Matthias Helble Religion

Firstly, the caste system reflects the inequality of Indian society. Although religion in India is characterized by a diversity of religious beliefs and practices, majority of Indian population follow Hinduism. Therefore, the dominance of Hinduism beliefs is common in India. There is a belief in caste system, as Brood said, “a system of hierarchical social organization”1. Hindu society is divided into four main classes; the priestly class, the warrior and administrator class, the producer class who is farmers and merchants and the servant class. The remaining group of people who is “outcastes” is called “untouchables” or dalit. Brodd recognizes “dalits continue to suffer terrible oppression, especially in rural communities in India”. I still could not imagine how terrible this bottom class suffers until reading Max Bearak article. All sufferings of Rohith Vemula, from the hardships of growing up poor, interactions with society in caste to scholarship revoke and suicide, happened tragically because he was born in a dalit family. This is the

In the Post-Classical Era, trade was crucial for the diffusion of cultures because it connected major areas of the world. With many different trade routes such as the Trans-Saharan and the Silk Roads, religions, ideas, and technology were able to spread with ease. Religions that traveled along those trade routes are Islam and Christianity. Both religions spread far and wide through the practices of trade and warfare. Merchants had a significant impact on the spread of both religions, as they were the ones traveling along these trade routes and learning about different religions and cultures. As both religions spread through vast regions, the different peoples and cultures they came in contact with began to use these religions as a unification tactic as well as a way to identify themselves as individuals. For example, as Christianity spread through the Silk Roads, the Roman emperor Constantine converted, so Christianity

The caste system has been extremely stable in India for over two thousand years. It is only since the more modern, independent state of India was formed that the system has come under any scrutiny at all. It is presently outlawed, but many of the practices, attitudes and traditions remain ingrained in Hindu society (University of Wyoming, 1997).

When thinking about the history of the world, one must always consider that merchants as well as trade have played an immerse role in shaping the world as it is today. They are responsible for many of the cross-cultural interactions that we have had in the past. Christianity and Islam, the two predominant religions of the world today, have both grown and spread through merchants and trade also. These two chief religions both have attitudes towards merchants and trade that have either developed or decreased overtime. According to these documents, from up to the year 1500, Christianity went from a negative view of merchants and trade to a positive view while Islam went from a positive view to a negative view, but both sides

Make an analysis of how the caste system might function in the life of a particular Hindu individual.

During the establishment of the English colonies, slavery became a key component to the growth and development of the colonies. Slavery began when the Puritans began migrating over to America in 1620. Most Europeans brought indentured servants to America to work on their land. This worked well for people who settled in areas further towards the north, which was a prime location to have a farm. Plantations in the south usually grew crops like tobacco, rice, indigo, and sugarcane. These crops are many day crops which means that it is labor intensive and requires more days to grow, the crops are also high profit crops. Slavery became important in the southern plantations because plantation owners needed more workers to be able to produce their crops rapidly. Without the labor the slaves provided, the tobacco would dry up before it could be harvested and the cotton industry would not have succeeded.

Over time both Christianity and Islam attitudes towards merchants and trade changed. Christianity started off with the Christian merchants not bidding with the traders to bidding with the traders. Thomas Aquinas wrote “the seller must not impose upon the bidder” (Doc 4). And this change was presented when a letter was written placing an order for English wool saying “with god always before us, we will carry out your bidding” (Doc 6). Both these statements could be bias due to the writer, the first quote from Aquinas could be bias because he was a theologian which means he studied gods and so he could have wrote more about what the bible states and not what actually happened. Then the letter was written by a merchant which means they could have had different experiences with trade than other merchants. Islam started off with their merchants needing to be honest and ended up with their merchants seeking to make profits and gambling, and gambling for more money is not very truthful. The Qur’an it states “On the day of judgment, the honest, truthful Muslim merchant will take rank with the martyrs of the faith” (Doc 2). Ibn Khaldun a leading Muslim scholar wrote “We have already stated that traders must buy and sell and seek profits” and he wrote “they come under the heading of gambling” (Doc 5). All in all both Christianity and Islamic attitudes toward

Christianity and Islam, both major religions which are considered brother faiths were both spread by trade. Indian ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Balkan, Silk Road, and Trans- Saharan were all trade routes in which these religions spread. Although these religions were similar they differ in attitudes towards trade. Islam and Christianity were similar in ethics and that spiritual is, but disagree with each other in weather money affects how you get into heaven. As trade was widely accepted because that was how both religions started, trade began to be codified.

Attaching great importance to individuality is the third characteristic of market society. For people living in market society, economic advantages are superior to other advantages; the first thing to protect is their individual wealth. This ideological change results from the material condition in market society that people all become single individuals in the factories producing goods for making more money for themselves. In this case, the economic relations rule the social relations (Rinehart 71). Under the structure of the previous social organization, however, “man’s economy... is submerged in his social relationships” (Polanyi 46). People were always concerned about their social relations within their communities (Polanyi 46). They acted so as to maintain their social values (Polanyi 46). The reason for this when it comes to the case of tribal society is that there is no need for people to care much about “individual’s economic interest” because working for the communities enables

Christianity and Islam are two of history’s most influential and powerful religions in the post-classical and early modern era. As different regions began to communicate, products, ideas, and services were exchanged across vast distances. Civilizations became less isolated and depended on other regions to sustain stable economies. The role of the merchant increased as trade arose with other regions. Initially, Christianity despised trade, but as time progressed, merchant activity became more widely accepted. On the other hand, Islam initially accepted trade, but became less tolerant of the activity as time progressed. From the origin of the two major religions to about 1500, Christian and Muslim thoughts concerning merchant activity gradually trended in opposite directions. According to the documents, Christianity initially despised trade while Islam accepted merchant activity, but the two religions’ attitudes reversed by about 1500.

I believe I can imply that if countries with lesser wealth were agreeable to converting religions in order to attract wealthier countries into trading, then they would probably be convinced to do things that they did not even want to do just to satisfy the other country. For example: when King Affonso tells King Jao of being opposed to slave trade, he should have been demanding but, instead he writes in such a nice way and often calls him “your Highness” and begs for the supplies that he needs. As a King he should

Indian serfs have to prove loyalty to their masters and all of them are trapped under what Adiga refers to “The Rooster Coop”. This is the way of how Indian society is structured in which the well-off and the poor cannot amalgamate with each other. And this system ensures complete control for the upper classes, transforming the lives of the employees a prison. The master-servant relationship is established based on this philosophy which permits to maintain the endless servitude of the lower classes and providing wealth for a dominant

            The internal divisions and complexes hierarchy of the Indian society served an important social function.  The system provided each individual with a clear identity and role and offered the benefits of group solidarity and support.  Certain interactions and behaviors were appropriate only between those of equal status. The system assured that the religious, political, and financial powers were all separated into four different social classes (Bulliet, et. 2011).

At times, our lives can be difficult, and in the poem Mother to Son by Langston Hughes he expresses this by using a mother giving her son advice about life. During this advice the author uses many different literary devices such as metaphors, imagery, and diction. He uses these devices to compare life to broken stairs, and how life can be challenging. As the mother says "Sometimes you just have to keep on going," and this Mother is right even though life is a little rocky time to time you cannot give cannot give up because if you give up on life, life will give up on you.

A few disadvantages of India’s social system are that Religion, caste, and language are major determinants of social organizations. According to the US Department of State-Background Notes website, even though the government has declared the caste system as illegal, it still has a presence in occupational and societal hierarchies (The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs, 2010).