The terms Varna and caste (Jati) are actually two distinct concepts.

Varna ( वर्ण From Sanskrit, literally "kind") is a supposed unification of all the Hindu castes into either four groups: Kshatriya, Brahmin , Vaishya, Shudra, or into one of several varna-sankaras वर्ण संकर.

Caste (Sanskrit: Gyati ज्ञाति , Hindi: Biradari बिरादरी, samaj समाज, jati जाति etc , Urdu Zat ज़ात ) is an endogamous group. Generally a sub-caste is divided into exogamus groups based on same gotras गोत्र.

Overwhelming majority of the Hindus can be satisfactorily classified into a specific varna. However, during the British rule, several cases went to court to settle the "varna" of a sub-caste. For example, the farmers are sometimes given Kshatriya status because many ruling Chieftens may have risen from them. On the other hand some classified them as Vaisya, based on an older occupation of artisans. Orthodox Brahmins may classify them as Shudras, because they do not have a tradition of undergoing through the thread ceremony, that would make them dvija द्विज .

Several varna assignment schemes exist that attempt to assign a varna to a sub-caste.

1. Based on traditional occupation (see Indian caste system).
2. Based on orthodox texts like Brahmnotpatti Martanda.
3. There is an orthodox view, that considers Kshatriyas and Visyas to be nearly extinct.

It is pratically impossible to identify a "merchant" or trader in modern sense, that belonged to the Vaisya varna in ancient times. They were artisans and crafts people. Some scholars claim that most of the ancient Kshatriyas of northern India were annihilated, and the present Rajputs were created from fire as a replacement.

For the last few decades, the varna system is getting weakened but the sub-castes jatis(endogamous groups) getting strengthened and quite influential politically. In some regions, some of the jati sub-castes have 25-30% of the population, and that gives them great political clout.

Four Varnas

Traditional Last Names by Varna

• Brahmin --- Sharma; Deva
• Kshatriya --- Varma; Trata
• Vaisya --- Gupta; Bhuti
• Sudra --- Datta; Dasa

The caste system, although not currently officially sanctioned by their governments, is used by Hindus, particularly in India and Nepal for reasons of determining lineage and is passed down through patrilineal descent. It is based on four :

• Brahmins (white-symbolizing Sattva), priests, teachers
• Kshatriyas (red-symbolizing Rajas), kings, princes, warriors
• Vaishyas (yellow-symbolizing Rajas/Tamas), merchants/craftsmen
• Shudras (blue or black-symbolizing Tamas), workers, farmers

Twice born

The first

The occupations of the Vaishya are those connected with trade, the cultivation of the land and the breeding of cattle; while those of a Kshatriya consist in ruling and defending the people, administering justice, and the duties, of the military profession generally and ruling by Dharma. Both share with the Brahman the privilege of reading the Vedas. To the Brahman belongs the right of teaching and expounding the sacred texts vedas. Shudras were the serfs, and performed agricultural labour.

Intermarriage between castes was not encouraged.

Indian texts speak of jati, which are sub-caste within a Varna. Thus each varna is subdivided into many jatis which are endogamous groups with a particular occupational specilization all having same or similar social ranking which is determined by its Varna. Each jati has its appropriate rules of conduct and duties or "dharma", including rules regarding marriage, eating, and ritual purity.

Religiously anyone who does not belong to the four Varnas is an outcast. Muluki Ain has incorporated the entire ethnic group of Nepal into Caste hierarchy.

Division of labor

The varna system is based on division of labor.

The Purusha-sukta is a Hindu creation story. It's about the four Varnas, or castes. It tells how Brahma (Ultimate Reality) created a giant called 'Primal Man' from clay and how the giant was sacrificed. Out of the body of the Primal Man came four groups of people. Each group had a different role to play in life, and society. They all had very different tasks. The first group was the Brahmins (priests). They came from the mouth. They were to provide the intellectual and spiritual needs of the community. The second group was called Kshatriyas (warriors and rulers). They were created from the arms, and they were needed to rule and to protect the others. Vaishyas (landowners and merchants) sprang from the thighs. This group was needed to trade and to care for agriculture. Shudras (artisans and servants) were from the feet. They had to do all the manual work.

Etymology

Varna is a Sanskritterm (वर्ण varṇa meaning colour or faith (faithless), preference, religious affiliation, conviction, or "to choose", or lustre.

• In the Zend Avesta and the Gathas, the word Varana or Varena (from the root Var ("put faith in, to believe in")
  
  
  
  is used in the sense of "faith, religious doctrine, choice of creed or belief.") The language of the Gathas (the oldest part of the Avesta) is very similar to the language of the Rig Veda.
• It may also come from the root Var- "choose", as in "svayamvara", “ own choice ”, or from the root vri (which means "one's occupation").
• In the Rig Veda, the word varNa occurs 22 times and means lustre in 17 out of 22 times it refers to the "lustre" (i.e. "one's own typical light") of gods like Soma, Agni or Ushas. In RV 3.34.5 and RV 9.71.2 it refers to the lustrous colour of the sky at dawn.
• According to Hindu tradition, Varna refers to sounds of speech or language. Western Indologists have wrongly interpreted varna as "a letter of the alphabet". According to Welzer (1994 (229-230)), Varna can be grammatically derived from the term "class" (vide Panini), but it has acquired the incorrect meaning of "colour".

