Born into a life plan: the caste system in India

In life we are all born short or tall – with a big nose or knobbly feet. We may be seen as sexy or handsome or just plain. We get this purely through genetics and aside from cosmetic surgery or other interventions, this is the physicality we carry through our life.

In India, you also carry with you the caste into which you were born. Your caste determines the wife you choose (or will be chosen for you), the school you attend, and your prospects in your working career.

The caste system is complex and it’s hard to get total agreement as to its origin or purpose.

However it is generally accepted that it is a system of social order, and that there are four main castes: Brahman (teachers, scholars, priests), Kshatrya (warriors), Vaishya (agriculturists and traders) and Shudra (service providers and artisans), as well as the Dalits (‘untouchables’).

There are hundreds of sub-castes for each of these.

Last week, Human Rights Watch and two other human rights organisations called for an end to the caste system in India and other countries.

That came after a statement by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, who said “the time has come to eradicate the shameful concept of caste”.

She also asked the international community to help “as it did when it helped put an end to apartheid”.

The caste system evolved purely through the type of work a person did, rather than racial or ethnic differences. Like most other countries around the world, a lawyer will generally be held in higher regard than a roadworker and expect to receive more respect and social benefits for it.

In India, the caste system might be considered a more honest (but not fair or ethical) representation of the way society treats people.

Even so, in other modern countries, the blocking of a marriage based on occupation, or refusal to grant a job based on the person’s father’s career would be extremely rare.

Fortunately, in India there is a very strong sense of Karma and most Indian people are living their lives oblivious or uncaring of the seemingly unjust system that is in place. The majority of Indian people have the philosophy that wealth is measured by happiness.

Caste in India only applies to Hinduism and not Christianity or Islam, however, within religious order there is no caste. For example, a man from the highest caste and a man from the lowest may both become monks in India and the two become equal.

Caste discrimination

People often speak of the Varna system, which is social acceptance based on skin colour.

Often the reality of this is that a person who works outside all their life will have darker skin. Because their caste and family have a lineage of a particular trade, and are also tanned, they are socially discriminated against because of this.

The Dalits or ‘untouchables’ are the lowest caste. They have the lowest social status and work in unhealthy, unpleasant or polluting jobs.

They’ve been subjected to extreme discrimination, segregation and poverty. Dalits were not allowed to temple worship with others, nor share water from the same sources.

People of higher castes would not interact with them. If a member of a higher caste came into physical or social contact with an untouchable, the member of the higher caste was defiled, and had to bathe thoroughly to purge him or herself of the impurity.

Social discrimination developed even among the Dalits. Upper sub-castes among Dalits, like Dhobi, etc., would not interact with lower-order Bhangis, who were described as "outcasts even among outcastes."

The caste system in Modern India

Caste discrimination has reduced in recent decades due to government initiatives like the quota system, free education for the underprivileged and other social reforms. It has also been outlawed in the constitution.

Caste barriers have mostly broken down in large cities, though they persist in rural areas where 72% of the population lives.

And not much has changed with marriages. All parents will try to find or accept a partner for their children of the same or higher caste. If not, they may refuse to pay for the wedding or cut the children off from the family.

The balance of power and wealth still sits with the Brahmana caste and being Brahmana is an advantage in the Indian life. As they are also the social decision makers they wield great influence over which people attain more social benefits.

It is a system that many feel is grossly unfair, with human rights organizations demanding its abolition.

Nevertheless, most seem to accept its role in maintaining stability and social order in a country that will soon become the world’s most populated.

By T.J. Ignatius