English: Brahman, also spelled Brahmin, Sanskrit Brāhmaṇa (“Possessor of Brahma”), highest ranking of the four varnas, or social classes, in Hindu India. The elevated position of the Brahmans goes back to the late Vedic period, when the Indo-European-speaking settlers in northern India were already divided into Brahmans (or priests), warriors (of the Kshatriya class), traders (of the Vaishya class), and labourers (of the Shudra class). Since then there has been no fundamental change in their relative position, and the Brahmans still enjoy great prestige and many advantages, though their claim to tangible privileges is no longer officially admitted. The basis of the age-old veneration of Brahmans is the belief that they are inherently of greater ritual purity than members of other castes and that they alone are capable of performing certain vital religious tasks. The study and recitation of the sacred scriptures was traditionally reserved for this spiritual elite, and for centuries all Indian scholarship was in their hands.