ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the issues of caste and gender in the Upanisads as opaque and complicated as it is interesting; and provides a small sample of that complexity. The term caste in English-language scholarship often collapses two related Indian phenomena: varna and jati. The Brahmin—Ksatriya nexus is directly contrasted to those outside of this alliance or even outside of the Vedic-fold altogether. Brahmins and Ksatriyas are sometimes contrasted with Sudras who, while part of the varna classification, are excluded from Vedic learning because they are not permitted initiation; so also with low castes or outcastes whose status is decidedly lower and outside of the cosmic classification schema altogether. In the case of complex social phenomena like caste and gender, what the authors have instead is a matrix of small windows defined by individual passages, themes, and texts that refract light differently depending on the angle through which one looks.
