AP World History CCOT Essay Caste Systems

Alissa Bradeen
Mrs. Mcelroy
AP World History
September 19, 2014
Caste System in India from 1000BCE- 500CE
When the Aryan's migrated to the Harrapan society bringing important and useful resources such as horses, chariots, iron, and the Sanskrit language they begin to slowly overpower the Dravidians currently settled there. Since the Aryan's were the more people they decided they needed a system to help keep social classes in their rightful order. So they created the caste system. Although the development of the 1800 subcastes and the mobility in a caste changed in 500CE, the purpose of the caste system remained the same in South Asia from 1000BCE to 500CE.
With all the trading going on along the Silk Road and the Indian Ocean, people are bound to become richer from trade. So to make the social classes in a caste more accurate, around 500CE subcastes; also known as Jatis were created. The Jatis didn't just help with organizing wealth in the caste systems, it also helped when foreigners migrated to the society and didn't really belong or fit in the a certain caste. Jatis had a lot of responsibility for maintaining social order in India. Guilds were the first set of Jatis in India. Trade played a big part in forming the Jatis and guilds, when foreigners migrated in and didn't fit in a specific caste, their occupation formed a Jati.
A big change for the caste system happened around 500 CE, the mobility in a caste. The castes were based on social status. So when one person from a lower caste became richer the a person from a higher class, they realized something had to be changed. As people are trading more and more they're becoming richer, and wealth plays a big part in social order. Although the top two Aryan castes always stayed in the highest power, the ability to move in the caste system was to a great importance for the Sudra and Harjan castes. By allowing people in the Sudra and Harjan caste to move upward it meant that they were more important in the social order. But by allowing different members of castes to move upward, it also meant that if you lost money, or weren't doing well in trade, you could move down in castes.
There were many big changes in the castes system over the time period, but a major continuity for the caste system was the purpose of the system. The purpose of the caste system was always to keep the Dravidians, and the people at the bottom of the social order in control. That is why even though the top two castes might have changed between the two of them, those two castes at the top of the social order were Aryan. The Aryans believed they were the more powerful people in the society, so they were always in control and the most important people in the caste and social order. Since the Dravidians weren't as important in the caste system they had less important roles, such as trade. But in ways the trade was very important for the caste systems, with the Dravidians trading one of the things they traded was knowledge of religion. So when they spread the idea of Hinduism to other regions, the caste system spread with it.
Even though there were some big changes in the system it only helped develop it for the better. But as time went on India was not the only region that developed the caste system. The caste system spread through trade along the Silk Road and the Indian Ocean. Religion also spreading with the caste system, Buddhism spreading to Southeast Asia and Eastern Asia, and as Buddhism became less and less popular Hinduism became the more common religion spreading more and more through trade. The caste system was always an important part of the Indian society, and still is an important part today. The caste system would not be possible today without the big changes it underwent and the power to keep certain aspects of it the same.