Page 102 - Islam and Far Eastern Religions

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perstitious order in which Hindus have been suffocating for hundreds of
years is rooted in this nonsensical myth.

There are four castes subdivided into hundreds of classes:
1-Brahman (Priests and Sages)
2-Kshatria (princes and worriers)
3-Vaikya (traders, shopkeepers and farmers)
4-Sudra (laborers, craftsmen)
Whilst the Aryans took up their places at the top, they termed the
lower classes sudra (slave). In this way they created a weak and op-

pressed society made up of different classes. Sudras were prohibited
learning, development and advancement so they were forced to live a
miserable life. One’s caste depends on birth and it is not possible to
move from one caste to another according to the rules made by the
Brahmans. Because of these perverse rules people were destined to live
their entire lives without any hope of improving their standing. Then,
there are the “untouchables” (dalit- filth that contaminates the upper
classes) who are considered as outside the caste system.
The untouchables have been forced to live outside of villages and
towns and away from the upper caste people. They are not permitted to

enter their temples, schools or to set foot on any public area frequented
by them. Neither were they allowed to drink from a well used by the
members of the higher castes. Hindu scriptures suggest that making
physical contact with untouchables makes the higher caste member im-
pure which then requires highly sophisticated cleansing rituals to be
performed by the “contaminated” person. For this reason, untouchables
were condemned to live in areas where they would not mingle with the

higher caste people, and in many parts of India they were not permitted
to walk the streets in daylight, because aside from physical contact, even
the shadow of an untouchable was forbidden to fall on a higher caste

Islam And Far Eastern Religions