Beleifs of Ancient India

The beliefs and ideas of Ancient India such as the caste system, karma, reincarnation and Buddhism greatly influenced its society by keeping the people calm and happy even in unbalanced situations. The caste system is a hierarchical structure in which people are born into their class, or caste, with no exception. For example, if two people were low-ranking farmers, the son and/or daughter of these parents would also be born as farmer even if he/she showed outstanding intelligence and leadership. Though this does not seem right or just, the people of Ancient India had no problem with it and did not rebel mainly because of two beliefs, karma and reincarnation. Karma is the belief that the behavior of a person in their present life will affect the class they are born into in the future when reincarnated. Reincarnation is the belief that humans will come back in a new human form after they die. Karma and reincarnation helped the people of Ancient India with unpleasant lives manage with their poverty or under-appreciation by giving them hope for better lives in the future. From a different point of view, Buddhism also helped influence India in a much more “fair” way. It still uses reincarnation and karma as part of the religion, however more things are also now introduced much like the four noble truths. The Four Noble Truths comprise the essence of Buddha's teachings. They are the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering. Basically, suffering exists, it has a cause, it has an end; and it has a cause to bring about its end. The caste system states that each person in society is born into his or her own class and that person’s karma in their preceding life is the deciding factor for which class he or she is born into. The Brahmin priests who, evidently, were the highest class of people and had the most power created the caste system of India. They had