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Caste System in India – Origin, Features, and Problems

LAST UPDATED ON MARCH 3, 2019 BY CLEAR IAS TEAM

The caste system is one of the unique features in Indian Society. Its root can
be traced back to thousands of years.

Jana → Jati → Caste

The word caste derives from the Spanish and Portuguese “casta”, means
“race, lineage, or breed”. Portuguese employed casta in the modern sense
when they applied it to hereditary Indian social groups called as ‘jati’ in India.
‘Jati’ originates from the root word ‘Jana’ which implies taking birth. Thus,
caste is concerned with birth.
According to Anderson and Parker, “Caste is that extreme form of social class
organization in which the position of individuals in the status hierarchy is
determined by descent and birth.”

How did Caste System originate in India: Various Theories

There are many theories like traditional, racial, political, occupational,

evolutionary etc which try to explain the caste system in India.

1.Traditional Theory

According to this theory, the caste system is of divine origin. It says the caste
system is an extension of the varna system, where the 4 varnas originated
from the body of Bramha.

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At the top of the hierarchy were the Brahmins who were mainly teachers and
intellectuals and came from Brahma’s head. Kshatriyas, or the warriors and
rulers, came from his arms. Vaishyas, or the traders, were created from his
thighs. At the bottom were the Shudras, who came from Brahma’s feet. The
mouth signifies its use for preaching, learning etc, the arms – protections,
thighs – to cultivate or business, feet – helps the whole body, so the duty of
the Shudras is to serve all the others. The sub-castes emerged later due to
intermarriages between the 4 varnas.

The proponents of this theory cite Purushasukta of Rigveda, Manusmriti etc to

support their stand.

2. Racial Theory

The Sanskrit word for caste is varna which means colour. The caste
stratification of the Indian society had its origin in the chaturvarna system –
Brahmins, Kashtriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. Indian sociologist D.N.
Majumdar writes in his book, “Races and Culture in India”, the caste system
took its birth after the arrival of Aryans in India.

Rig Vedic literature stresses very significantly the differences between the
Arya and non-Aryans (Dasa), not only in their complexion but also in their
speech, religious practices, and physical features.

The Varna system prevalent during the Vedic period was mainly based on

division of labour and occupation. The three classes, Brahma, Kshatra and Vis
are frequently mentioned in the Rig Veda. Brahma and Kshatra represented
the poet-priest and the warrior-chief. Vis comprised all the common people.
The name of the fourth class, the ‘Sudra’, occurs only once in the Rig Veda.
The Sudra class represented domestic servants.
3. Political Theory

According to this theory, the caste system is a clever device invented by the
Brahmins in order to place themselves on the highest ladder of social
hierarchy.

Dr. Ghurye states, “Caste is a Brahminic child of Indo-Aryan culture cradled in

the land of the Ganges and then transferred to other parts of India.”

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The Brahmins even added the concept of spiritual merit of the king, through
the priest or purohit in order to get the support of the ruler of the land.

4. Occupational Theory

Caste hierarchy is according to the occupation. Those professions which were

regarded as better and respectable made the persons who performed them
superior to those who were engaged in dirty professions.

According to Newfield, “Function and function alone is responsible for the

origin of caste structure in India.” With functional differentiation there came in
occupational differentiation and numerous sub-castes such as
Lohar(blacksmith), Chamar(tanner), Teli(oil-pressers).

5. Evolution Theory

According to this theory, the caste system did not come into existence all of a
sudden or at a particular date. It is the result of a long process of social
evolution.
  Hereditary occupations;
 The desire of the Brahmins to keep themselves pure;
 The lack of rigid unitary control of the state;
 The unwillingness of rulers to enforce a uniform standard of law
and custom
 The ‘Karma’ and ‘Dharma’ doctrines also explain the origin of caste
system. Whereas the Karma doctrine holds the view that a man is
born in a particular caste because of the result of his action in the
previous incarnation, the doctrine of Dharma explains that a man
who accepts the caste system and the principles of the caste to
which he belongs, is living according to Dharma. Confirmation to
one’s own dharma also remits on one’s birth in the rich high caste
and violation gives a birth in a lower and poor caste.
 Ideas of exclusive family, ancestor worship, and the sacramental
meal;
 Clash of antagonistic cultures particularly of the patriarchal and
the matriarchal systems;
 Clash of races, colour prejudices and conquest;
 Deliberate economic and administrative policies followed by
various conquerors
 Geographical isolation of the Indian peninsula;
 Foreign invasions;
 Rural social structure.

