Indian Society for Buddhist Studies

Author(s): Prachya Vidyapeeth
Publisher: Prachya Vidyapeeth

Page 66

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of Buddhism. A deep understanding of Buddhist ethical concepts can solve the problem of today's emerging crisis.
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Caste System in Buddhism and Hinduism
Piyanka Paul, Kolkata
The Indian Caste System has unique features among the systems of social stratification. It is the significance of Caste that more than anything else that characterises India. The word 'caste' is of Spanish and Portuguese origin. The term, 'caste' originated from the Spanish word 'casta', meaning 'lineage' or 'race' or 'a group having hereditary quality'. It is derived from the Latin word 'Castus', which means pure. The Spaniards were the first to use it, but its Indian application is from the Portuguese, who had so applied it in the middle of the fifteenth century.
The paper would also focus on Buddhism is primarily a religious movement, not a social one. However, it had an important social dimension to it. In order to comprehend the social dimensions of the Buddhist movement it is necessary to identify the elements of society which became closely involved with it. People belonging to Brāmaņa, Khattiya, Vaisya, Sudda caste are all equally capable of accomplishing the right path of they follow the discipline. Thus neither conceptual categories nor an empirical category was relevant within the sangha. In this paper propose to analyse all the names mentioned in the early Pāli cannon where social back grounds are indicated. For the history of the Indian caste system and the attitude of Buddha towards the problem of caste, there are many suttas have of the utmost significance.
The paper would like to discuss about the caste system divides Hindus into four main categories -Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras. Buddhism as distinct from Hinduism is the rejection of the caste system and untouchability. From the earliest