Author's Diction~Dr. Vipin Behari Goyal: The Hindu Caste System and identification of Archetypes based on the collective unconscious

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

The Hindu Caste System and identification of Archetypes based on the collective unconscious

Can caste system be abolished?


Mochi
A shoemaker of Mochi sub-Caste making shoes in a village near Jodhpur



No system can survive without degeneration for centuries if the foundation of such system is not laid on strong rational belief. The caste system in Hindu is one such belief which still stronghold the Indian society. The society was dominated by Muslims and then by the British for many centuries who did not support caste system. On the contrary, their forced conversion of lower caste Hindus on the ground of discrimination, forced upon them by upper caste Hindus. The caste system is the backbone of Hindus who are in majority in Indian society.

The personal unconscious of a Hindu is dominated by the collective unconscious of the caste that has peculiar idiosyncrasies assigned to that caste. The grounds for "division of labour" were not arbitrary but scientific. Manu was the first social scientist to codify the prevailing order in the society. The order was established many centuries before Manu-Smirti was written around the 2nd century BCE to 3rd century CE.

The caste allocation was based on many physical and mental attributes of the individual. It later on became hereditary, especially when it was codified and a 'status stigma' was attached and caste were discriminated as upper and lower on the basis of tasks assigned to them.

Brahmins did interpretation, analysis and teaching of scripts written in Sanskrit. When caste became hereditary the Brahmins born with inferior mental capabilities gave thrust on rituals. With advent of materialism a caste which was supposed to depend on alms and charity of affluent segment of the society also started extracting wealth by creating fear of hell. This style has been followed in almost all religions of the world.
The ego born by personal unconscious related with superiority of caste is the hallmark of this caste. Scholarly achievements and progress on the path of enlightenment were their major pursuit.

Kshatriya the warrior caste constituted the Army. They invariably had a good physique and were obsessed with developing expertise in the use of weapons. Bravery, chivalry, philanthropy and magnanimity were inherent virtues of this caste.

Vaishya were associated with business. Ethics in business were important. If Brahmins were revered for scholarly achievements, Kshatriya for chivalry the Vaishya were revered for accumulation of wealth by ethical means. They were shrewd, visionary, ethical, submissive and moderate in nature.

Shudra which was servant class of the society did all kinds of menial jobs. They were shoemakers, tailors, sweepers, barbers, blacksmith and other hundreds of essential functions were assigned to them. They were physically strong, meek, obedient and hard worker.

No caste was superior to another. They all were equally important to the society.

Though in Rajasthan the caste has strong roots. 

TISC has conducted some research in this

We can assume that Brahmin represents the Super Ego, Kshatriya and Vaishya, Ego, and Shudra represented Libido.

Emperor Jones fled to the forest in the play of Eugene O’Neill and was haunted by the illusion of being sold as slave though in real life he had never been sold as slave due to collective unconscious of Congo tribe that he belonged, similarly let us see what would haunt different caste archetypes in similar situation.

A brahmin would be haunted by sexual crime, even if he has not committed any, since there is lots of sexual suppression on the path of enlightenment, Kshatriya would be haunted by an act of cowardice, because he is supposed to prefer death to cowardice, Vaishya for earning money by unethical means due to greed and Shudra for punishment for disobedience. These fears have roots in their collective unconsciousness which surfaces when they have no veneer of culture to protect them.

© Vipin Behari Goyal

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