Foucauldian Discourse of Hindu Caste System

Foucauldian Discourse is a system of analysis that takes broader contexts and dissects them individually instead of using one large theoretical framework. This discourse was introduced by French post-structuralist, who rejected "totalitarian theories", and saw power as a "set of pressures lodged in institutional mechanisms which produce and maintain the privileged norms" (pomo ppt). In Foucouldian discourse terms, the word "discourse" is a culturally constructed concept of knowledge, in which 'knowledge' is dictated by those in power that create the texts and other manifestations of knowledge. The discourse defines the boundaries of possibilities and manipulates what eventually becomes known as "truth". 

In the following text, I will use Foucauldian Discourse to analyze the Hindu caste system in Nepal today.

The Hindu caste system first originated through the division of labor - the society was divided into priests, warriors, merchants, and lastly the laborers. As you can imagine, the laborers were considered lowest caste, merchants second lowest and so on. Although it started out as an egalitarian society where there was no hierarchy of occupations, there was a gradual segregation of the groups. The priests, or Brahmins, were the people whose job made it necessary to read and write, and the warriors, or Kshatriyas, whose job brought them valor and honor, and for this reason, their ranking in society progressively increased, while the subservient role of the merchant (Vaisyas), and the laborers (Sudras) decreased. Through time, this hierarchical caste system has become increasingly entrenched in society as the upper caste Brahmins and Kshatriyas take advantage of their positions in society. The Brahmins have the most power because they are the ones that interpret the words of the numerous deities, the middle men between the Gods and the common people. Additionally, they're the ones that are most literate while the Sudras don't require reading or writing for their job and therefore are illiterate. Therefore, the discourse in Hindu society is that of the Brahmins.

In today's Hindu society, the Sudras are otherwise known as untouchables, because they are "impure" and have the power to contaminate you by touch. This is the logic that people have grown up with all of their lives and to them, it's the truth, it's common knowledge, it's normal, and the majority of the people follow it without question, no matter what caste one may be from. The Sudras are literally not allowed to touch someone of the upper caste, and if there is accidental touching, the upper caste individual has to cleanse themselves with water. If their food is touched, they cannot eat the food. The Sudras are not allowed to enter the temples of the religious priests. The reasoning for this is given as the Sudras work involves dirt and impurities, things that noone else would choose to do, and for this reason, they are also impure. Additionally, their diet is also cited as a reason for their impurity. The Sudras eat water buffalo and drink alcohol, specifically rice wine. Instead of realizing that they eat water buffalo because it is cheap and more affordable than other meats, and that they drink the rice wine to give them energy for a hard day's of labor, these food items are simply pegged as impure because one, the animal's habitat is extremely dirty, and two, the alcohol makes them drunk, and therefore, these people are "impure".

By marginalizing the Sudras in such a way, the interests of the powerful Brahmin class is being mobilized. Because of the discourse constructed by the Brahmins, having a Brahmin identity is more desirable because it is not the demeaning, looked down upon, loathed, identity of a lower caste individual.

Although I simply touched upon the surface of the Hindu caste system, it is evident that Foucoult's ideas about the discourse of knowledge and power rings true in this society.