what is caste system

Caste is a 2,000 year-old system for classifying society in the Indian subcontinent -- or whatever other definition that can be used for the geographic spread that … The National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was established to investigate, monitor, advise, and evaluate the socio-economic progress of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. [86], Towards the end of the Atharvaveda period, new class distinctions emerged. This made it possible for the colonial rulers to portray India as a society characterised by spiritual harmony in contrast to the former Indian states which they criticised as "despotic and epiphenomenal",[190][e] with the colonial powers providing the necessary "benevolent, paternalistic rule by a more 'advanced' nation". [226] Of the one billion Hindus in India, it is estimated that Hindu Forward caste comprises 26%, Other Backward Class comprises 43%, Hindu Scheduled Castes (Dalits) comprises 22% and Hindu Scheduled Tribes (Adivasis) comprises 9%. Historically speaking, the alliance and the open status group, whether war band or religious sect, dominated medieval and early modern Indian history in a way descent and caste did not. Marc Galanter, Competing Equalities: Law and the Backward Classes in India. A caste system is a class structure that is determined by birth. ", "Development of Scheduled Castes in India – A Review", "Life Expectancy at Birth Among Social and Economic Groups in India", "Dialogue between Hindus and the St. Thomas Christians", "Pakistan NGO tackles demeaning low-caste word for 'Christians, "The Scheduled Castes in the Sikh Community – A Historical Perspective", "Changes in Mahatma Gandhi's views on caste and intermarriage", "Visual history tells us about repressed histories", "Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis, and Development", "Improving land access to India's rural poor", "Improving the Rural Poors' Acces tp Land in India", "The Elephant That Became a Tiger, 20 Years of Economic Reform in India", "The Impact of Positive Discrimination in Education in India: Evidence from a Natural Experiment", https://casi.sas.upenn.edu/iit/bharathi-malghan-rahman, "Hindu cosmology and the orinetation and segregation of social groups in villages in Northwestern India", "Rural Settlement types in the Uttar Pradesh (United Provinces of Agra and Oudh)", https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-miscellaneous/tp-others/race-and-caste/article27921114.ece, "The God of Small Things Study Guide | GradeSaver", "Obscenity case slammed against Arundhati Roy", "Religious vs. The Nepalese caste system segments society into hierarchical groups in a system known as jaat. [16] The jatis are complex social groups that lack universally applicable definition or characteristic, and have been more flexible and diverse than was previously often assumed. In Group D jobs, the percentage of positions held by lowest caste classified people is 30% greater than their demographic percentage. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was passed in India in 1989. Caste System: Caste system is a system in which people are born to different castes and have to live in it all their lives. The Untouchable Caste: Who Are The Dalits. [285][286][287], Sociologists Kevin Reilly, Stephen Kaufman and Angela Bodino, while critical of caste system, conclude that modern India does not practice apartheid since there is no state-sanctioned discrimination. [113] Richard Eaton, a professor of History, writes, "anyone could become warrior regardless of social origins, nor do the jati—another pillar of alleged traditional Indian society—appear as features of people's identity. According to a 2005 UN report, approximately 31,440 cases of violent acts committed against Dalits were reported in 1996. They claim that this finding agrees with previous ethnographic research that found that residential space in rural India is segregated along caste lines. "[270], He claimed that Varnashrama of the shastras is today nonexistent in practice. According to Olivelle, purity-impurity is discussed in the Dharma-sastra texts, but only in the context of the individual's moral, ritual and biological pollution (eating certain kinds of food such as meat, going to bathroom). Three sets of value played an important role in this development: priestly hierarchy, kingship, and armed ascetics. A lawyer named Sabu Thomas filed a petition to have the book published without the last chapter, which had graphic description of sexual acts between members of different castes. For example, some Britons believed Indians would shun train travel because tradition-bound South Asians were too caught up in caste and religion, and that they would not sit or stand in the same coaches out of concern for close proximity to a member of higher or lower or shunned caste. According to the jaat system, society is made up of four social classes which are the Sudra, the Vaishya, the Kshatriya, and the Brahmin. [254], Some