Note: It is from the post-Vedic period, the old distinction of Arya and Sudra
appears as Dvija and Sudra, The first three classes are called Dvija (twice-
born) because they have to go through the initiation ceremony which is
symbolic of rebirth. “The Sudra was called “ekajati” (once born).

Note: Caste system developed on rigid lines post Mauryan period, especially

after the establishment of Sunga dynasty by Pushyamitra Sunga (184 BC).
This dynasty was an ardent patron of ‘Brahminism’. Through Manusmriti,
Brahmins once again succeeded in organizing the supremacy and imposed
severe restrictions on the Sudras. Manusmriti mentioned that, ‘the Sudra, who
insults a twice-born man, shall have his tongue cut out’.
Note: Chinese scholar Hieun Tsang, who visited India in 630 AD , writes that,
“Brahminism dominated the country, caste ruled the social structure and the
persons following unclean occupations like butchers, scavengers had to live
outside the city”.

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Principal features of caste system in India

1. Segmental Division of Society: The society is divided into various

small social groups called castes. Each of these castes is a well
 developed social group, the membership of which is determined by
the consideration of birth.
2. Hierarchy: According to Louis Dumont, castes teach us a
fundamental social principle of hierarchy. At the top of this
hierarchy is the Brahmin caste and at the bottom is the
untouchable caste. In between are the intermediate castes, the
relative positions of which are not always clear.
3. Endogamy: Endogamy is the chief characteristic of caste, i.e. the
members of a caste or sub-caste should marry within their own
caste or sub-caste. The violation of the rule of endogamy would
mean ostracism and loss of caste. However, hypergamy (the
practice of women marrying someone who is wealthier or of higher
caste or social status.) and hypogamy (marriage with a person of
lower social status) were also prevalent. Gotra exogamy is also
maintained in each caste. Every caste is subdivided into different
small units on the basis of gotra. The members of one gotra are
believed to be successors of a common ancestor-hence
prohibition of marriage within the same gotra.
4. Hereditary status and occupation: Megasthenes, the Greek
traveller to India in 300 B. C., mentions hereditary occupation as
one of the two features of caste system, the other being
endogamy.
5. Restriction on Food and Drink: Usually a caste would not accept
cooked food from any other caste that stands lower than itself in
the social scale, due to the notion of getting polluted. There were
also variously associated taboos related to food. The cooking
taboo, which defines the persons who may cook the food. The
eating taboo which may lay down the ritual to be followed at
meals. The commensal taboo which is concerned with the person
with whom one may take food. Finally, the taboo which has to do
with the nature of the vessel (whether made of earth, copper or
brass) that one may use for drinking or cooking. For eg: In North
India Brahmin would accept pakka food (cooked in ghee) only from
some castes lower than his own. However, no individual would
accept kachcha(cooked in water) food prepared by an inferior
caste. Food prepared by Brahmin is acceptable to all, the reason
 for which domination of Brahmins in the hotel industry for a long
time. The beef was not allowed by any castes, except harijans.
6. A Particular Name: Every caste has a particular name though
which we can identify it. Sometimes, an occupation is also
associated with a particular caste.
7.  The Concept of Purity and Pollution: The higher castes claimed to
have ritual, spiritual and racial purity which they maintained by
keeping the lower castes away through the notion of pollution. The
idea of pollution means a touch of lower caste man would pollute
or defile a man of higher caste. Even his shadow is considered
enough to pollute a higher caste man.
8. Jati Panchayat: The status of each caste is carefully protected, not
only by caste laws but also by the conventions. These are openly
enforced by the community through a governing body or board
called Jati Panchayat. These Panchayats in different regions and
castes are named in a particular fashion such as Kuldriya in
Madhya Pradesh and Jokhila in South Rajasthan.

