caste

A system of stratifying a society into ranked groups defined by marriage, descent, and occupation. Most common in South Asia, caste systems are also found in other societies. such as in Mali and Rwanda. In the past, such systems could be found in Japan, in South Africa under apartheid, and among the Natchez – an American Indian people.

The caste system in Hindu society dates from ancient times. Traditional society is loosely ranked into four varnas (social classes): Brahmin (priests), Kshatriyas (nobles and warriors), Vaisyas (traders and farmers), and Sudras (servants), plus a fifth group, Harijan (untouchables). Their subdivisions, jati, number over 3,000, each with its own occupation. A Hindu's dharma, or holy path in life, depends not only on the stage of life (ashrama) that he or she is currently in, but also on caste; it is a duty to follow the caste into which one is born by the laws of rebirth. Traditionally, Hindus would only mix with and marry people of their own caste.

Membership in each jati is determined by birth and little upward or downward mobility exists, as in classed societies, although a sufficiently large dowry will permit a low-caste woman to marry into a higher caste. As well as having a traditional occupation, each jati is associated with a set of hereditary services and rights known as the jajmani system. Each caste is also believed to possess characteristic ‘coded substances’ (hair, sweat, saliva, and other bodily secretions that can be transferred to people through food and water), which must not be polluted through contact with the coded substances of other castes. This is achieved by following certain customs such as food habits and styles of dress, working in the caste's occupational speciality, and by marrying only within one's caste.

Performing the duties appropriate to one's caste in this lifetime is thought to result in rebirth into a higher caste in a future existence. Exceptional performance of one's duties may result in the release from the cycle of rebirth to be reunited with the divinity.

In Hindu tradition, the four main castes are said to have originated from the head, arms, thighs, and feet respectively of Purusa, the creator; Brahmin, who are at the system's top, are seen as mediators between the human and divine world and are the most ‘pure’. The members of the fifth caste, at the bottom of the system, were probably the aboriginal inhabitants of the country, and are known variously as scheduled castes, depressed classes, untouchables, or Harijan (name coined by Gandhi, ‘children of God’). The untouchables do the most menial and potentially defiling work, such as handling animal products, garbage, and human wastes, and so are considered to be polluting by touch, or even by sight, to others. They are treated as a race apart and have to live separate lives from the other jati. Discrimination against them was made illegal in 1949 after India became independent, but persists.

In recent years, the emergence of a large number of new, caste-free occupations, in various economic sectors, has greatly weakened the specific association between caste and occupation, especially in urban areas. Most Hindus still oppose intercaste marriages although such marriages are on the rise; other criteria, such as education, occupation, and income, are becoming important. Caste, in India, has been rejuvenated since Independence through extensive caste quotas in public life, and by democratic politics, which encourages the mobilization of caste loyalties for electoral support.