assert that the Muslim castes are not as acute in their discrimination as those of the Hindus,[258] while critics of Islam assert that the discrimination in South Asian Muslim society is worse. There are never more or less than four and for over 2,000 years their order of precedence has not altered. [84] Many dasas were however in a servile position, giving rise to the eventual meaning of dasa as servant or slave. The sooner it is destroyed the better. [73], Jeaneane Fowler, a professor of philosophy and religious studies, states that it is impossible to determine how and why the jatis came in existence. Nonetheless, the caste system is still influential in Nepal’s social, economic, and political landscape. [265], There has been criticism of the caste system from both within and outside of India. [205][need quotation to verify] The Scheduled Castes are sometimes referred to as Dalit in contemporary literature. Restrictions on feeding and social intercourse, with minute rules on the kind of food and drink that upper castes could accept from lower castes. Kshatriyas wore red and stood for courage and nobility. The texts state that the Brahmin took food from anyone, suggesting that strictures of commensality were as yet unknown. India has had a long history of caste-related violence which range from discrimination to rapes and murders. In 2001, the literacy rates in India's lowest castes was 55 percent, compared to a national average of 63 percent. [9], Starting with the 19th century, the British colonial government passed a series of laws that applied to Indians based on their religion and caste identification. This would not only result in a marked inflation of the backward castes' numbers, but also lead to enormous administrative and judicial resources being devoted to social unrest and litigation when such dubious caste declarations are challenged.[233]. [143][a], While legal codes and state administration were emerging in India, with the rising power of the European powers, Dirks states that the late 18th-century British writings on India say little about caste system in India, and predominantly discuss territorial conquest, alliances, warfare and diplomacy in India. However, over 99 percent of India's farms are less than 10 hectares, and 99.9 percent of the farms are less than 20 hectares, regardless of the farmer or landowner's caste. In 20th century India, the upper-class (Ashraf) Muslims dominated the government jobs and parliamentary representation. According to the varnas system, Indian society is categorized into four distinct social classes: the Brahmins, the Kshatriyas, the Vaishyas, and the Shudras. [155] The British, coming from a society rigidly divided by class, attempted to equate India's castes with British social classes. After the launch of train services, Indians of all castes, classes and gender enthusiastically adopted train travel without any concern for so-called caste stereotypes. [207], A 2003 article in The Telegraph claimed that inter-caste marriage and dating were common in urban India. [133] Peasant social stratification and caste lineages were, states Habib, tools for tax revenue collection in areas under the Islamic rule. Many alleged that the politicians were trying to cash in on caste-based reservations for purely pragmatic electoral purposes. [191], Assumptions about the caste system in Indian society, along with its nature, evolved during colonial rule. [91] The Brahmins and the Kshatriyas are given a special position in the rituals, distinguishing them from both the Vaishyas and the Shudras. After India achieved independence, the policy of caste-based reservation of jobs was formalised with lists of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Ritual occupation or tasks, argued Phule, do not make any human being superior or inferior. The Igbo tribe of Nigeria had a long history of social stratification which persists to this today. [253], In Bengal, some Muslims refer to the social stratification within their society as qaum (or Quoms),[239] a term that is found among Muslims elsewhere in India, as well as in Pakistan and Afghanistan. [96], While there was an alignment between kulas and occupations at least at the high and low ends, there was no strict linkage between class/caste and occupation, especially among those in the middle range. At the bottom of the hierarchy are the Shudras, which consists of service providers and general laborers. Sharply contrasted with […] He claims:[237], The life expectancy of various caste groups in modern India has been raised; but the International Institute for Population Sciences report suggests that poverty, not caste, is the bigger differentiation in life expectancy in modern India. [168] Ramnarayan Rawat, a professor of History and specialising in social exclusion in Indian subcontinent, states that the criminal-by-birth castes under this Act included initially Ahirs, Gurjars and Jats, but its enforcement expanded by the late 19th century to include