"Why do 'Hindus' have so many castes, subcastes and even more multiple levels of subcastes?"
There are many mainstream answers, some are widely accepted, others are hardly known.
I was browsing thru a document "ETHNIC IDENTITY", a detailed study of the Chenchu tribe and suddenly realized that the answer to the above question is just lack of sufficient knowledge or the lack of interest to access it.
Or mere immaturity.
From what I understood, the answer is very simple.
Hinduism doesnt exist. Yes, you heard that right. It doesnt actually exist.
Then what is it?
We all know that the word Hindu was just coined to indicate persons living in the subcontinent of Bharat or India, across the Sindhu river.
And the Indian subcontinent isnt a uniformly populated, homogenous group of people.
Its a vast expanse of land with variegated terrain consisting of hills, mountains, plains, plateu, forests, river basins etc
And this literally calls for different food habits, language, culture, traditions, lifestyle, clothing, hunting practices, agricultural methods, occupation, building sytles etc to list a few aspects.
And it also includes religious/spiritual practices & rituals.
Some of them could be similar to each other, others might have certain common elements and there are also many others who are totally different from the rest.
And again, this might include the religious elements.
But as the word has it, they always had Unity.
Which meant that they either lived in symbiosis or they ensured not to disrupt or disturb the other group/party/community.
And thus lived in harmony.
Hence we say, Unity in Diversity.
Back to the main topic.
Invaders and outsiders knew Indians as 'Hindus'. So when they came to attack, conquer, trade, colonialize and convert, they saw all of us as a single unit, the Hindus.
So whenever there was an attempt to conquer, colonialize or convert, we all stood together as Hindus and defended our rights, culture, customs and religious beliefs.
So in essence Hinduism came to be a Huge Umbrella and the entire subcontinent consisting of different groups & cultures, took its shelter trying to survive the external conquests and conversions!
There are many mainstream answers, some are widely accepted, others are hardly known.
I was browsing thru a document "ETHNIC IDENTITY", a detailed study of the Chenchu tribe and suddenly realized that the answer to the above question is just lack of sufficient knowledge or the lack of interest to access it.
Or mere immaturity.
From what I understood, the answer is very simple.
Hinduism doesnt exist. Yes, you heard that right. It doesnt actually exist.
Then what is it?
We all know that the word Hindu was just coined to indicate persons living in the subcontinent of Bharat or India, across the Sindhu river.
And the Indian subcontinent isnt a uniformly populated, homogenous group of people.
Its a vast expanse of land with variegated terrain consisting of hills, mountains, plains, plateu, forests, river basins etc
And this literally calls for different food habits, language, culture, traditions, lifestyle, clothing, hunting practices, agricultural methods, occupation, building sytles etc to list a few aspects.
And it also includes religious/spiritual practices & rituals.
Some of them could be similar to each other, others might have certain common elements and there are also many others who are totally different from the rest.
And again, this might include the religious elements.
But as the word has it, they always had Unity.
Which meant that they either lived in symbiosis or they ensured not to disrupt or disturb the other group/party/community.
And thus lived in harmony.
Hence we say, Unity in Diversity.
Back to the main topic.
Invaders and outsiders knew Indians as 'Hindus'. So when they came to attack, conquer, trade, colonialize and convert, they saw all of us as a single unit, the Hindus.
So whenever there was an attempt to conquer, colonialize or convert, we all stood together as Hindus and defended our rights, culture, customs and religious beliefs.
So in essence Hinduism came to be a Huge Umbrella and the entire subcontinent consisting of different groups & cultures, took its shelter trying to survive the external conquests and conversions!
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