Caste in Contemporary India

Summary of ‘Caste in contemporary India’ by Zelliot

Caste
Caste is one of the most controversial aspects of life in India that has existed for more than 2,500 years. It is a form of inequality within a hierarchy that is found in all religions in India, only tribal people are completely outside the system. Caste covers both varna and jati, which are words used for the English word Caste
The varna system is the name for the original social division of Vedic people into 4 groups, which are subdivided into thousands of jatis

Theories about the origins of Caste
There are many theories about the origins of caste. Here are a few.

1) The racial theory
This theory differentiates a race of Aryans and Dravidian. The Aryans were seen as a white skin Indo-European people who conquered the land of the dark-skinned inhabitants. Because of their superiority and dominance, caste was created

2) Purity and pollution theory
It is believed that it was necessary for the priestly caste to maintain absolute purity and the creation of a group at the bottom who absorbed all pollution. This insisted on the idea of marriage within the group, and endogamy was practiced, where one can only marry another person of the same hierarchy or level. Hence, it was believed that unsuitable marriages between caste groups produced new and inferior castes. This theory probably evolved to protect the purity of upper-class women

3) Patriarchal Theory
It has recently been argued that the development of caste is linked to patriarchy. Hence, women were usually given a subordinate role. As such, women were removed from what was seen as the heart of Hindu orthodoxy and from the priesthood

Reformers of Caste
There have been many people who have tried to reform and remove the caste system in India. This had began as early as the 13th Century, and recently in the 20th Century. One of the great caste reformers of the 20th Century is Ambedkar and Gandhi.

Unlike previous reformers, Gandhi’s stance on caste included great compassion for Untouchables, the lowest castes in traditional Hindu belief. He urged inter-caste marriages, but he upheld the virtues of the varna system and devoted his energies to change through convincing the higher castes to eliminate their prejudices against Untouchables.

As opposed to Gandhi, Ambedkar emphasised more on the political rights and legal protection, believing it was more important and productive than Gandhi’s belief in ‘change of heart’ on the part of the higher-caste Hindus and believed a separate electorate was the only way Untouchables could have true political representation. Ambedkar was the holder of doctorates from Columbia University and London and a barrister. His used this education to speak to every political, education and economic issue, winning representation in government bodies and offices for Untouchables. Hence, he created a higher educational system and many social and political institutions.

However, following the Indian independence, certain policies were implemented in order to counter caste discrimination, such as the reservation system. It is a system of reservations for the bottom layers of society that allowed representation on a quota system in all government bodies and in government employment and government-aided educational institutions.

Furthermore, the system created a large number of educated scheduled castes, many of whom hold important government positions. Although caste is not necessarily illegal, what is illegal in India is discrimination (that is, discriminate against any citizens on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth etc), and this is stated in the Fundamental Rights section of the Constitution of India.

Zelliot, E. (2004), ‘Caste in contemporary India’, in Rinehart, R. (ed.) Contemporary Hinduism: Ritual, Culture and Practice, ABC-Clio Publishing, California, p. 243-273.