Science Del A Vie Et De La Terre

The caste system highlights the philosophical difference between East and West. We all know the negative aspect of the caste system, the rigidity, inflexibility, social inequality etc, but there are also positive effects also.

By not only allowing, but also actually embedding religious freedom in Hinduism, Indian society was able to secure a heterogeneous blend where the various castes, working as guilds, operated together to create a balanced use of resources, both natural and human.

This is because of the extreme fixed nature of the caste structure, as it prevented the unrestrained resource grab, greed, and short term focus that has characterised the post-Enlightenment Western society, thus promoting long term stability and planning. For example when a family/caste has to take care of a villages resource, such as the surrounding forest for firewood etc, the resource managers will know that if they abuse the forest, over-farm etc, then it will be their children’s and grandchildren’s heritage that they are directly destroying, a the family cannot make a short term fortune by such behaviour and run away to do something different – there is no possibility for them to improve their lives except through the development of the forest and the village’s resources.

Also, in political terms, because of the rigidity and non-social-movement of the caste structure, it meant the brahminate rulers did not have to utterly destroy any indigenous culture/ethnic groups they conquered (to remove possible threats to their rule), but could just assimilate them into existing social patterns – there was no need of the type of colonialisation typified by the genetic and cultural slaughter of the West’s ventures in North and South America, and Aboriginal Australia. It also prevented the religious slaughter that has characterised western society since the expansion from Judea of the monotheistic, totalitarian religions.

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