Caste and the Caste System

• Caste is an ancient social institution in India, part of its history and culture for thousands of years.

• Caste continues to exist in contemporary Indian society.

• There is a question of how the historical caste system relates to the present-day caste system.

• The passage aims to explore the similarities and differences between caste in India’s past and caste in modern India.

Caste in the Past

• Caste is an institution uniquely associated with the Indian subcontinent, though similar social arrangements exist elsewhere, the exact form is unique to India.

• While characteristic of Hindu society, caste has spread to non-Hindu communities including Muslims, Christians, and Sikhs.

• The English word ‘caste’ comes from the Portuguese ‘casta’, meaning pure breed.

• In Indian languages, caste is referred to as varna and jati:

  • Varna means “colour” and divides society into Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra, excluding outcastes/panchamas/fifth category.

  • Jati refers to species or kinds, and is the term most commonly used for caste in practice.

• Varna is a broad all-India classification, while jati is a regional or local sub-classification, often involving hundreds or thousands of castes and sub-castes.

• The four-varna classification is roughly three thousand years old, originating in the late Vedic period (900–500 BC).

• In the early phase, varna divisions were not rigid or hereditary, and movement across categories was possible.

• In the post-Vedic period, caste became a rigid hereditary institution.

• Defining features of caste:

  1. Determined by birth; one cannot choose or change caste.

  2. Endogamy: marriage restricted within the caste.

  3. Rules about food and food-sharing, specifying what can be eaten and with whom.

  4. Hierarchy of castes: every caste has a specific rank and status, varying regionally.

  5. Segmental organisation: castes have sub-castes, sometimes with multiple layers.

  6. Hereditary occupations: caste-linked occupations passed from generation to generation; exclusive to each caste.

• Ancient scriptural prescriptions often involved prohibitions and restrictions; actual practice may have varied.

• Caste was historically very unequal: upper castes had high status, while lower castes faced endless labor and subordination.

• Once caste became rigid by birth, social mobility was virtually impossible.

• The caste system combines two principles: difference/separation and wholism/hierarchy:

  • Each caste is different and separated, with rules to prevent mixing (marriage, food, occupation).

  • Castes exist only in relation to the societal whole and form a hierarchical system.

• Hierarchy is based on ‘purity’ and ‘pollution’:

  • Ritually pure castes have high status.

  • Ritually impure castes have low status.

  • Material power (economic/military) is closely linked to social status; defeated groups often assigned low caste.

• Castes are complementary and non-competing groups; each caste has a fixed place in the system.

• Linked with occupation, the caste system functions as a social division of labour, allowing no mobility in principle.