The Ancient Indian Social Classes---
![Picture](/uploads/1/9/2/9/19299991/9499399.jpg?1366751664)
This is a picture of the social pyramid with pictures and overall descriptions.
The website this picture is from is...
http://spicegal.hubpages.com/hub/DOES-FEUDAL-AND-CASTE-SYSTEM-STILL-EXIST-IN-INDIA
The Ancient Indians lived in a caste system. The highest class is ...
Brahmans---They were the priests and scholars. They did the religious services
and gave sacred knowledge.
Kshatriyas---They were the rulers and the soldiers. They were the second highest class and were responsible for leading and protecting the people.
Vaisyas---They were the merchants and professionals. They were the ones who would offer services and goods like clothing, food, and supplies/materials for trade and to sell. They were the third highest or second to last/lowest class.
Shudras---They were the last class and the servants of the higher classes.
The Ancient Indians believed that people could not marry someone in another caste and in that life time they could not get into another caste. One of Ancient India's main religions was Hinduism. The religion Hinduism believed that people live many lives until spiritual perfection and in their new lives after death they would be reborn into a new body. They believed if you lived a good life you would be able to be born into a higher caste and may reach moksha (the highest position). For those that lived a bad life, they believed that they would be born into a lower caste when they were reborn. They thought that animals had souls like humans as well.
People in ancient India who believed in Hinduism followed some rules of conduct. They wrote holy books called Vedas, which are written in Sanskrit. Sanskrit was the language of the Aryans and the gods. The Ancient Indian's wrote stories to help understand the meaning of Hindu society and poems. Many of the Indian languages are based on Sanskrit.