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How to distinguish people of different castes in India

In India, the caste system has a long history and was first recorded 4000-6000 years ago. It is not judged according to people’s wealth, but according to people’s status (or occupation) and the purity of thought (religion). of.

More than 80% of Indians believe in Hinduism, and the core teachings of Hinduism advocate the caste system. In addition to India, countries such as Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Malaysia also have a large number of Hindus who advocate the caste system.

After the British colonization, under pressure, the Indian government stipulated in the constitution: “No one shall be discriminated against on the basis of caste, religion, or place of birth.” And abolished the “untouchable” untouchable system.

In the past few centuries, the caste system has shackled the development space of modern Indians and controlled the social development of India to a certain extent.

Foreigners who have some knowledge of India are very curious about the caste system. If they are a little familiar, they start to ask what caste they are. This is very rude behavior, especially if the other party belongs to a lower caste, it will make people very uncomfortable. Awkward. So how should people of different castes in India be distinguished?

Residence law

Although the caste system is legally abolished, it still exists strongly in people’s consciousness.

Until now, Indians are still grouped according to caste, and people of higher castes do not even share water with those of lower castes. A Brahmin does not eat what a Vaishya does or drink water from his hand.

Therefore, if the cook is a Brahmin, then all people can eat what he cooks; if it is a lower caste, it will be troublesome, and many people will not eat what he cooks.

Seating Rule

People of lower castes can only sit on the ground in front of people of higher castes, and are not allowed to sit on an equal footing. So, those who sit on the chairs are from the upper castes, and those who sit on the ground are from the lower castes.

School Rules

People of higher castes send their children to international schools, public schools or boarding schools, while children of lower castes study in government free schools.

Even if people from lower castes can afford the tuition fees of public schools and international schools, the school will not admit them. Because in India, children’s admission applications are very strict, not only the parents’ occupation, background and education, but also the three generations of their ancestors must be examined.

Therefore, the children we see on the road who walk to and from school with schoolbags on their backs are basically students of government schools, that is, low-caste groups. And children in international schools and public schools can be said to be 100% picked up by private cars and school buses, and they will never be allowed to walk on the road.

Skin Color Law

From the end of the primitive society to the early stage of the slave society, after the Aryans invaded the Indus and Ganges, the worship of nature at that time led to the initial racial division, and the hereditary religious family presided over the sacrifice became the highest caste Brahmin.

In fact, caste is the artificial boundary that the rulers make in order to maintain the status of themselves and their descendants, which is directly related to the blood of the rulers. For example, because the Aryans have white skin, people of higher castes generally have lighter skin and taller skin, while people of lower castes have relatively dark skin and shorter skin.

Surname Rule

In addition to skin color, a person’s caste can also be analyzed from the surname.

Indian surnames are named after occupation, creed, place of residence, etc. For example, Bhat and Benerjee mean teacher, then this must be the surname of Brahmin;

Chopra, Tiandu Tandon are common surnames, meaning warrior, don’t ask, this is the Kshatriya surname.

Ghandi, one of the most famous surnames in India, means perfume, perfumer or groceries, that is to say Vedic belonging to the petty merchant class

Marriage Law

Generally speaking, a woman can marry a man of the same caste or a caste higher than her own, while marrying a man of a lower caste than her is “reverse marriage” and is not allowed. Such unmarried people will not only be abandoned by the family, but their children will be reduced to pariahs.

This is a very cruel social monitoring mechanism, and everyone participates. Although so unreasonable, his existence is worth studying. For vanity sake, some families marry their daughters into higher caste families to improve their caste status. For this reason, the woman’s family was asked for a huge betrothal gift during the marriage. Later, there were even some cases of newly married girls being murdered by the husband’s family.

Such inter-caste marriages are the bane of the murder of wives for dowry in places like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.