castes in hinduism

[7] However, in 18th century writes Bayly, India-wide networks of merchants, armed ascetics and armed tribal people often ignored these ideologies of caste. [262] In theory, Nesbitt states Sikh literature does not recognise caste hierarchy or differences. The presence of lowest caste people in highest paying, senior-most position jobs in India has increased by ten-fold, from 1.18 percent of all jobs in 1959 to 10.12 percent of all jobs in 1995. [175] The criminal-by-birth laws against targeted castes was enforced until the mid-20th century, with an expansion of criminal castes list in west and south India through the 1900s to 1930s. For socio-religious Hindu stratification, see, "Castes in India" redirects here. [128] Jackson states that, contrary to the theoretical model of caste where Kshatriyas only could be warriors and soldiers, historical evidence confirms that Hindu warriors and soldiers during the medieval era included other castes such as Vaishyas and Shudras. From 1901 onwards, for the purposes of the Decennial Census, the British classified all Jātis into one or the other of the Varnacategories as described in ancient texts. Evidence shows, according to Eaton, that Shudras were part of the nobility, and many "father and sons had different professions, suggesting that social status was earned, not inherited" in the Hindu Kakatiya population in the Deccan region between the 11th and 14th centuries. Vedas are the anchor texts in Hinduism. [51], Sociologist Anne Waldrop observes that while outsiders view the term caste as a static phenomenon of stereotypical tradition-bound India, empirical facts suggest caste has been a radically changing feature. [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. "[d] According to Dirks, before colonial rule caste affiliation was quite loose and fluid, but colonial rule enforced caste affiliation rigorously, and constructed a much more strict hierarchy than existed previously, with some castes being criminalised and others being given preferential treatment. But a recent authoritative survey revealed striking improvements in living standards of dalits in the last two decades. Introduction to Hindu caste system: The caste system is a system, which decides a person’s social status and trade by his/her birth. 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. Indian societal and family relationships are changing because of female literacy and education, women at work, urbanisation, the need for two-income families, and global influences through television. [133] Peasant social stratification and caste lineages were, states Habib, tools for tax revenue collection in areas under the Islamic rule. [148] The 1891 census included 60 sub-groups each subdivided into six occupational and racial categories, and the number increased in subsequent censuses. The caste system has been criticised by many Indian social reformers. [46][47] Graham Chapman and others have reiterated the complexity, and they note that there are differences between theoretical constructs and the practical reality. Moreover, tribes, guilds, or religious communities characterized by particular customs—for example, the Lingayats—could easily be regarded as castes. The first caste is the Brahmins, which are teachers and priests, people that deal with knowledge and information. [275][non-primary source needed], Many political parties in India have indulged in caste-based votebank politics. It was created formerly by Brahma, came to be classified by acts. 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). In 1956 B.R. Householders and renunciants offer each other mutual benefits, with the former dispensing material substance to the theoretically propertyless holy men and women while the latter dispense religious merit and spiritual guidance in return. [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. The Kshatriyas are a caste that gathers warriors, rulers, and different officials. The Shudras were not only the erstwhile dasas but also included the aboriginal tribes that were assimilated into the Aryan society as it expanded into Gangetic settlements. One states that Shudras are the bravest, the other states that Shudras are the purest. 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. Brahmans and Kshatriya themselves contrast in that the former are the priests, while the latter have the actual dominion. Vaishnavism emphasizes their character as an introduction to a life of devotion and as an entrance into closer contact with God, although happiness, knowledge, a long life, and a prospect of freedom from karma are also among the ideals to which they aspire. [277][278], In a 2011 study, Aiyar too notes that such qualitative theories of economic exploitation and consequent land redistribution within India between 1950 and 1990 had no effect on the quality of life and poverty reduction. Fárek, M., Jalki, D., Pathan, S., & Shah, P. (2017). [101][102], Uttaradhyayana Sutra, one of the most important Jain texts state:[103]. It is likely that the varna system, while being a part of the Brahmanical ideology, was not practically operative in the society. 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". [2][147][4], Jati were the basis of caste ethnology during the British colonial era. All communities agree that the authority to initiate belongs only to a qualified spiritual guide (guru), usually a Brahman, who has previously received the special guru-diksha (initiation as a teacher) and is often regarded as representing God himself. In this system, specific tasks are designated to each … [174], The colonial government prepared a list of criminal castes, and all members registered in these castes by caste-census were restricted in terms of regions they could visit, move about in or people with whom they could socialise. From the earliest days of Islam's arrival in South Asia, the Arab, Persian and Afghan Muslims have been part of the upper, noble caste. 