Varna vs Caste – The difference

Varna and caste are 2 different concepts, though some people wrongly
consider it the same.

Literally ‘Varna’ means

colour and originates from Caste or ‘Jati’ originates

the world ‘Vri’ meaning the from the root word ‘Jana’

choice of one’s occupation. which implies taking birth.

Hence Varna is concerned Thus, caste is concerned

with one’s colour or with birth.

occupation.

Varna’s are only four in Castes are very large in

 number. Castes also have
number i.e. Brahmin,
many subdivisions known as
Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra
sub-castes.

Presence of regional
 It is an all-India
variations mostly based on
phenomenon
linguistic differences.

Mobility pattern Varna’s are

It is based on rigid principles
relatively flexible with one’s
and mobility is less. It is a
talent and knowledge,
closed type of stratification
compared with the castes.

Varna system is free from  Imposes many restrictions

socio-economic and political on the members.

disabilities  

Caste-class correlation is not

always positive, There may

Varna-class correlation is be variations in the

mostly positive placement due to economic,

political arid educational

status of various groups.

Functions of the caste system

1. It continued the traditional social organization of India.

2. It has accommodated multiple communities by ensuring each of
them a monopoly of a specific means of livelihood.
3. Provided social security and social recognition to individuals. It is
the individual’s caste that canalizes his choice in marriage, plays
the roles of the state-club, the orphanage and the benefits society.
Besides, it also provides him with health insurance benefits. It even
provides for his funeral.
4. It has handed over the knowledge and skills of the hereditary
occupation of a caste from one generation to another, which has
helped the preservation of culture and ensured productivity.
5. Caste plays a crucial role in the process of socialization by
teaching individuals the culture and traditions, values and norms of
their society.
6. It has also led to interdependent interaction between different
castes, through jajmani relationships. Caste acted as a trade union
and protected its members from the exploitation.
7. Promoted political stability, as Kshatriyas were generally protected
from political competition, conflict and violence by the caste
system.
8. Maintained racial purity through endogamy.
9. Specialization led to quality production of goods and thus
promoted economic development. For eg: Many handicraft items
of India gained international recognition due to this.
Dysfunctions of the caste system

1. The caste system is a check on economic and intellectual

advancement and a great stumbling block in the way of social
reforms because it keeps economic and intellectual opportunities
confined to a certain section of the population only.
2. It undermines the efficiency of labour and prevents perfect mobility
of labour, capital and productive effort
3. It perpetuates the exploitation of the economically weaker and
socially inferior castes, especially the untouchables.
4. It has inflicted untold hardships on women through its insistence
on practices like child-marriage, prohibition of widow-remarriage,
seclusion of women etc.
5. It opposes real democracy by giving a political monopoly to
Kshatriyas in the past and acting as a vote bank in the present
political scenario. There are political parties which solely represent
a caste. eg: BSP was formed by Kanshi Ram mainly to represent
SC, ST and OBC.
 6. It has stood in the way of national and collective consciousness
and proved to be a disintegrating rather than an integrating factor.
Caste conflicts are widely prevalent in politics, reservation in jobs
and education, inter-caste marriages etc. eg: Demand for Jat
reservation, agitation by Patidar community.
7. It has given scope for religious conversion. The lower caste people
are getting converted into Islam and Christianity due to the tyranny
of the upper castes.
8. The caste system by compelling an individual to act strictly in
accordance with caste norms stands in the way of modernization,
by opposing change.

Is the caste system unique to India?

The caste system is found in other countries like Nepal, Pakistan and Sri
Lanka. Caste-like systems are also found in countries like Indonesia, China,
Korea, Yemen and certain countries in Africa, Europe as well.

