Social inequality in the Indian caste system, 1450–2007

Social Inequality in India; "Caste System" (1450-2007)

Social Inequality in India: the "Caste System."

Social inequality is a social aspect that is found in every nation and country in the world.

However India is unique in that it has a socially ingrained and structured system that inculcates and perpetuates differences and inequality. As one commentator states; "...nowhere else in the world has inequality been so elaborately constructed as in the Indian institution of caste." (India Caste system, ancient India Caste System)

This inequality within the society still persists to a certain extent today in some areas and, while there are many reports of the dismantling of this system of inequality, yet, "Caste has undergone significant change since independence, but it still involves hundreds of millions of people. In its preamble, India's constitution forbids negative public discrimination on the basis of caste." (India Caste system, ancient India Caste System)

The term caste refers to "... ranked, named, endogamous (in-marrying) groups, membership in which is achieved by birth. "(India Caste system, ancient India Caste System) There are literarily thousands of different castes and sub-castes in India. They are also extremely complex in their structure and can be kinship based and also interdependent with other groups. Castes are, "...linked in complex ways with networks that stretch across regions and throughout the nation." (India Caste system, ancient India Caste System)

The main problem with discussing the development and changes of India's cast system in terms of its relationship to modern ideas and beliefs about equality among all people is that the Indian cast system has a long and entrenched history. This history is built on important and generally still accepted religious views and principles.

In essence the term caste derives from the Portuguese term, casta, which means race, bread or kind. (India Caste system, ancient India Caste System) In India the main caste classifications are varna, jati, jat, biradri, and samaj; all of which refer to different groups with different status and privilege within the society. There are also various sub-castes within this classification.

Caste is, in the historical sense, was not strictly associated with ideas inequality and privilege in a negative way, but rather with a religious perceptions. In terms of these perceptions, the origins of the different castes refer to different functions and activities within the society, which have religious origins and reasons. Therefore, traditionally caste is seen as a differentiation within the society that is ordained and religiously necessary for a functioning and "good" order.

According to the sacred texts of Rig Veda"...progenitors of the four ranked varna groups sprang from various parts of the body of the primordial man, which Brahma created from clay..." (India Caste system, ancient India Caste System) Each group has certain societal functions and status. For example, the Kshatriyas, or warriors and ruling class, have different functions as well as privileges and power to Vaishyas or merchants. At the bottom of this hierarchy or class classification is the group known as the "Untouchable" or menial servants.

While India is in origin a religiously stratified society, yet it is also obvious that the different castes do not share equally in the wealth and privilege of the society. There are numerous examples of this fact. For instance, at a formal function the different castes are strictly separated and contact between the higher and lower castes is radically opposed. The following example provides some insight into the inequalities in the system. "... At the edge of the feeding area, a Sweeper may wait with a large basket to receive discarded leavings tossed in by other diners. Eating food contaminated by contact with the saliva of others not of the same family is considered far too polluting to be practiced by members of any other castes. (India Caste system, ancient India Caste System)

The lower caste, the Dalits, were seen as a "pollutant" by the higher castes and had to "...physically keep their distance -- lest their touch or even their shadow pollute others -- wearing neither shoes nor any upper body covering (even for women) in the presence of the upper castes. The lowest-ranking had to jingle a little bell in warning of their polluting approach. In much of India, Dalits were prohibited from entering temple" (India Caste system, ancient India Caste System)

There have been indications since 1450 of changes and a questioning of the caste system. For example, in 1469, the guru Nanak, 1st guru of Sikhs, "...refused to accept the caste system and the supremacy of the Brahmanical priests and forbade magic, idolatry and pilgrimages." (The Fifteenth Century 1450-1475)

It was however in the colonial period of the British rule of India that the caste system was extensively critiqued and efforts made to create a more equal society. This was largely due to the influence of the new norms and values brought by the colonizers.

During this period there was also the beginning of various reform movements. These criticized and questioned "...the rigidities of the caste system, the degraded status of women, child marriage, and female infanticide." (Civil Society And Governance. An Overview Of Issues And Trends In India)

During this period there were many modifications and changes made to the caste system in the light of the more contemporary ideas about human equality. "Alongside the reforms, there was also an effort to introduce modern western education in India to make people aware of the progressive ideas. All the reformers of this period presented a synthesis of religion, society and education to reconstruct the social space. "(Civil Society And Governance. An Overview Of Issues And Trends In India) For example, the Brahmo Samaj "... criticized the practice of sati (burning of widows on the funeral pyre of their husbands), polygamy, child marriage, and the lower status accorded to women." In 1950 India's new constitution outlawed discrimination based on caste. (India Caste System Discriminates)

During the 1970's there was an increased move towards the greater implementation of civil rights and liberties towards a more egalitarian society. "Civil liberty, ecology, women, and dalit movements captured the civil society space to make demands on the state in an unprecedented way. "(Civil Society And Governance. An Overview Of Issues And Trends In India) Another factor that was instrumental in reducing the influence of the caste system was urbanization." Urbanization helped the lower castes to escape the traditionally polluting caste occupations and the atrocities the system perpetrated." (Civil Society And Governance. An Overview Of Issues And Trends In India) Another important factor in this regard was that with the greater degree of social mobility that urbanization brought allowed people to see and compare their lives with others, thereby heightening consciousness of social inequalities.