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varna
Hinduism
Also known as: varṇa
varna, any one of the four traditional social classes of India. Although the literal meaning of the word varna (Sanskrit: “colour”) once invited speculation that class distinctions were originally based on differences in degree of skin pigmentation between an alleged group of lighter-skinned invaders called “Aryans” and the darker indigenous people of ancient India, this theory has been discredited since the mid-20th century. The notion of “colour” was most likely a device of classification. Colours were frequently used as classifiers; e.g., the Vedic scripture known as the Yajurveda is divided into two groups of texts, White and Black. The varnas ...(100 of 469 words)