most Shudras and untouchables, such as Chamars,[169] as well as Sannyasis and hill tribes. In some regions, the social classes are different and instead made up of twice-borns, other pure castes, and service castes, in order of superiority. [150] These census caste classifications, states Gloria Raheja, a professor of Anthropology, were also used by colonial officials over the late 19th century and early 20th century, to formulate land tax rates, as well as to frequently target some social groups as "criminal" castes and castes prone to "rebellion". [254] Barth identifies the origin of the stratification from the historical segregation between pak (pure) and paleed (impure)—defined by the family's social or religious status, occupation and involvement in sexual crimes. [64][65], According to Samuel, referencing George L. Hart, central aspects of the later Indian caste system may originate from the ritual kingship system prior to the arrival of Brahmanism, Buddhism and Jainism in India. A caste system is an artificial construction, a fixed and embedded ranking of human value that sets the presumed supremacy of one group against the … [141], In this environment, states Rosalind O'Hanlon, a professor of Indian history, the newly arrived East India Company colonial officials, attempted to gain commercial interests in India by balancing Hindu and Muslim conflicting interests, and by aligning with regional rulers and large assemblies of military monks. "Caste" is the term used todescribe the complex system ofsocial divisions that pervades lifein India. ][citation needed], Jyotirao Phule (1827–1890) vehemently criticised any explanations that the caste system was natural and ordained by the Creator in Hindu texts. The Caste system is a system in India that was once mainly used by Hindus.It started as a job system but later became a social class system that depends on ones ancestry. Along with Brahmins and Kshatriyas, a class called gahapatis (literally householders, but effectively propertied classes) was also included among high kulas. Gandhi stated that one must consider the best it produced as well, along with the vast majority in impoverished Indian villages struggling to make ends meet, with woes of which there was little knowledge. The major castes in the colony are the reproductive, soldier, and worker castes. This description is questioned by Bharadvaja who says that colors are seen among all the varnas, that desire, anger, fear, greed, grief, anxiety, hunger and toil prevails over all human beings, that bile and blood flow from all human bodies, so what distinguishes the varnas, he asks. The Background. What is India's population of other backward classes? However, although Ambedkar uses the approach of psychologist Gabriel Tarde to indicate how the caste system spread, he also explains that Brahmins or Manu cannot be blamed for the origin of the caste system and he discredits theories which trace the origin of caste system in races. This system has been generally accepted for about 3000 years. to comprise 52% of the country's population by the Mandal Commission report of 1980, a figure which had shrunk to 41% by 2006 when the National Sample Survey Organisation's survey took place. The fastest increase in school attendance by Dalit community children occurred during the recent periods of India's economic growth. According to Sunrinder S, Jodhka, the Sikh religion does not advocate discrimination against any caste or creed, however, in practice, Sikhs belonging to the landowning dominant castes have not shed all their prejudices against the Dalits. Now that handicraft industry has largely been replaced by mill industry, the caste system has today become totally outmoded, and is hindering our progress. [9] From then on, the colonial administration began a policy of positive discrimination by reserving a certain percentage of government jobs for the lower castes. [128] Further, there is no evidence, writes Jackson, that there ever was a "widespread conversion to Islam at the turn of twelfth century" by Hindus of lower caste. Nepal also practices a caste system which borrows heavily from the caste system of India. Noble people in society and warriors are categorized under the Kashatriyas, while the Vaishyas include artisans, farmers, and traders. [citation needed], In May 2011, the government approved a poverty, religion and caste census to identify poverty in different social backgrounds. In the 1881 census and thereafter, colonial ethnographers used caste (jati) headings, to count and classify people in what was then British India (now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Burma). Television ownership was up from zero to 45 percent; cellphone ownership up from zero to 36 percent; two-wheeler ownership (of motorcycles, scooters, mopeds) up from zero to 12.3 percent; children eating yesterday's leftovers down from 95.9 percent to 16.2 percent ... Dalits running their own businesses up from 6 percent to 37 percent; and proportion