Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Hinduism any of the four original castes in Hinduism, or the system of such castes

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Sanskrit वर्ण (várṇa, "colour, tint, dye, pigment, appearance, aspect"), from verbal root √vṛ ("to choose, select").

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Examples

  • Adultery means production of unwanted children known as varna-sankara, who disturb the world.

    Yahoo! Answers: Latest Questions 2008

  • The confusion between ‘jati’ and ‘varna’ when the caste system is described.

    When What We Think We Know, Is Actually Wrong at SF Novelists 2009

  • It is evident; therefore, that Sanskritisation reinforces and consolidates the ‘immutable varna hierarchy’ rather than dislodges it or modify it.

    The sociological concept of Sanskritization in India India 2009

  • The "Verenna" part, while clearly derived first and foremost from the old Sanskrit root varna which in the Rig Veda means "one who claims to be NT Wrong deceitfully".

    On The Trail Of NT Wrong, Part 6 James F. McGrath 2008

  • Astrology, yogic ideas of prana and kundalini and even the ideas of reincarnation, karma and varna (that is, caste order) are justified in the language of modern physics and evolutionary biology.

    Is India a science superpower? 2008

  • Forty verses of Guhyasamaja tantra is written in a very mystical and profound language; its each verse is formed by taking one varna of evam maya srutam thus interpreting the real intent of the secret verse.

    Archive 2007-06-01 enowning 2007

  • Forty verses of Guhyasamaja tantra is written in a very mystical and profound language; its each verse is formed by taking one varna of evam maya srutam thus interpreting the real intent of the secret verse.

    enowning enowning 2007

  • The Sanskrit word for caste, varna, also means color.

    Indian Society and Thought before and at the Time of Buddha 2007

  • The ancient racial division on the basis of varna or color was basically such a system of aesthetics that crystallized into a rigid caste system based on preferred professions.

    Archive 2007-10-01 Tusar N Mohapatra 2007

  • The original Hindu word for caste, varna, literally meant “color,” and caste has functioned in India historically as a kind of “apartheid.”

    The J Curve Ian Bremmer 2006

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