Caste

Definition

Sociologists have found the caste system a very difficult and complex phenomenon to describe because the idea of caste has evolved over time and functions differently in various parts of India. However, there are some common features to caste that are easily identified. These include the concepts of purity and pollution that govern interpersonal relationships, including occupation, food, kinship, marriage, and religious rituals. Certain castes are considered more pure than others, and Hindus are obligated to confine their relationships, especially those pertaining to marriage and food, to their particular caste groups. Although the caste system derives from Hinduism, it also informs the social organization of other religious groups in India, including Jains, Christians, and Muslims.

Indians use two terms, varna (color) and jati (kind), to describe the caste system. Varna refers to the ancient textual system of classifying individuals according to four groups: Brahmin (priests and scholars), Kshatriyas (warriors and soldiers), Vaisyas (traders), and Sudras (servants of the other three castes). Of these varnas, the first three are referred to as “twice-born” because the men undergo an initiation ceremony that grants them membership to their group. The jati system divides humans into different groups and enforces rules of endogamy, food, and occupation (although in contemporary India, people experience occupational mobility and are not always circumscribed by jati). While there are just four varnas, there are thousands of jatis in India.

History and Origins

Historians believe that the caste system came with the Aryans in the second millennium before Christ. The Aryans had three social groupings, the military, the priests, and the commoners, and struggles between the Aryans and the non-Aryans led to the latter being designated as belonging to the lowest (Shudra) caste or to the untouchable/Dalit (Ati-Shudra) castes. The rules of endogamy helped preserve distinctions between the social groups. At first, the military held the highest rank, but the growth of priestly power through ritual and knowledge changed the caste hierarchies. About 550 BC, the emergence of Buddhism challenged Brahmanical supremacy because Buddha preached that it was virtue, not birth, that determined one's place in society. The Brahmins struggled with the Buddhists for 12 centuries and regained their power only after the Kshatriyas were depleted by war and the Brahmins had accepted Buddhist principles into their philosophy.

The Rig Veda, an oral text of the Aryans considered sacred to all Hindus, created a myth of origin that helped script Brahminical supremacy. According to [Page 115]the Rig Veda, Brahmins came from the mouth of Purusa (cosmic man) and held authority for teaching, receiving alms, and performing sacrifices; the Kshatriyas came from the arms and had the duty to protect others; the Vaisyas came from the thighs and were to be engaged in trading and cultivation; and the Shudras emerged from the feet and were to serve all other castes. This mythical, textual description created a theory of social organization that in practice was much more complicated, with over a thousand jatis, each of which had its own rules.

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