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Brahmin (/ˈbrɑːmɪn/; Sanskrit: ब्राह्मण, romanized: brāhmaṇa) is a varna (caste) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra.[1][2][3][4][5] The traditional occupation of Brahmins is that of priesthood (purohit, pandit, or pujari) at Hindu temples or at socio-religious ceremonies, and the performing of rite of passage rituals, such as solemnising a wedding with hymns and prayers.[6][7]
Traditionally, Brahmins are accorded the highest ritual status of the four social classes,[8] and they also served as spiritual teachers (guru or acharya). In practice, Indian texts suggest that some Brahmins historically also became agriculturalists, warriors, traders, and had also held other occupations in the Indian subcontinent.[7][8][9]
At the top were the Brahmins(priests), then the Kshatriyas(warriors), then the vaishya(the merchant class which only in India had a place of honor in Asia), next were the sudras(farmers), and finally the pariah(untouchables), or those who did the dirty defiling work
The four varnas are the brahmins (brahmanas—priests, teachers); kshatriyas (ksatriyas—administrators, rulers); vaishyas (vaisyas—farmers, bankers, business people); and shudras(laborers, artisans)
Varna are the four major social divisions: the Brahmin priest class, the Kshatriya warrior/ administrator class, the Vaishya merchant/farmer class, and the Shudra laborer class.
The four varna groupings in descending order of their importance came to be Brahmin (priests), Kshatriya (warriors and administrators), Vaishya (cultivators and merchants), and Sudra (peasants and menial laborers)
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