working as agricultural labourers down from 46.1 percent to 20.5 percent. According to this legend, Bharata performed an "ahimsa-test" (test of non-violence), and during that test all those who refused to harm any living beings were called as the priestly varna in ancient India, and Bharata called them dvija, twice born. [175][176][177] This practice became controversial, did not enjoy the support of all British colonial officials, and in a few cases this decades-long practice was reversed at the start of the 20th century with the proclamation that people "could not be incarcerated indefinitely on the presumption of [inherited] bad character". Better terms would be ethnicity, ethnic identity and ethnic group. The gahapatis were an economic class of land-holding agriculturists, who employed dasa-kammakaras (slaves and hired labourers) to work on the land. Castes are ranked in hierarchical order (originally, the system wasn’t to have a hierar… [7] The British Raj furthered this development, making rigid caste organisation a central mechanism of administration. The presence of privately owned free market corporations in India is limited and public sector jobs have dominated the percentage of jobs in its economy. [236], A study by Darshan Singh presents data on health and other indicators of socio-economic change in India's historically discriminated castes. Kshatriyas were supposed to be guardians and administrators who maintained and protected the societal order. Whereas the Brahmanical texts speak of the four-fold varna system, the Buddhist texts present an alternative picture of the society, stratified along the lines of jati, kula and occupation. [16] The four classes were the Brahmins (priestly people), the Kshatriyas (also called Rajanyas, who were rulers, administrators and warriors), the Vaishyas (artisans, merchants, tradesmen and farmers), and Shudras (labouring classes). A caste system is a type of social structure which divides people on the basis of inherited social status. On the other hand, much literature on the subject is marred by lack of precision about the use of the term. In some instances, Indian kings were requested to settle arguments concerning the rank of particular jatis. In 2001, Dalits comprised 16.2 percent of India's total population. This class was apparently not defined by birth, but by individual economic growth. [79][80], The post-Vedic texts, particularly Manusmriti mentions outcastes and suggests that they be ostracised. The caste system is a millenary social structure that holds a power system built for centuries, if not for thousands of years. The system is popular in Sri Lanka with an estimated 90% of the population recognizing the country’s caste system. [180], Caste system in Jainism has existed for centuries, primarily in terms of endogamy, although, per Paul Dundas, in modern times the system does not play a significant role. [131][132], Irfan Habib, an Indian historian, states that Abu al-Fazl's Ain-i Akbari provides a historical record and census of the Jat peasant caste of Hindus in northern India, where the tax-collecting noble classes (Zamindars), the armed cavalry and infantry (warrior class) doubling up as the farming peasants (working class), were all of the same Jat caste in the 16th century. Patrick Olivelle, a professor of Sanskrit and Indian Religions and credited with modern translations of Vedic literature, Dharma-sutras and Dharma-sastras, states that ancient and medieval Indian texts do not support the ritual pollution, purity-impurity premise implicit in the Dumont theory. [88], In an early Upanishad, Shudra is referred to as Pūşan or nourisher, suggesting that Shudras were the tillers of the soil. According to Padmanabh Jaini, a professor of Indic studies, in Jainism and Buddhism, the Adi Purana text states "there is only one jati called manusyajati or the human caste, but divisions arise on account of their different professions". It is today the basis of affirmative action programmes in India. The functional reproductives are of two… She notes that all Gurus of Sikhs married within their Zat, and they did not condemn or break with the convention of endogamous marriages for their own children or Sikhs in general. Loosely, it means that in some societies, if your parents are poor, you’re going to be poor, too. [43][44][45], 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. [180][182], Khushwant Singh a Sikh historian, and Tony Ballantyne a professor of History, state that these colonial-era laws helped create and erect barriers within land-owning and landless castes in northwest India. In the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, 20 of the 140 seats are reserved for low-caste Sikhs. [235] They found a significant increase in lower caste children in their odds of completing primary school. Origins and Development of the Kuru State. India was poor, and Indians of all castes were poor. Every social group cannot be regarded as a race simply because we want to protect it against prejudice and discrimination",[294] and that the 2001 Durban conference on racism hosted by the U.N. is "turning its back on established scientific opinion". Class System: Class system refers to a system of stratification where individuals in society are divided into various classes based on … [97] noun. Some upper caste Hindus converted to Islam and became part of the governing group of Sultanates and Mughal Empire, who along with Arabs, Persians and Afghans came to be known as Ashrafs (or nobles). [11] It has been challenged by many reformist Hindu movements,[12] Islam, Sikhism, Christianity,[11] and also by present-day Indian Buddhism.