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. "Caste," he claimed, has "saved Hinduism from disintegration. Instead, economic reforms since the 1990s and resultant opportunities for non-agricultural jobs have reduced poverty and increased per capita income for all segments of Indian society. This is the oldest social class structure in the world. New developments took place after India achieved independence, when the policy of caste-based reservation of jobs was formalised with lists of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. [90] The majority of the artisans were also reduced to the position of Shudras, but there is no contempt indicated for their work. [156][157] According to David Cannadine, Indian castes merged with the traditional British class system during the British Raj. The caste system began at about the same time as Hinduism. [167], The British colonial government, for instance, enacted the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871. For many centuries certain Indian religious communities have been dedicated in whole or in part to the elimination of caste discrimination. ", Mahavira, the 24th tirthankara introduced radical reforms in the social structure. [8] Social unrest during the 1920s led to a change in this policy. Such religious groups integrate ancient, widespread ideas and customs of initiation into the framework of either the Vaishnava or Shaiva patterns of Hinduism. [220] In 1955, India enacted the Untouchability (Offences) Act (renamed in 1976, as the Protection of Civil Rights Act). India has used this law to forcibly acquire land from some, then redistribute tens of millions of acres to the landless and poor of the low-caste. Some family names belong to a 'superior' caste while others are 'inferior'. 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. Gandhi went on a hunger strike against this provision claiming that such an arrangement would split the Hindu community into two groups. It is becoming deep-rooted. 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In a 2008 study, Desai et al. Based on the consultation the government decided that "the best way to provide the necessary protection against unlawful discrimination because of caste is by relying on emerging case law as developed by courts and tribunals". 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. He concludes that "If caste is defined as a system of group within the class, which are normally endogamous, commensal and craft-exclusive, we have no real evidence of its existence until comparatively late times. [28], Ghurye offered what he thought was a definition that could be applied across India, although he acknowledged that there were regional variations on the general theme. Sikhism has traditionally rejected caste, a position clearly emphasized in the gurdwaras, where access to sacred scripture, the Adi Granth, is granted without regard to caste and communal meals are served to all Sikhs. He finds India's overall economic growth has produced the fastest and more significant socio-economic changes. The rituals of sannyasa, which serve as a gateway to a life of religious discipline, often mimic death rituals, signifying the renouncer’s understanding that he (or, less typically, she) no longer occupies a place in family or society. The number of Dalit girls in India who attended school doubled in the same period, but still few percent less than national average. Caste or no caste, creed or no creed, any man, or class, or caste, or nation, or institution that bars the power of free thought and bars action of an individual is devilish, and must go down. Karade states, "the caste quarantine list was abolished by independent India in 1947 and criminal tribes law was formally repealed in 1952 by its first parliament". It refers to different social classes in old Hindu texts that divide the society into four castes (varnas). The distinction originally arose from tribal divisions. [113][114], Varna is rarely mentioned in the extensive medieval era records of Andhra Pradesh, for example. [168] In certain regions of colonial India, entire caste groups were presumed guilty by birth, arrested, children separated from their parents, and held in penal colonies or quarantined without conviction or due process. Hindu Tribes and Castes by Matthew Atmore Sherring. It believes caste to be rooted in the economic, political and material history of India. Moreover, only 1.67% of Dalit females were college graduates compared to 9.09% of upper caste females. If Brahma wanted castes, argued Phule, he would have ordained the same for other creatures. The origins of the caste system in India and Nepal are not fully known, but castes seem to have originated more than 2,000 years ago. "[121], Early and mid 20th century Muslim historians, such as Hashimi in 1927 and Qureshi in 1962, proposed that "caste system was established before the arrival of Islam", and it and "a nomadic savage lifestyle" in the northwest Indian subcontinent were the primary cause why Sindhi non-Muslims "embraced Islam in flocks" when Arab Muslim armies invaded the region. [129] The concept of caste, or 'qaum' in Islamic literature, is mentioned by a few Islamic historians of medieval India, states Malik, but these mentions relate to the fragmentation of the Muslim society in India. The system is seen in the South Indian Tamil literature from the Sangam period, dated to the third to sixth centuries CE. The Scheduled Castes were subjected to various socioreligious disabilities before mitigating tendencies helped bring about reform. Qaums have patrilineal hereditary, with ranked occupations and endogamy. The Brahmins maintain their divinely ordained superiority and assert their right to draw service from the lower orders. [169][177][179][b], Eleanor Nesbitt, a professor of History and Religions in India, states that the colonial government hardened the caste-driven divisions in India not only through its caste census, but with a series of laws in early 20th century. Varna represents a closed collection of social orders whereas jati is entirely open-ended, thought of as a "natural kind whose members share a common substance." Shaivas are convinced of the absolute necessity of initiation for anyone desiring final liberation and require an initiation in accordance with their rituals. In 2001, Dalits comprised 16.2 percent of India's total population. The present caste system is theory antithesis of varnashrama. [178], While the notion of hereditary criminals conformed to orientalist stereotypes and the prevailing racial theories during the colonial era, the social impact of its enforcement was profiling, division and isolation of many communities of Hindus as criminals-by-birth. [75][clarification needed], According to social anthropologist Dipankar Gupta, guilds developed during the Mauryan period and crystallised into jatis[76] in post-Mauryan times with the emergence of feudalism in India, which finally crystallised during the 7–12th centuries. He advocated to fuse all the Jatis into a more global division of Varnas. 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. His model definition for caste included the following six characteristics:[29], The above Ghurye's model of caste thereafter attracted scholarly criticism[39][40] for relying on the census reports produced by the colonial government,[28][41] the "superior, inferior" racist theories of H. H. Risley,[42] and for fitting his definition to then prevalent orientalist perspectives on caste. Many occupations listed such as accounting and writing were not linked to jatis. 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. [231] The census would also help the government to re-examine and possibly undo some of the policies which were formed in haste such as the Mandal Commission in order to bring more objectivity to the policies with respect to contemporary realities. [27], The sociologist G. S. Ghurye wrote in 1932 that, despite much study by many people, .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}, we do not possess a real general definition of caste. Castes are social divisions between men on the basis of their lineage and profession. In addition, in this fluid stateless environment, some of the previously casteless segments of society grouped themselves into caste groups. [239] They practice endogamy, hypergamy, hereditary occupations, avoid social mixing and have been stratified. Smelser and Lipset propose in their review of Hutton's study of caste system in colonial India the theory that individual mobility across caste lines may have been minimal in India because it was ritualistic. [126] MacLein states the caste and conversion theories about Indian society during the Islamic era are not based on historical evidence or verifiable sources, but personal assumptions of Muslim historians about the nature of Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism in northwest Indian subcontinent. Thus, he argued that the cause of trauma was not in the caste system, but elsewhere. Segmentation of society into groups whose membership was determined by birth. 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". [115], In Tamil Nadu region of India, studied by Leslie Orr, a professor of Religion, "Chola period inscriptions challenge our ideas about the structuring of (south Indian) society in general. This form of social mobility was endorsed by Buddha. Although originally caste depended upon a person's work, it soon became hereditary. But like every other institution it has suffered from excrescences. This ideological scheme was theoretically composed of around 3,000 castes, which in turn was claimed to be composed of 90,000 local endogamous sub-groups. Any number of new jatis can be added depending on need, such as tribes, sects, denominations, religious or linguistic minorities and nationalities. The net percentage school attainment for Dalits and Muslims were statistically the same in 1999. [123], Peter Jackson, a professor of Medieval History and Muslim India, writes that the speculative hypotheses about caste system in Hindu states during the medieval Delhi Sultanate period (~1200 to 1500) and the existence of a caste system as being responsible for Hindu weakness in resisting the plunder by Islamic armies is appealing at first sight, but "they do not withstand closer scrutiny and historical evidence". But the term originates from Hindu Caste system and refers to the demeaning jobs performed by Christians in Pakistan out of poverty. After independence, social discrimination was prohibited, and the practice of preventing access to religious, occupational, or civil rights on the grounds of untouchability was made a punishable offense. [252], Although the Sikh Gurus criticised the hierarchy of the caste system, one does exist in Sikh community. These depressed classes were assigned a number of seats to be filled by election from special constituencies in which voters belonging to the depressed classes only could vote. [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. [86], Towards the end of the Atharvaveda period, new class distinctions emerged. [79][80], The post-Vedic texts, particularly Manusmriti mentions outcastes and suggests that they be ostracised. The gahapatis were the primary taxpayers of the state. [7] The British Raj furthered this development, making rigid caste organisation a central mechanism of administration. They were in fact the jatis of high rank. In 1990, the government reservation of 27% for Backward Classes on the basis of the Mandal Commission's recommendations. [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. A reservation system for people classified as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has existed for over 50 years. [199] Markovits writes, "if religion was not a structuring factor, neither was caste" among the Hindu merchants group of northwest India. [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. [130] Zia al-Din al-Barani of Delhi Sultanate in his Fatawa-ye Jahandari and Abu al-Fadl from Akbar's court of Mughal Empire are the few Islamic court historians who mention caste. Communities teamed in different regions of India, into "collective classing" to mold the social stratification in order to maximise assets and protect themselves from loss. Hindus claim that it is the will of God that some men be considered better than others. [95] The people of high kulas were engaged in occupations of high rank, viz., agriculture, trade, cattle-keeping, computing, accounting and writing, and those of low kulas were engaged in low-ranked occupations such as basket-weaving and sweeping. [288] They write that casteism in India is presently "not apartheid. Fake caste certificates have become rampant, as is often witnessed in our law courts, to get jobs or admissions in educational institutions. [68][69] The Purusha Sukta of the Rigveda and Manusmriti's comment on it, being the oft-cited texts. Other religions in India do not follow this system. Many believe that the groups originated from Brahma… resembles in some ways Plato's ideal society of philosophers [91] The Brahmins and the Kshatriyas are given a special position in the rituals, distinguishing them from both the Vaishyas and the Shudras. As a result, there have been campaigns to include the Muslim untouchable and lower castes among the groups eligible for affirmative action in India under SC and STs provision act [234] and have been given additional reservation based on the Sachar Committee report. 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].

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