But what distinguishes Indian caste system from the rest is the core theme of
purity and pollution, which is either peripheral or negligible in other similar
systems of the world. In Yemen, there exists a hereditary caste, Al-
Akhdam who are kept as perennial manual workers. Burakumin in Japan,
originally members of outcast communities in the Japanese feudal era,
includes those with occupations considered impure or tainted by death.

However, India is unique in some aspects.

1. India has had a cultural continuity that no other civilization has

had. The ancient systems, religions, cultures of other civilizations
have been mostly gone. In India, history is present and even the
external empires mostly co-opted the system rather than changing
them.
2. The caste has been merged into a modern religion, making it hard
to remove.
3. India has integrated multiple systems more easily. What is known
as “caste” in Portuguese/English is actually made of 3 distinct
 components – jati, jana, varna.  Jati is an occupational
identification. Jana is an ethnic identification. Varna is a
philosophical identification. These have been more tightly merged
over the centuries.
4. In the world’s most transformative period – of the past 3 centuries,
India spent most of it under European colonialism. Thus, India lost
a lot of time changing. Most of the changes to the system came
only in 1950 when India became a republic.

To summarize theoretically, caste as a cultural phenomenon (i.e., as a matter

of ideology or value system) is found only in India while when it is viewed as a
structural phenomenon, it is found in other societies too.

There are four sociological approaches to caste by distinguishing between the

two levels of theoretical formulation, i.e., cultural and structural, and
universalistic and particularistic. These four approaches are cultural-
universalistic, cultural-particularistic, structural- universalistic and structural-
particularistic.

 Structural-particularistic view of caste has maintained that the

caste system is restricted to the Indian society
 Structural-universalistic category holds that caste in India is a
general phenomenon of a closed form of social stratification found
across the world.
 The third position of sociologists like Ghurye who treat caste as a
cultural universalistic phenomenon maintains that caste-like
cultural bases of stratification are found in most traditional
societies. Caste in India is a special form of status-based social
stratification. This viewpoint was early formulated by Max Weber.
 The cultural-particularistic view is held by Louis Dumont who holds
that caste is found only in India.

Is the caste system unique to Hinduism?

Caste-based differences are practised in other religions like Nepalese

Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism. But the main difference
is – caste system in Hinduism is mentioned in its scriptures while other
religions adopted casteism as a part of socialization or religious conversions.
In other words, the caste system in Hinduism is a religious institution while it
is social in others.

As a general rule, higher castes converts became higher castes in other

religions while lower caste converts acquired lower caste positions.

 Islam – 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. Below them are the middle caste Muslims calledAjlafs,
and the lowest status is those of the
 Christianity – In Goa, Hindu converts became
Christian Bamonns while Kshatriya and Vaishya became Christian
noblemen called Chardos. Those Vaishya who could not get
admitted into the Chardo caste became Gauddos,
and Shudras became Sudirs. Dalits who converted to Christianity
became Mahars and Chamars
 Buddhism  –  various forms of the caste system are practised in
several Buddhist countries, mainly in Sri Lanka, Tibet, and Japan
where butchers, leather and metal workers and janitors are
sometimes regarded as being impure.
 Jainism – There are Jain castes wherein all the members of a
particular caste are Jains. At the same time, there have been Jain
divisions of several Hindu castes.
 Sikhism – Sikh literature mentionVarna as Varan, and Jati as Zat.
Eleanor Nesbitt, a professor of Religion, states that the Varan is
described as a class system, while Zat has some caste system
features in Sikh literature.  All Gurus of Sikhs married within
their Zat, and they did not condemn or break with the convention of
endogamous marriages.
Caste Divisions – The future?

The caste system in India is undergoing changes due to progress in

education, technology, modernization and changes in general social outlook.
In spite of the general improvement in conditions of the lower castes, India
has still a long way to go, to root out the evils of the caste system from the
society.

References:

1. http://www.sociologyguide.com
2. Sociology for Nurses by Shama Lohumi
3. Indian Social system by Ram Ahuja