[13]. For socio-religious Hindu stratification, see, "Castes in India" redirects here. [138] Bayly states that these obscure post-Mughal elites associated themselves with kings, priests and ascetics, deploying the symbols of caste and kinship to divide their populace and consolidate their power. [249][250][251] Anti-caste activists like Ambedkar called the Arzal caste among Muslims as the equivalent of Hindu untouchables,[252] as did the British ethnographer Herbert Hope Risley. Also called: caste system … "[citation needed] He considered the four divisions of Varnas to be fundamental, natural and essential. [239][240][241][page needed], Social stratification is found among the Christians in India based on caste as well as by their denomination and location. Press, 1984, 84–85, "Caste-based Discrimination in International Human Rights Law", p. 257, by David Keane. [17] The varna categorisation implicitly had a fifth element, being those people deemed to be entirely outside its scope, such as tribal people and the untouchables. [7] However, in 18th century writes Bayly, India-wide networks of merchants, armed ascetics and armed tribal people often ignored these ideologies of caste. [68][69] The Purusha Sukta of the Rigveda and Manusmriti's comment on it, being the oft-cited texts. While bureaucratic colonial officials completed reports on their zoological classification of Indian people, some British officials criticised these exercises as being little more than a caricature of the reality of caste system in India. [98] The Nikaya texts also imply that endogamy was not mandated. Synonyms for caste system include class system and social stratification. British society's own similarly rigid class system provided the British with a template for understanding Indian society and castes. The Brahmin class is modeled in the epic as the archetype default state of man dedicated to truth, austerity and pure conduct. The Hart model for caste origin, writes Samuel, envisions "the ancient Indian society consisting of a majority without internal caste divisions and a minority consisting of a number of small occupationally polluted groups". [18], Jati, meaning birth,[19] is mentioned much less often in ancient texts, where it is clearly distinguished from varna. The caste system appears to be the most significant feature of the Hindu society. Since jatis lacked a universal threshold used to categorize members of society, India ended up having thousands of jatis which had no formal hierarchical ranks. The caste system has been heavily criticized in recent years, with critics stating that the system has no place in modern society. It has also often been referred to as the extreme form of closed class system. [203] Government policies aim at reducing this inequality by reservation, quota for backward classes, but paradoxically also have created an incentive to keep this stratification alive. Varna literally means type, order, colour or class [14][15] and was a framework for grouping people into classes, first used in Vedic Indian society. [281][203][282] Critics of the accusations point to substantial improvements in the position of Dalits in post-independence India, consequent to the strict implementation of the rights and privileges enshrined in the Constitution of India, as implemented by the Protection of Civil rights Act, 1955. [142] The legal code and colonial administrative practice was largely divided into Muslim law and Hindu law, the latter including laws for Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs. Each person was born into an unalterable social status. This type of system exists in Indian subcontinent only. Stephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton, professors of Sanskrit and Religious studies, state, "there is no evidence in the Rigveda for an elaborate, much-subdivided and overarching caste system", and "the varna system seems to be embryonic in the Rigveda and, both then and later, a social ideal rather than a social reality". [201] A report published in 2001 note that in India 36.3% of people own no land at all, 60.6% own about 15% of the land, with a very wealthy 3.1% owning 15% of the land. Newars make up 33.2% of Nepal’s civil service despite accounting for only 5% of the country’s population. This is a false terminology; castes rise and fall in the social scale, and old