Question

why do you think the caste system continued from the vedic period till the age of Harshvardhan​

Answer 1

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In the Later Vedic Period, the caste system became rigid and the society came to be divided into four main castes. The Brahmans occupied the top position and performed all the rituals. The Kshatriyas were a warring class who occupied the second class and protected their kingdom from any external attacks.

Answer 2

Explanation:

Caste system started becoming rigid from Gupta Empire as in the previous dynasties, it was every person’s own choice to opt for a faith and get stick to it. One example of that could be Chandragupt Maurya and Ashok. Ashok was the grand son of Changupta Maurya, and he took Buddhism as his faith after Kalinga war and historians mention that Chandragupta became Jain monk in his later life. It indicates that probably till this point in the history one was free to choose his own faith and caste.

In the stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata, we tend to get examples of caste based society and its evils. However much of it can be attributed to their writers. These epics have been composed by a number of writers/poets over a long period of time. No wonder these epics mention about the evil of that time, as literature of anytime is supposed to do.

Now, coming back to the rigidity of the caste system, it became rigid because of the belief in reincarnation. It was and still believed that a person is reincarnated in several forms varying from the animals, insects and various classes of human society based on the ‘Karma’ of their previous births. Being born in King’s clan or a servant’s depends on one’s ‘Karma’ of previous birth. That is why purification of classes is absolutely important, because any kind of contact from the lower castes can corrupt your ‘Karma’ as well.

In order to do that a new outcast section in the society, the untouchables came into existence. There were involved in such trades which seemed derogatory for other upper castes which pushed them to keep distant themselves from untouchables. Not accepting food from lower castes and having different water sources for lower castes, from the upper castes are some example of efforts making towards keeping themselves pure.

During Gupta empire, caste was not entirely based on the profession as Brahmins and Shudras were free to do farming, which was not exclusively meant for them before that point in the history. Castes were determined solely based on the fact of being born to the parents of particular castes. Gupta emperors themselves were Vaishyas and till this point, rulers were supposed to be Kshatriya.