Indian caste system

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The Indian caste system is the traditional hereditary social system of India, in which social classes are defined by a number of hierarchical endogamous groups. A caste is generally divided into exogamus groups based on the same gotras (गोत्र), and defined by the mutual interaction among its members. The two most common of these relationships are:

  • "Roti" (bread): dining together.
  • "Beti" (daughter): intermarrying together.

In the past, individuals faced excommunication from their caste (hence becoming an "outcaste") if they committed certain unpardonable offences; thus they were denied the privilege of socially interacting with members of their former caste. There are presently several thousand castes, subcastes, and caste-like groups in India, including the Agarwal, Chamar, Jat, Kapu, Nair, Konkanasth, Mahar, Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu (CKP), Reddy, Arora, Maratha, Saraswat Brahmins, Mudaliar, Barnwal castes.

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Caste sub-divisions

Some castes are based on occupation. For example, goldsmiths, carpenters, and barbers each form separate castes. Often, a caste with a significant number of members will be divided into subcastes. This further division may be due to:

  • Geographical separation: For example, there are purabia (eastern) and pachchaia (western) sections of some castes.
  • Variation in standards of conduct: For example, disagreements over the permissibility of widow marriages have caused some castes to subdivide.

However, there have also been several recorded cases in which the merging of subcastes has occurred. At one time, there was considerable interest in the relative ranking of castes, with several views on how rankings could be achieved:

  1. Public reputation of castes in a region
  2. Wealth and influence
  3. Food relationship: For example, members of (lower) 'caste A' will accept water-based (kachcha) food prepared by members of (higher) 'caste B'.

A consequence of this third rule was that Brahmins were often employed as cooks. The rule was often not applicable if the food items were dry (e.g., roasted grains) or cooked with oil or ghee (pakka).

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Varna and Caste

See detailed article varna.

Varna, literally meaning "kind", is a term often used in connection with the caste system, with varnas often mistakenly referred to as "castes" in English. Classical Indian legal texts of the Dharmashastra, most notably that by Manu, identified four major varnas in Indian society. These were, in descending hierarchical sequence, Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra, with the former untouchables (Dalit) being considered either a lower section of Shudra, or outside of the caste system altogether.

Theoretically, according to the Manusmriti, every caste belongs to one of the four varnas. However, the division of Indian society into four castes was a generalization that rarely held in practice. Consequently, there have been many disputes about the varna of many castes, such as castes being considered Kshatriya by some scholars, while described as Shudra by others. While texts such as the Manusmriti attempted to rationalize ambiguous castes by placing them in varna-sankaras (i.e. mixed varna), the fact remains that Indian society was, and is, composed of numerous geographically diversified but endogamous groups. With many occupational groups practicing endogamy within a particular region, as well as other divisions within the four main castes, a more complex system of subcastes and jatis became evident.

Unlike the varna system, which requires spiritual purity in order to ascend, a jati is able to move up or down the social hierarchy based on the aspirations of its members. Marriages are usually arranged within one's own caste; however, may occur between two affiliated castes, or two castes that are in the same region, and are as such termed intercaste marriages. Over time, this grew more and more rigid, until every aspect was determined by birth, with various "justifications" as described below.

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Modern status of the caste system

The caste system was first exposed to the modern Western world during the Portuguese occupation and rule of sections of India.

Indeed, the word 'caste' in this context is derived from the Portuguese, casta. A few years down the line, other European empires including the British occupied parts of the subcontinent. Herbert Risley's The Tribes and Castes of Bengal, published in 1892, was one of the first works on the issue in India by a Western scholar.

Independent India officially documented castes and subcastes, primarily to determine those deserving reservation, an affirmative action process vaguely similar to, and predating, the US system) through the census. The difference between the Indian reservation system and American affirmative action is that India relies entirely on quotas where the US does not.

The government lists consist of:

  1. Scheduled castes (SC): Generally consisting of former "untouchables". For example, the Delhi state has 49 castes listed as SC (http://www.delhigovt.nic.in/dept/district/anx25.pdf). The term "Dalit" is now preferred by activists.
  2. Scheduled tribes (ST): Generally consisting of village tribals.
  3. Other backward castes (OBC): Generally consisting of cultivators, pastorals, artisans etc. For example, Delhi places 53 castes in this group (http://www.delhigovt.nic.in/dept/district/anx24.pdf).

Many Indian states are dominated by caste-based politics. Sometimes, converts to other religions like Christianity, or Islam, retain their caste identity, often due to the economic benefits it carries, and also to retain their ties with the community for social reasons. This practice, however, is often frowned upon by members of the same sub-caste.

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Major Caste Groups

These are the major caste groups in India, listed in the order of population, based on 1891 census data.

Caste-groupExamplePopulation %
Cultivators Kurmi, Mali, Lodha20%
Village MenialsChamar, Dosadh, Dom13%
MilitaryKhatri, Jat, Maratha, Rajput, Raju 12%
ArtisansLohar, Sunar, Julaha12%
PastoralAhir, Gadaria, Dhangar7%
Forest tribesSanthal, Gond, Bhil7%
ProfessionalsNambudri, Bhat, Kayasth6%
ServicesNai, Dhobi, Kandoi6%
TradersAgrawal, Arora, Balija, Barnwal5%
LaborersMusahar, Bagdi, Bawari3%
FishersKahar, Mallah3%
Other professionalsVaidya, Mirasi, Bhand2%
VagrantsWaddar, Nat, Beldar1%

There have been many attempts to group castes by assigning them to one of the four varna; however, the assignments vary depending on who is making the assignments.

Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador to Chandragupta Maurya's court in India classified people of India into seven classes: philosophers, peasants, herdsmen, craftsmen and traders, soldiers, government officials and councillors.

Individuals have been known to be excommunicated out of the caste for egregious offences. They were then denied the privilege of mingling socially with the rest of their former caste.

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Theories about the origins of the system

According to the Aryan invasion theory, the caste system began with the arrival of the Aryans in India. The Aryans are said to have arrived in India around 1500 BC. The light skinned Indo-Aryans, according to this theory, arrived in India from Central Asia. The Aryan invaders, a primarily light-skinned people, were contemptuous of their subjects, who were dark. Before the Aryans there were other communities in India of other origins (see Indus Valley Civilization). Some of the most important of these are the Dravidian, the Mongol, the Austroloid and Tibeto-Burmese tribals. The Dravidians were the largest community in India, and are by some scholars identified as the bearers of the Indus Valley Civilization.

The Aryans organized among themselves in three groups. The others were designated as Dravidians. In this theory, the different Jats (sub-castes) who professed different occupations were integrated in different Varnas according to their occupation. Most of the communities that were in India before the arrival of the Aryans were integrated in the Sudra Varna or were made outcast depending on the professions of these communities. Communities who professed non-polluting jobs were integrated in Sudras Varna. And communities who professed polluting professions were made outcasts or untouchables.

Untouchables were not only disallowed to touch the high caste people but they also had to stand at a certain distance from the high castes.

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The status of untouchables

The untouchable (or Dalit) in Hindu Society was a person who worked in ignominious, "polluting" jobs dealing with the dead (animal and human), the collection and disposal of bodily waste, and other jobs that brought him/her into constant contact with what society considered 'disgusting'. These occupations, however, were not merely seen as something disgusting that nevertheless needed to be done: they were considered unclean and polluting towards the individual, and the thus-rendered polluted were considered unfit for physical or social contact with the non-polluted, "pure" sections of Society. Untouchables used to live separately within a separate subcultural context of their own, outside the inhabitated limits of villages and townships, made pariahs in every sense of the word. No other castes could, or would, interfere with their social life since untouchables were lower in social ranking than even those of the shudra varna--they were regarded so worthless in human importance they were not even considered part of the caste/varna system.

The untouchables were only allowed to wear clothing from off the bodies of the dead. In their home they ate from broken dishes. Untouchables suffered from extreme social restrictions. They were not allowed temple worship, nor water from the same sources. No person of a higher caste could interact with them. No untouchable could enter a temple if a person of a higher caste were within--and since priests of the temple, of the highest caste, were never absent, untouchables were in effect barred from entering temples, shrines, or any other kind of religious ground.

Untouchables were not allowed to use the same wells as the other castes; they weren't "pure" enough, and that would "pollute" the water and indirectly the other castes who drank it.

If somehow a member of a higher caste came into physical or social contact with an untouchable, the member of the higher caste was defiled, and had to wash her/himself repeatedly and engage in long and rigorous rituals to purge her/himself of the impurity. Such contact even included the shadow of an Untouchable falling on the member of the higher caste.

The inclusion of lower castes into the mainstream was argued for by Mahatma Gandhi who called them "Harijans" (people of God). The term Dalit is used now as the term Harijan is largely felt patronising.

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The varna system

Template:Main Varna ( वर्ण From Sanskrit, literally "kind") is a supposed unification of all the Hindu castes into either four groups: Kshatriya, Brahmin , Vaishya, Shudra, or into one of several varna-sankaras वर्ण संकर. The discrimination against lower castes is changing gradually. The best example of this social change was set by former Indian president Mr. K R Narayanan. For details, refer to the following URL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K.R._Narayanan


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See also

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Notable people

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Literature

  • Jervoise Athelstane Baines (1893). General report on the Census of India, 1891, London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office
  • G.S. Ghurye (1961). Caste, Class and Occupation. Popular Book Depot, Bombay.
  • E.A.H. Blunt (1931). The Caste System of Northern India, republished 1964, S. Chand, Delhi.
  • Crooke, William (1896). Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, 4 vols.
  • Russell, R.V. and R.B. Hira Lal (1916). The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, 4 vols., London.
  • Harikrishna Shastri (1871). Brahmanotpatti-martanda (Sanskrit/Hindi).
  • Jwalaprasd Mishra (1914). Jati Bhaskar, (Hindi).
  • Duiker/Spielvogel. The Essential World History Vol I: to 1800. 2nd Edition 2005
  • Ambedkar, B.R. (1946). The Untouchables: Who Were They and Why They Became Untouchables? as reprinted in Volume 7 of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, published by Government of Maharashtra 1990
  • Ambedkar, B.R. (1946) Who were the Shudras?.
  • Susan Bayly (2001), Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age, Paperback Edition, Cambridge University Press
  • Louis Dumont. Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste System and Its Implications. Complete English edition, revised. 540 p. 1970, 1980 Series: (Nature of Human Society)
  • Christophe Jaffrelot (2003). India's Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Lower Castes, C. Hurst & Co
  • Kane, Pandurang Vaman: History of Dharmasastra: (ancient and mediaeval, religious and civil law) -- Poona : Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1962-1975.
  • Murray Milner, Jr. (1994). Status and Sacredness: A General Theory of Status Relations and an Analysis of Indian Culture, New York: Oxford University Press
  • Ranganayakamma (2001). For the solution of the "Caste" question, Buddha is not enough, Ambedkar is not enough either, Marx is a must, Hyderabad : Sweet Home Publications
  • Alain Danielou (1976). Les Quatre Sens de la Vie, Paris
  • "Combatting Caste" New Internationalist, July 2005,
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External links

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