What Is Caste?
The Oldest Living System of Discrimination
Caste is the oldest living system of discrimination in the world dating back around 3000 years. It was historically practiced only in specific regions with varying degrees of mobility. Manusmriti, an ancient text, documents it as a hierarchical system of dividing and controlling labour.
The five levels of caste included Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaishyas (businessmen), Shudras (labourers), and Dalits (untouchables). Each level was further divided into about 3000 castes and 25,000 subcastes.
The caste system has largely dictated norms of living in the Indian subcontinent. Over time, it has become a rigid form of social stratification where lifestyle is hereditary — including designated occupations, ritual status, and customary social inclusions and exclusions based on notions of purity. Caste has effectively been upheld through endogamy or arranged marriages.
The very ancient world in which caste was born reminds us that to slight one life is to slight all life in the process. Yet, there remains a stigma surrounding its protest, rather than its actual practice. From Brahmin to Dalit, be it the restriction of love (honour killings) or community (segregation), the caste system dictates and reduces who we each are and what we can be as a nation.
I believe the annihilation of caste is a struggle for the very soul of India to be realised, redeemed and reborn.
