illustration depicts Indian society during the Gupta imperial
age (200-600). Of all its institutions, it is the caste
system that defines Indian society. The state was, in
McNeill's words, relatively "superficial" since
rulers felt it prudent to conform to rules established
by sacred texts, those texts that laid out the caste structure.
The Buddhist temple, as well, while having at least a
superficial relationship with the orders of society below,
remains faded, suggesting a less important role in the
lives of ordinary Indians. At the center of the diagram
is a depiction of the caste system. Different castes reside
at different levels of society, rigidly organized in hierarchical
fashion. Note the different stations in life represented
here, from manual laborers and beggars at the bottom,
to skilled craftsmen, to nobility at the top. The white,
sweeping line is Petheo's attempt to show reincarnation
of the soul to a higher caste. Winding throughout the
castes, this white line leads ultimately to "God,"
here a representation of both the Hindu god Vishnu and
Buddha. This fusion is meant to represent "nirvana,"
the final escape from this cycle of birth, death and rebirth.