Caste system in India
In India, social classification based on caste has its origin in ancient times. It was transformed by various ruling elites in medieval, early-modern, and modern India, especially in the aftermath of the collapse of the Mughal Empire and the establishment of the British Raj. Caste is traditionally associated with Hinduism, but is more pervasive in extent: an estimated 98% of contemporary Indians, including Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains, identify with a caste.
Beginning in ancient India, the caste system was originally centered around varna, with Brahmins and, to a lesser extent, Kshatriyas serving as the elite classes, followed by Vaishyas and finally Shudras. Outside of this system are the oppressed, marginalised, and persecuted Dalits and Adivasis. Over time, the system became increasingly rigid, and the emergence of jati led to further entrenchment, introducing thousands of new castes and sub-castes. With the arrival of Islamic rule, caste-like distinctions were formulated in certain Muslim communities, primarily in North India. The British Raj furthered the system, through census classifications and preferential treatment to Christians and people belonging to certain castes. Social unrest during the 1920s led to a change in this policy towards affirmative action.
Caste-based differences have also been practised in other regions and religions in the Indian subcontinent, like Nepalese Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism. It has been challenged by many reformist Hindu movements, Buddhism, Sikhism, Christianity, and present-day Neo Buddhism. With Indian influences, the caste system is also practiced in Bali.
After achieving independence in 1947, India banned discrimination on the basis of caste and enacted many affirmative action policies for the upliftment of historically marginalised groups, as enforced through its constitution. However, the system continues to be practiced in India and caste-based discrimination, segregation, violence, and inequality persist.
Definitions and concepts
''Varna'', ''jāti'', and caste
''Varna''
Varna, meaning type, order, colour, or class are a framework for grouping people into classes, first used in Vedic Indian society. It is referred to frequently in the ancient Indian texts. There are four classes: the Brahmins, the Kshatriyas, the Vaishyas, and the Shudras. The varna categorisation implicitly includes a fifth element, those deemed to be entirely outside its scope, such as tribal people and the Dalits.''Jati''
In ancient texts, Jati, meaning birth, is mentioned less often and clearly distinguished from varna. There are four varnas but thousands of jatis. The jatis are complex social groups that lack universally applicable definitions or characteristics and have been more flexible and diverse than was previously often assumed.Certain scholars of caste have considered jati to have its basis in religion, assuming that the sacred elements of life in India envelop the secular aspects; for example, the anthropologist Louis Dumont described the ritual rankings that exist within the jati system as being based on the concepts of religious purity and pollution. This view has been disputed by other scholars who believe it to be a secular social phenomenon driven by the necessities of economics, politics, and at times geography. Jeaneane Fowler says that although some people consider jati to be occupational segregation, in reality the jati framework does not preclude or prevent a member of one caste from working in another occupation.
A feature of jatis has been endogamy, in Susan Bayly's words, that "both in the past and for many, though not all Indians in more modern times, those born into a given caste would normally expect to find marriage partner" within their jati.
A 2016 study based on the DNA analysis of unrelated Indians determined that endogamous jatis originated during the Gupta Empire. An earlier 2013 study from Tamil Nadu has suggested older origins of endogamy based upon male lineages.
Jatis have existed in India among Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and tribal people, and there is no clear linear order among them.
Caste
The term caste is derived from the Portuguese and Spanish word casta, meaning "race, lineage, breed" and, originally, "'pure or unmixed ". Originally not an Indian word, it is now widely used in English and in Indian languages, closely translated to varna and jati.Ghurye's 1932 description
The sociologist G. S. Ghurye wrote in 1932 that, despite much study by many people,Ghurye offered what he thought was a definition that could be applied across India, although he acknowledged that there were regional variations on the general theme. His model definition for caste included the following six characteristics:
- Segmentation of society into groups whose membership was determined by birth.
- A hierarchical system wherein generally the Brahmins were at the head of the hierarchy, but this hierarchy was disputed in some cases. In various linguistic areas, hundreds of castes had a gradation generally acknowledged by everyone.
- Restrictions on feeding and social intercourse, with minute rules on the kind of food and drink that upper castes could accept from lower castes. There was a great diversity in these rules, and lower castes generally accepted food from upper castes.
- Segregation, where individual castes lived together, the dominant caste living in the center and other castes living on the periphery. There were restrictions on the use of water wells or streets by one caste on another: an upper-caste Brahmin might not be permitted to use the street of a lower-caste group, while a caste considered impure might not be permitted to draw water from a well used by members of other castes.
- Occupation, generally inherited. Lack of unrestricted choice of profession, caste members restricted their own members from taking up certain professions they considered degrading. This characteristic of caste was missing from large parts of India, stated Ghurye, and in these regions all four castes did agriculture labour or became warriors in large numbers.
- Endogamy, restrictions on marrying a person outside caste, but in some situations hypergamy allowed. Far less rigidity on inter-marriage between different sub-castes than between members of different castes in some regions, while in some, endogamy within a sub-caste was the principal feature of caste-society.
Ghurye added, in 1932, that the colonial construction of caste led to the livening up, divisions and lobbying to the British officials for favourable caste classification in India for economic opportunities, and this had added new complexities to the concept of caste. Graham Chapman and others have reiterated the complexity and they note that there are differences between theoretical constructs and the practical reality.
Modern perspective on definition
, the Indologist, agrees that there has been no universally accepted definition of "caste". For example, for some early European documenters it was thought to correspond with the endogamous varnas referred to in ancient Indian scripts, and its meaning corresponds in the sense of estates. To later Europeans of the Raj era it was endogamous jatis, rather than varnas, that represented caste, such as the 2,378 jatis that colonial administrators classified by occupation in the early 20th century.Arvind Sharma, a professor of comparative religion, notes that caste has been used synonymously to refer to both varna and jati but that "serious Indologists now observe considerable caution in this respect" because, while related, the concepts are considered to be distinct. In this he agrees with the Indologist Arthur Basham, who noted that the Portuguese colonists of India used casta to describe The sociologist André Beteille notes that, while varna mainly played the role of caste in classical Hindu literature, it is jati that plays that role in present times. Varna represents a closed collection of social orders whereas jati is entirely open-ended, thought of as a "natural kind whose members share a common substance." Any number of new jatis can be added depending on need, such as tribes, sects, denominations, religious or linguistic minorities and nationalities. Thus, "Caste" is not an accurate representation of jati in English. Better terms would be ethnicity, ethnic identity and ethnic group.
Complexity and flexibility
Research on caste systems across the Indian subcontinent during the latter 1900s revealed that caste was far more complex and dynamic than previously thought. While British colonial authorities had portrayed it as a uniform, rigid system fundamental to Indian society, studies showed that caste's significance and structure varied considerably between regions. Rather than being a fixed hierarchy, caste functioned as one of several possible forms of social organization and identity. People could maintain multiple community affiliations, with caste sometimes taking precedence and other times being secondary to different social bonds. This flexibility allowed caste to serve as one way of creating social cohesion while leaving room for other types of community ties to flourish.Sociologist Anne Waldrop observes that while outsiders view the term caste as a static phenomenon of stereotypical tradition-bound India, empirical facts suggest caste has been a radically changing feature. The term means different things to different Indians. In the context of politically active modern India, where job and school quotas are reserved for affirmative action based on castes, the term has become a sensitive and controversial subject.
Sociologists such as M. N. Srinivas and Damle have debated the question of rigidity in caste and believe that there is considerable flexibility and mobility in the caste hierarchies.