To be born a Hindu in India is to enter the caste system, one of the world's longest surviving forms of social stratification. Embedded in Indian culture for the past 1,500 years, the caste system follows a basic precept: All men are created unequal. The ranks in Hindu society come from a legend in which the main groupings, or varnas, emerge from a primordial being. From the mouth come the Brahmans–the priests and teachers. From the arms come the Kshatriyas-the rulers and soldiers. From the thighs come the Vaisyas- merchants and traders. From the feet come the Sudras–laborers. Each varna in turn contains hundreds of hereditary castes and subcastes with their pecking orders. A fifth group describes the people who are acute, or untouchable. The primordial being does not claim them. Untouchables are outcasts-people considered too impure, too polluted, to rank as worthy beings. Prejudice defines their lives, particularly in the rural areas, where nearly three-quarters of India's people live. Untouchables are shunned, insulted, banned from temples and higher caste homes, made to eat and drink from separate utensils in public places, and, in extreme but not uncommon cases, are raped, burned, lynched, and gunned down. The ancient belief system that created the Untouchables overpowers modern law. While India's constitution forbids caste discrimination and specifically abolishes Untouchability, Hinduism, the religion of 80 percent of India's population, governs daily life with its hierarchies and rigid social codes. Under its strictures, an Untouchable parent gives birth to an Untouchable child, condemned as unclean from the first breath. 1. Why does the author state that “all men are created unequal?" 2. What was the author trying to tell the audience/reader?
To be born a Hindu in India is to enter the caste system, one of the world's longest surviving forms of social stratification. Embedded in Indian culture for the past 1,500 years, the caste system follows a basic precept: All men are created unequal. The ranks in Hindu society come from a legend in which the main groupings, or varnas, emerge from a primordial being. From the mouth come the Brahmans–the priests and teachers. From the arms come the Kshatriyas-the rulers and soldiers. From the thighs come the Vaisyas- merchants and traders. From the feet come the Sudras–laborers. Each varna in turn contains hundreds of hereditary castes and subcastes with their pecking orders. A fifth group describes the people who are acute, or untouchable. The primordial being does not claim them. Untouchables are outcasts-people considered too impure, too polluted, to rank as worthy beings. Prejudice defines their lives, particularly in the rural areas, where nearly three-quarters of India's people live. Untouchables are shunned, insulted, banned from temples and higher caste homes, made to eat and drink from separate utensils in public places, and, in extreme but not uncommon cases, are raped, burned, lynched, and gunned down. The ancient belief system that created the Untouchables overpowers modern law. While India's constitution forbids caste discrimination and specifically abolishes Untouchability, Hinduism, the religion of 80 percent of India's population, governs daily life with its hierarchies and rigid social codes. Under its strictures, an Untouchable parent gives birth to an Untouchable child, condemned as unclean from the first breath. 1. Why does the author state that “all men are created unequal?" 2. What was the author trying to tell the audience/reader?
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Transcribed Image Text:To be born a Hindu in India is to enter the caste system, one of the world's
longest surviving forms of social stratification. Embedded in Indian culture for
the past 1,500 years, the caste system follows a basic precept: All men are
created unequal. The ranks in Hindu society come from a legend in which the
main groupings, or varnas, emerge from a primordial being. From the mouth
come the Brahmansthe priests and teachers. From the arms come the
Kshatriyas-the rulers and soldiers. From the thighs come the Vaisyas-
merchants and traders. From the feet come the Sudras–laborers. Each varna in
turn contains hundreds of hereditary castes and subcastes with their pecking
orders. A fifth group describes the people who are acute, or untouchable. The
primordial being does not claim them. Untouchables are outcasts-people
considered too impure, too polluted, to rank as worthy beings. Prejudice defines
their lives, particularly in the rural areas, where nearly three-quarters of India's
people live. Untouchables are shunned, insulted, banned from temples and
higher caste homes, made to eat and drink from separate utensils in public
places, and, in extreme but not uncommon cases, are raped, burned, lynched, and
gunned down. The ancient belief system that created the Untouchables
overpowers modern law. While India's constitution forbids caste discrimination
and specifically abolishes Untouchability, Hinduism, the religion of 80 percent
of India's population, governs daily life with its hierarchies and rigid social
codes. Under its strictures, an Untouchable parent gives birth to an Untouchable
child, condemned as unclean from the first breath.
Why does the author state that "all men are created unequal?"
What was the author trying to teļl the audience/reader?
1.
2.
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