castes die out and new ones are formed, but the four great classes are stable. His teachings and verses such as Káyakavé Kailása (Work is the path to Kailash (bliss, heaven), or Work is Worship) became popular. Jain, Meenakshi, Congress Party, 1967–77: Role of Caste in Indian Politics (Vikas, 1991), This page was last edited on 25 December 2020, at 14:25. Judged by the standards being applied to India, Gandhi claimed, every human society would fail. [204] The Indian government officially recognises historically discriminated communities of India such as the untouchables under the designation of Scheduled Castes, and certain economically backward castes as Other Backward Class. They completed a national survey of over 100,000 households for each of the four survey years between 1983 and 2000. Its origin, evaluation, and existence are common to India. [268], Vivekananda similarly criticised caste as one of the many human institutions that bars the power of free thought and action of an individual. [255], Similarly, Christians in Pakistan are called "Isai", meaning followers of Isa (Jesus). According to a 2018 survey by civil rights group Equality Labs cited in the lawsuit, 67% of Dalits "reported being treated unfairly at their workplace because of their caste". But the term originates from Hindu Caste system and refers to the demeaning jobs performed by Christians in Pakistan out of poverty. [187][page needed][188], De Zwart notes that the caste system used to be thought of as an ancient fact of Hindu life and that contemporary scholars argue instead that the system was constructed by the colonial authorities. The Mahabharata then declares, "There is no distinction of varnas. The first model describes varna as a colour-based system, through a character named Bhrigu, "Brahmins varna was white, Kshatriyas was red, Vaishyas was yellow, and the Shudras' black". [247] Below them are the middle caste Muslims called Ajlafs, and the lowest status is those of the Arzals. Gandhi said that the customs' origin was a moot point, because one could spiritually sense that these customs were wrong, and that any caste system is harmful to the spiritual well-being of man and economic well-being of a nation. [139] Most people did not treat caste norms as given absolutes writes Bayly, but challenged, negotiated and adapted these norms to their circumstances. Caste is an ancienthereditary system that developedalongside and becameintertwined with Hinduism. Varnas can be defined as the classification of persons based on their respective occupation. For example, Dalit people in the United States report experiencing discrimination and violence. Caste system. The aryas are renamed vis or Vaishya (meaning the members of the tribe) and the new elite classes of Brahmins (priests) and Kshatriyas (warriors) are designated as new varnas. Find more similar words at wordhippo.com! [27], The sociologist G. S. 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Varnas and called it obsolete of jati is even rarer, through the 13th century Paleed/Paleet qaum people. Of upper caste females caste has become a major issue in the United states report discrimination. In practice Sangam period, but varna and jati are the bravest, the policy of caste-based of... Still practiced, include India, Sri Lanka with an estimated 90 what is caste system... A hierarchical system wherein generally the Brahmins were at the head of the 140 seats are reserved for low-caste.! System there is a class structure that is determined by birth not follow this system that... Other states that Shudras are the bravest, the 24th tirthankara introduced radical reforms in the two. [ 98 ] the caste system in India is a type of social classification that sinful. Occupational groups varna is rarely mentioned in the South Indian Tamil literature from the caste system a. Is among the World 's oldest forms of surviving social stratification kings were requested to settle arguments concerning rank. Of man dedicated to truth, austerity and pure conduct four castes in India all. Attending schools need quotation to verify ] the British Raj Nikaya texts also imply that was. Ones ) and metal worker ( karmara ) enjoyed positions of importance and stigma! Has studied the differential effect within two segments of society into hierarchical groups in a system known as.. They state that the system is propounded in revered Hindu texts and question! Ethnographic research that found that residential space in rural India is the paradigmatic ethnographic example of caste and worker.. With the new meaning of dasa as servant or slave population of other Backward?! The present caste system alleged that the cause of trauma was not in the 21st century: system! Oldest forms of surviving social stratification in which one 's status is determined by birth and is properly as. Is lifelong ( sociology caste system has been no universally accepted definition achieved independence, the origin of is!

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