langlois, Alexandre. 1833. “Manava Dharma Sastra.” Journal Asiatique 68 (2): 142–55.
Müller, Max. 1848. “On the Relation of the Bengali to the Arian and Aboriginal Languages of India.” in Three Linguistic Dissertations Read at the Meeting of the British Association in Oxford, 319–50. London: Richard and John E. Taylor.
Murr, Sylvia. 1987. L’inde Philosophique entre Bossuet et Voltaire - I. Moeurs et Coutumes des Indiens (1777): Un Inédit du Père G.-L. Coeurdoux s.j. dans la Version de N.-J. Desvaulx. Vol. 146, Publications de l’Ecole Française d’Extrême-Orient. Paris: Ecole Française d’Extrême-Orient.
Poliakov, Léon. 1971. Le Mythe Aryen: Essai sur les Sources du Racisme et des Nationalismes. Paris: Calmann-Lévy.
Rémusat, Abel. 1822. “Monuments Anciens et Modernes de l’Hindoustan; par L. Langlès.” Journal des Savans Avril: 220–32.
Shaffer, Jim G., and Diane A. Lichtenstein. 2005. “South Asian Archaeology and the Myth of Indo-Aryan Invasions.” in The Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History, ed Edwin F. Bryant and Laurie L. Patton, 75–104. London: Routledge.
Staal, Frits. 2008. Discovering the Vedas, Origins, Mantras, Rituals, Insights. New Delhi: Penguin Books.
Stevenson, John. 1839. “On the Ante-Brahmanical Worship of the Hindús in the Dekhan.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 5: 189–97.
Trautmann, Thomas R. 1997. Aryans and British India. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Trautmann, Thomas R. 2005. “Introduction: What is the Aryan Debate?.” in The Aryan Debate, ed Thomas R. Trautmann, xiii–xliii. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Trautmann, Thomas R. 2006. “Languages and Nations: Conversations in Colonial South India.” in Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press.
Wilks, Mark. 1810. Historical Sketches of the South of India. Vol. 1. London: Longman.
Witzel, Michael. 1999. “Aryan and Non-Aryan Names in Vedic India.” in Aryan and Non-Aryan in South Asia: Evidence, Interpretation and Ideology, ed. Johannes Bronkhorst and Madhav M. Deshpande, 337–404. Cambridge: Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Harvard University.
Witzel, Michael. 2005. “Indocentrism: Autochthonous Visions of Ancient India.” in The Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History, ed. Edwin F. Bryant and Laurie L. Patton, 341–404. London: Routledge.
Wolpert, Stanley. 2009. India. 4th Ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Keppens, M. (2017). The Aryans and the Ancient System of Caste. In: Fárek, M., Jalki, D., Pathan, S., Shah, P. (eds) Western Foundations of the Caste System. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-38761-1_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-38761-1_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-38760-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-38761-1
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)