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How the caste system in India works

Indian caste system

A system of society based on ancestry. The caste system is centered on the ruling class and divides many endogamous groups.

Various surnames are divided into many sub-castes according to the region where they live, and the sub-castes are divided into many settlement castes according to the different settlements in which they live. Therefore, the caste system covers the vast majority of groups in Indian society and is the most important social system and norm in traditional India.

If the core concept of the caste system is clean and unclean, the actual operation of caste presents the characteristics of “collectiveness” and “hierarchy”. These characteristics mean that caste is not a static system, but a deeply inclusive and flexible social system.

Taboo contact with food

Hindus are only allowed to eat food from Brahmins and people of the same caste. Food cooked with butter can be eaten by any caste. They take a special bath before eating, and vegetarians and abstainers have a higher status than meat eaters.

Political Power

Because the caste system is closely integrated with the region and has obvious regional scope, its political power can be divided into three levels according to the size of the region: the local small kingdom or regional administrative center, the settlement and the caste in each settlement.

Although the power operation of these three levels is high and low, and the difference is very large, the common feature is that the power enforcers are all imitating the Kshatriya in the Varna order, and they will all claim the legitimacy and effectiveness of their power. Even if it doesn’t actually have to be. The caste system in Nepal is different from that in India: Brahmins and Kshatriyas are far more numerous than Sudras, which is a deliberate result of the Brahmins in India.

Settlement

In modern India, it is often imagined that there is a “village community” tradition of democratic self-government in rural areas, and it is believed that this is manifested in the form of “Gram panchayat” to dominate the caste.

Settlement Caste

Sir Edward Arthur Henry Blunt, a colonial official in British India, based on a caste survey he himself conducted in the United Provinces in 1911, pointed out that the state of self-government within various surnames could be divided into three types .

Caste without Panchayat : The upper castes belonging to the regenerates usually make decisions directly on the basis of prevailing public opinion (which may be gossip or complaints from people).

There are non-permanent Panchayat castes : these castes allow the person (usually the taboo) to request a temporary Panchayat in the event of severe hostility and exclusion from others, but in practice such requests are rarely made, The fact that Panchayat is actually held is naturally very rare.

Caste with Permanent Panchayat : Unlike the other two, the Caste with Permanent Panchayat has the normality of the Panchayat organization, giving it the ability to hold such meetings on a regular basis. Generally speaking, most of these types of castes belong to the castes engaged in specialized occupations or the lower castes.

Division of labor

The caste system is a system of division of labor mediated by religion. This system is hereditary, and the relationship between employers and employees is hereditary. The interesting thing about this system is that the same kind of work, if you only do it occasionally at home, is not as polluting as a profession; the same kind of work has different attitudes in different regions. For example, barbers, in southern India, are extremely unclean because they are responsible for funerals; but in northern India, because they are not responsible for funerals, they have a higher status.

Marriage

Except for Brahmin castes who cannot divorce and widows cannot remarry (Brahmins can only separate, if they have no children, they can remarry), women of the general caste are also accommodating and can remarry, but the first marriage (first marriage) is the most serious, and they can remarry later. But it is not too bright. Historically, if the husband dies, the widow will perform the sacrificial ceremony Sati throws herself into the fire.

Although higher caste women are not allowed to marry lower caste men, on the other hand lower caste women are strongly encouraged to marry higher caste men to improve their caste status.

For this reason, the woman’s family has to pay a high dowry in the marriage. This has also led to the murder of wives for dowry in places such as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh – the burning of wives by Sochun.