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Kshatriya
The Brahmins are the highest caste in the modern-day Indian caste system. Said to have been created from the mouth of an ancient god known as Brahma, the Brahmins are considered “nearest to the gods” and often occupy sagely or priestly roles. As the dominant caste, Brahmins control the entire caste system. All other castes must defer to them by stepping aside for them in public, affording them attention, and allowing them to speak first in conversations.
Brahmin Quotes in Caste
The Caste quotes below are all either spoken by Brahmin or refer to Brahmin. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Pillar Number One
Quotes
The United States and India would become, respectively, the oldest and the largest democracies in human history both built on caste systems undergirded by their reading of the sacred texts of their respective cultures. In both countries, the subordinate castes were consigned to the bottom, seen as deserving of their debasement, owing to the sins of the past.
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Chapter 30
Quotes
For most of his life, he had worn the sacred thread as if it were strands of hair from his head. Removing it amounted to renouncing his high caste, and he considered the consequences, that his family might reject him if they knew. He would have to determine how to manage their knowing when the time came.
He was now born a third time, the shades lifted in a darkened room in his mind.
"It is a fake crown that we wear," he came to realize.
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Brahmin Term Timeline in Caste
The timeline below shows where the term Brahmin appears in Caste. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Pillar Number One: Divine Will and the Laws of Nature
...rooted in the creation myth of the awakening of the universe. “The One” created the Brahmin, the highest caste, from his mouth; the Kshatriya (warriors) from his arms; the Vaishya (merchants...
(full context)
Chapter Thirty: Shedding the Sacred Thread
...shares an anecdote about a man who’d been born to the highest caste in India—the Brahmins—but experienced an awakening. As a child, he’d been anointed in a Brahmin ritual with a...
(full context)
