It is no wonder that Sir Thomas more followed a similar structure when he composed his version of the ideal community, in his inspirational text of the early 16th century.When one closely examines Mores Utopia a caste system similar of that of India, begins to expose itself. There is a distinct separation of people determined by the type of work they perform. In most of the cases the child is born into a particular part of the system just as the Hindu child is born into a particular Varna. Ordinarily, the son is trained to the fathers craft, for which most feel a natural inclination. (More 50) The highest class made up of scholars and intellectuals was given the name Barzanes, called Ademos in modern language. This class included occupations such as the priest, just the same as the highest class of the Hindu latter, Brahmans. Below this class exist a distinct class of rulers whos job is to keep order. He calls this caste the Phylarchs or in the ancient language, Syphrograsts. Once again, an obvious parallel can be derived between the ruler class of Syphrograsts and the second class of Hindu caste called Kshatria. The lowest caste in the Utopian structure consists of Bondsmen, who do not have the same privileges as the other citizens of the city. This group of workers can be campared to the Hindu Sudra, who perform physical labor. This is demonstrated as More begins to describe the meat trading industry: Bondsmen do the slaughtering and cleaning in these places: citizens are not allowed to do such work (More 57). At the lowest level of society reside the slaves, similar to the Outcasts in the Hindu caste system. Like Outcasts, slaves do the particularly dirty and heavy chores (More 58).The similarities between the method More chooses to separate classes and the Hindu Caste system reside together in almost perfect harmony. Perhaps, even More would have adopted some of the Hindu scriptures, if only he had been aware of them. Along with ...
