OriginExcerpted from Katha Kalpataru, an ancient treatise from the Vedas:The Universe, in Hindu mythology, came into being through the yawn of the Adi-Purusha, the eternal One Being.
He then felt it necessary to monitor the universe. So, he created Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva, entrusting them with the
preservance and re-creation. These two were the two sides of the same coins, a replica of HIM. The primary job now was that of
procreation. Lord Vishnu created Brahma from his navel, an incarnation of none other than Lord Shiva.
Brahma, the procreator, then set about his task of creating the
universe. He created the celestial bodies - earth, mountains,
water, air and ether - known in Hinduism as Panch Maha Bhuta. He then
created Sapta Rishis, seven wise sages who would take ahead
the task of infusing life on the earth. An eighth rishi Narad was born,
who declared that he was not interested in procreation
and renounced his life for the propagation of Knowledge and Bhakti. The
seven sages started with what their Father had ordered
them. They came to be Known as Prajapatis - propagators of the divine
human race. Rishi Kashyap grew to be wiser than the rest
and Brahma married him off to Daksh Prajapati's two daughters - Diti
and Aditi. Diti turned out to be a scheming and jealous
woman always trying to belittle and outdo virtuous Aditi. This quality
in her gave rise to a human race with the same inherent
qualities and they came to be known as Daityas. Virtuous Aditi gave
birth to equally virtuaous and illustrious sons and they came
to be known as Adaityas. Sun and Indra were born of Aditi. Hence Sun
God is also known as Aditya.
When Brahma was involved in the job of procreation due to toil and perspiration, a negative energy emanated from him. This
negative energy took form of Rakshasas - Madhu and Kaitabha, evil and inhuman souls. They started torturing Brahma himself.
Brahma appealed to Lord Vishnu who readily appeared and killed both of them. He explained to Brahma that when a poistive energy
is utilised negative energy also emanates and that a specialist race of humans be created to protect the entire human race from
time to time. Brahma acting on this advice sat down for meditation. At the end of the day four kinds of energies for human races
were formed out of Brahma's body. Brahmins at dawn, Kshatriyas at Noon, Vaishyas at dusk and Shudras at night. Kindly note that
these were the Varnas (colors) and not 'caste' as now thought of today. Usually this is told as Brahmins fron the head, ending
with Shudras from the feet. In the RigVed the varnas were not rigid and were related to ones actions.
The Brahmins were called so for their inherent knowledge, Kshatriyas
for the martial and law & order qualities, Vaishyas
for being traders and Shudras for doing menial jobs. Varna meant the
colour of the skin. The Brahmin varna was reddish as the sky
before dawn, Kshatriya varna as the Sun at noon, Vaishya as the evening
sky and Shudra the colour of night sky. Gradually, the
Varna system caught hold of Indian Sub Continent and each varna did its
job as per guidelines of Brahma. Brahmins and Kshatriyas
were the upper castes and Vaishyas and Shudras the lower castes. Both,
Brahmins and Kshatriyas were allowed to study the Vedas.
Kshatriyas (pronounced as shatria) also studied the ancient martial
arts which were eventualy carried by Buddhist monks like
Budhabrama(a Kshatriya) to China and Japan.
The Brahmins later, said the Vedas granted them superiority thus suppressing the Vaishyas and Shudras, depriving them of the
right to knowledge. Like Adam and Eve, and the slaves of the american south the lower castes were denied the knowledge of good
and evil. Only told what their masters wanted them to know, like the slaves of the American south a Shudra could be killed for
learning to read.
Subject: Origin Excerpted from Katha Kalpataru 
Tue Sep 16, 2008 2:09 pm
