Caste
From Encyclopædia
{kast} The term caste refers to an extreme form of social differentiation in which the groups that constitute society are ranked in a rigid hierarchical scale. In all true caste systems, society as a whole is divided into a series of groups recruited by birth:
marriage is generally restricted to members of the same caste, castes are in some way associated with occupational specializations, and the order of castes is linked to a moral order that dictates codes of appropriate behavior for each caste. The most elaborate form of caste is found in Hindu India. Less elaborate caste systems exist in other parts of South
Asia, including Sri Lanka,
Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal.CASTES IN INDIAThe Indian caste system appears to have evolved out of the varna system, which developed about 1000-800 BC. Some authorities associate the hypothetical
Aryan invasions of North India with the origins of the varnas, which are mentioned in the Indian classic the Rig Veda. Four varnas--BRAHMIN, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra--are recognized, each associated with specific societal functions: the Brahmins served as
priests, the Kshatriya were warriors or political rulers, the Vaishya were traders and cultivators, and the Shudra were artisans.About 2000 years ago the four varnas became elaborated into numerous jati, which more or less became the castes known today. While the jati were themselves organized within the general varna framework, they were regarded as the products of sexual relations between members of different varnas. Further elaborations of the varna system gave rise to the additional category of UNTOUCHABLE castes.The structure of the Indian caste system closely reflects the
Central preoccupations of HINDUISM with problems of purity and pollution. Higher castes depend on the lower castes to remove their impurities, and lower castes depend upon their superiors to transmit purity
Down the hierarchy to them. The
prohibitions against
marriage between castes are designed to prevent the intrusion of pollution.Thus while castes are in some ways inward-looking groups intent on minimizing external contacts, they are also dependent upon each other for various ritual services in the context of purity and pollution.This interdependence of caste has led some observers to
stress that the caste system is primarily a social division of labor. Each caste is associated with a particular occupational specialization, so that each caste is economically dependent on all the others. This aspect of caste is particularly clear in the
case of those who deal directly with the problems of purity and pollution, such as the barbers and the washermen, but it is present in other
cases as well. For example, since gold is ranked as more pure than wood, goldsmiths as a caste rank above carpenters.Castes vary greatly in size. Some, such as the MARATHA and the Jats,
number many millions of people and are found over large areas of India. Others are small, numbering only a few thousand members. The extent to which castes still perform their traditional roles varies greatly. The changing circumstances of modern times have made the traditional callings of some castes obsolete or impracticable. Thus, few if any Jats today are soldiers. The actual occupations of other castes today resemble traditional roles more closely, however, particularly those castes directly involved in the manipulation of purity and pollution.In general, members of all castes, no matter what their traditional occupations, are in some way or other directly involved today in agricultural production, although castes of higher rank still tend to be wealthier and more powerful than lower castes. Thus, depending upon one's point of view, caste can be regarded either as a manifestation of the gross realities of power and wealth upheld by religious conceptions, or as a primarily religious system integral to Hinduism and only indirectly related to the mundane
world.In recent years, economic and political forces and events have affected but not destroyed the Indian caste system. Most
marriages are still made within castes, and castes are still ranked in terms of purity and pollution. But caste is no longer part of the legal order of Indian society and is not a legal barrier to
education or occupation. After India won its
Independence in 1947, legislation was passed abolishing untouchability and giving the lowest castes certain political and educational advantages. But caste remains an important factor in Indian politics.Politicians rely on the "caste vote," and castes still frequently act as economic and political pressur? groups. Intercaste violence has also continued in recent years, and the superior (and richer) castes frequently use physical force to maintain their privileges.CASTES ELSEWHERESome authorities see caste strictly as a part of Hinduism and deny that it exists outside Hindu India. Others see it simply as a peculiarly rigid form of social stratification and regard even such situations as the racial segregation that existed in the southern
United States over the last two centuries as caste systems.Systems of social differentiation similar to those of Hindu India are found in several countries adjacent to it. In Buddhist Sri Lanka, the
Sinhalese are organized in terms of castes that are related to one another partly in terms of purity and pollution.
marriages generally take place within the caste, and castes are related to traditional occupational specializations. In Sri Lanka, however, as well as in
Pakistan and Bangladesh, caste is not as rigid as it is in India.Emigrants from India to other countries have taken a form of caste with them. A highly simplified form of caste still exists in Bali, the last of the Hindu states of Southeast
Asia. More recent emigrants to East
Africa, the
West Indies,
Mauritius, Fiji, and Britain have also retained some forms of caste, but without the elaborate social differentiation and customary distinctions found in India.Hilary Standing and R. L. StirratBibliography: Beteille, Andre, Caste, Class and Power (1965); Das, Veena, Structure and Condition: Aspects of Hindu Caste and Ritual, 2d ed., (1982); Dumont, Louis, Homo Hierarchicus (1970); Hsu, F. L. K.,
clan, Caste, and Club (1963; repr. 1976); Hutton, John H., Caste in India: Its Nature, Function, and Origins, 4th ed. (1963; repr. 1969); Leach, E. R., Aspects of Caste (1960); McGilvray, Dennis B., ed., Caste
ideology and Interaction (1982); Mandelbaum, D. G., Society in India, 2 vols. (1970; repr. 1972).