Varnas in Rigveda and Manu Smriti

In Sanskrit, Varņa means color, appearance, physical form or characteristic. One of the hymns of the Rig Veda, one of the holiest Hindu scriptures, gives the following enumeration in the famous Purusha Sukta (RV 10.90):

मुखं किमस्य कौ बाहू का ऊरू पादा उच्येते ॥

ब्राह्मणो अस्य मुखमासीद बाहू राजन्यः कर्तः ।

ऊरूतदस्य यद वैश्यः पद्भ्यां शूद्रो अजायत ॥

Its rough translation is : "What became of his (the Cosmic Spirit's) face or mouth? What became of his two arms? What became of His two thighs? What were (the products of) the two feet called? From His face (or the mouth) came the brahmanas. From His two arms came the rajanya (the kshatriyas). From His two thighs came the vaishyas. From His two feet came the shudras."

This hymn is the sole reference to the four Varnas in the Rig Veda, and it occurs in the Xth book, which many historians claim to be a later addition to the existing nine books. The other three Vedas and Upanishads very rarely mention the Varnas. In later Hinduism, people interpreted this hymn such that the society is to be divided into four Varnas or castes, which are:

• Brahmana: The priests and the teachers
• Kshatriya (or Rajanya): Administrators and Military men
• Vaishya (or Arya): Traders, merchants, businessmen, farmers and herdsmen
• Shudra: Servants

Note that the original hymn does not explicitly define these groups.

Manu Smriti is often quoted in reference to the Varna caste system. The Manu Smriti is a later work that does not form a part of Hindu Scriptures, so it is of questionable relevance. Use of the Manu Smriti by the British colonialists has lead to claims that it is used by politicians and sociologists to denigrate those of the Hindu faith.

The Manu Smriti claims that by the time it was written, Hinduism included another class of people without a position in any of the four Varnas and therefore associated with the meanest of the jobs. The upper castes, who were supposed to maintain ritual and corporal purity, came to regard them as untouchables. The people of this "fifth varna" are now called Dalits (the oppressed) or Harijans; they were formerly known as "untouchables" or "pariahs".

It is very clear that in the early Vedic times, the Varna system (if at all it existed) meant classes with free mobility of jobs and intermarriage. One hymn of the Rig Veda states:

कारुरहं ततो भिषगुपलप्रक्षिणी नना । (RV 9.112.3)

"I am a bard, my father is a physician, my mother's job is to grind the corn..."

While intermarriage between Brahmana bridegrooms and Kshatriya princesses was extremely common (even sanctioned by the later Manu Smriti), in many instances, marriages between Kshatriya princes and Brahmana brides was also observed (severely condemned by Manu Smriti). One of such instances is marriage of Dushyanata, a Kshatriya prince, with Shakuntala, a daughter of the sage Vishvamitra and adopted daughter of sage Kanva.

In later times, with the elaboration of ritualism, the caste sytem became absolutely hereditary (the historians disagree as to when) and the Shudras were not even allowed to hear the sacred word of the Vedas.

"If the shudra intentionally listens for committing to memory the veda, then his ears should be filled with (molten) lead and lac; if he utters the veda, then his tongue should be cut off; if he has mastered the veda his body should be cut to pieces." (Manu Smriti XII. 4)

A stark contrast to this is a mantra from the White Yajur Veda itself:

यथेमां वाचं कल्याणीमावदानि जनेभ्यः ।

ब्रह्मराजन्याभ्याँ शूद्राय चार्याय च स्वाय चारणाय ।

प्रियो देवानां दक्षिणायै दातुरिह भूयासमयं मे कामः समृध्यतामुप मादो नमतु ॥ (White Yajur Veda 26.2)

"I do hereby address this salutary (Vedic) speech for the benefit of humanity – for the Brahmanas, the Kshatriyas, the Shudras, the Vaishas, the kinsfolk and the men of lowest position in society. May I be dear to the learned in this world."

References

• "Brahmanotpatti-martanda" Harikrishna Shastri, (Sanskrit), 1871
• Jati Bhaskar", Jwalaprasd Mishra, (Hindi), 1914.
• G.S. Ghurye, Caste and Race in India, 1932.
• B.R. Ambedkar, Who were Shudras? 1946. ()
• Ghanshyam Shah, Caste and Democratic Politics in India, 2004
• Welzer, Albrecht. 1994. Credo, Quia Occidentale: A Note on Sanskrit varna and its Misinterpretation in Literature on Mamamsa and Vyakarana. In: Studies in Mamamsa: Dr Mandan Mishra Felicitation Volume edited by R.C. Dwivedi. Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass.