Caste in the past: varna and jati
The word caste comes from the Portuguese casta, meaning pure breed. In India it mixes two ideas:
- Varna (literally 'colour'): a four-part scheme of Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. The 'untouchables' were kept outside it. It is an all-India idea.
- Jati: the actual local groups, thousands of them, each with its own name. Jatis differ from region to region.
Caste was not fixed forever: groups sometimes rose or fell, and it changed over centuries. But it was always based on birth.
Main features of the caste system
- Membership by birth: you are born into a caste and cannot normally leave it.
- Endogamy: strict rules to marry only within your caste.
- Rules about food and sharing food: who you may eat with and take food from.
- Hierarchy: castes are ranked from 'high' to 'low'.
- Segmental organisation: castes divide into sub-castes and sub-sub-castes.
- Hereditary occupation: each caste was linked to a traditional job, passed down in families.
Two principles behind it
Separation and division: each caste is kept apart from others (marriage, food, work). Wholeness and hierarchy: the parts fit together into a whole, but ranked by purity and pollution: priestly castes were called most 'pure', castes doing 'polluting' work like handling dead animals or cleaning were called 'impure'. This idea was used to justify untouchability.
Caste also matched economic power: 'high' castes usually owned land and wealth. But the match was not perfect; some 'middle' castes held land and power in their villages.
Colonialism and caste
- Census: from 1860s and especially the 1901 census under Herbert Risley, the British tried to count and rank all castes. Castes began petitioning for higher ranks. Counting made caste more rigid and more political.
- Land revenue laws gave legal ownership to upper-caste landholders, strengthening their power.
- Special lists: the Government of India Act 1935 created schedules (lists) of castes and tribes for special help. These became the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
- Reform: movements against untouchability by leaders like Jyotiba Phule, Periyar, Gandhi and B.R. Ambedkar grew in this period.
So caste as we see it today is partly a product of colonial rule, not only 'ancient tradition'.
Caste in the present
- Constitution: Article 17 abolished untouchability; reservations in education, jobs and legislatures help Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.
- Weakening in public life: cities, factories, trains and schools mix people. Occupation is less tied to caste.
- Still strong in private life: most marriages are still within caste.
- Politics: caste became a basis for voting and organising. M.N. Srinivas used the term dominant caste for castes that own much land, are numerous and hold local power, like the Jats, Yadavs, Reddys, Vokkaligas and Marathas in their regions.
- Invisibility for the privileged: upper-caste, urban middle-class people often say 'caste does not matter any more', because their caste advantages (education, networks, property) are already built in. For SC, ST and OBC groups caste stays very visible: they are counted and recognised mainly by caste.
Key formulas and definitions
- Caste: a system of groups based on birth, ranked in a hierarchy.
- Varna: the four-part all-India scheme. Jati: the thousands of local caste groups.
- Endogamy: marrying within your own caste group.
- Hierarchy: ranking of castes from 'high' to 'low'.
- Purity and pollution: the ranking idea that some castes are 'pure' and others 'impure'.
- Segmental organisation: castes divide into sub-castes, which divide again.
- Untouchability: extreme exclusion of castes called 'impure'; abolished by Article 17.
- Dominant caste (M.N. Srinivas): a numerous, land-owning caste with local power.
Worked examples
1. Arjun's family says he must marry someone from their own jati. Which feature of caste is this?
Endogamy: marrying within one's own caste group. It is the feature that has changed the least.
2. In a village, the Jats own most of the land and are the largest group. They decide panchayat matters. What term describes them?
A dominant caste (M.N. Srinivas): numerous, land-owning and powerful locally, even if not 'highest' by ritual rank.
3. Why did many castes send petitions to the census officials in 1901?
The census ranked castes. Being listed higher gave status, so caste associations demanded a higher place. This made caste more organised and political.
Common mistakes
- Treating varna and jati as the same. Varna is a four-part idea; jati is the thousands of real local groups.
- Thinking caste was unchanged for thousands of years. It changed over time and was reshaped by colonial rule.
- Saying caste has disappeared because it is less visible in cities. It is still strong in marriage and politics.
- Thinking 'dominant caste' means the ritually highest caste. It means numerous, land-owning and locally powerful.