The caste system

The caste system is a Hindu institution so deeply embedded in the Indian society that even other religious groups are known to conform to it (Bidner & Eswaran 2014:34; Subramanian 2016:5). Caste is a phenomenon that is not only essential in forming one’s identity in India but “unlike other social categories such as gender and race, it operates, sometimes in very blatant forms and sometimes in extremely subtle ways, to order the social space, marginalising some sections of the population and privileging others” (:2). The word caste is a foreign appellation and derives from the Portuguese word casto, meaning pure, chaste (Meisig 2003:159; Subramanian 2016:3). The word depicts the attempt of the Portuguese to name a phenomenon unknown to them from their own culture: the discrimination and hierarchical classification of social groups, especially regarding marriages, food and occupation (Meisig 2003:157; Skoda 2014:para.4).

3.5.1 Structure of the caste system

On a large scale, the caste system consists of a fourfold division of socioeconomic categories called the varnas15. The four varnas are said to emanate from the cosmic

15 _{“The Sanskrit word varna has many connotations, including colour, description, selection, and} classification” (Madan 2015:para.3).

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man Purusha: the Brahmins (priests, teachers and preachers) derived from his head, the Kşatriyas (warriors, soldiers, kings and governors) from his shoulder, the Vaiśas (merchants, cattle herders, agriculturists and artisans) from his torso and the Sūdras (labourers and service providers) from his feet (Skoda 2014:para.4; Subramanian 2016:3). Accordingly, the Brahmins form the head of the hierarchy while the Sūdras constitute the lowest category within the system.

Each of the four varnas can furthermore be subdivided into hundreds of jatis16, represented by local village societies with considerable regional variation. Birth alone decides about the varna and jati a person belongs to and social mobility remains low, since interaction with lower castes leads to status degradation (Meisig 2003:157). It is important to understand that Hinduism is not a religion you chose or that one can convert to, but a social system you are born into: a Hindu is born as a Hindu and dies as a Hindu. Cultural, civil and economic rights are determined by birth and the caste system provides various regulatory mechanisms (like social ostracism, caste-related violence or restrictions on physical mobility) to uphold and enforce this unequal and hierarchical assignment of rights and social status (Sabharwal & Sonalkar 2015:45). According to the French sociologist Célestin Bouglé (1971), the caste system rests upon three pillars: (1) the separation of groups with particular regard to marriage and food, (2) a hereditary division of labour and (3) hierarchy (:20). Underlying these three principles are the notions of purity and impurity, which build the foundation of the caste hierarchy (:82). This separation into ritually pure and impure castes leads to marriage restrictions, as well as a differentiation between professions that are considered pure (priests) and impure (leather workers). Furthermore, even touching those who are labelled impure or ‘polluted’, is considered contaminating and requires more or less time-consuming purification rituals.

3.5.2 Origins of the caste system

The hierarchical division of people into different castes has shaped the social life in India over centuries and left deep marks in the social, political as well as economic spheres until today. How the caste system evolved remains unclear, though multiple

16 _{Jati derives from the word jan which means “form of existence fixed by birth” (Madan 2015:para.9)} and describes “a subcaste or closed social group into which one is born and within which one must marry” (Ferry 2008:9).

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theories emerged over the centuries. Until quite recently most scholars and historians believed that the caste system arose after the invasion of the Aryans from the north- west around 1500 BC with the conquerors imposing an oppressive system on those who were vanquished (Bidner & Eswaran 2014:6). However, this assertion has been largely rejected in recent literature. There is both archaeological and genetic evidence suggesting that the caste system of India was an entirely indigenous development and not one imposed by foreign invaders (:6). According to the archaeological findings, the Vedic culture, which most probably spawned the caste system around 3500 BC, originated through an earlier culture at Harappa17 (Shafer and Lichtenstein 2005). The genetic evidence strongly indicates that a large external infusion into the Indian gene pool since 3500 BC is very unlikely to have taken place (Sahoo et al. 2006:847). In anthropology, the prevailing theory of caste is that of Louis Dumont (1980), who believed that the concepts of ‘purity’ and ‘pollution’ are key to understanding the origins of the caste system. Over 30 years later, however, Bidner and Eswaran (2014) argue that Dumont’s theory does not explain why these concepts were taken as given. Rather, they view the purity and pollution dichotomy as means to establish the caste system - and not as its cause (:7). The cause, they believe, is mainly of socioeconomic nature: the caste system came into existence to exploit the complementarities in family production (:26). In India, it was (and largely still is) of utmost importance for a man to choose a woman with similar occupational skills. If spousal complementarities in production are high, chances are good that their income will be at maximum level. If the spouses don’t match with regard to their occupation, income falls. Bidner and Eswaran (2014) further believe that it was the Brahmins who initiated the first separation into endogamous groups, since they wanted to ensure the intact oral transmission of Hindu Scriptures over generations. Looking at the enormity of the task (note that the Rig Veda, which is only the first among the four Vedas, has about 11000 verses), it was essential to keep the group size big enough (:30-31). This of course required women “with skills complementary to those of their husbands and with an upbringing conducive to the Brahmin’s way of life” (:31).

17 _{Harappa is an ancient city, which was excavated in the 1920s in present day Pakistan. Its inhabitants} were part of the Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) that had its mature period around 2600–1900 BC. The people of the IVC were literate, but the Indu Script remains to date undeciphered (Narayanan 2010:12).

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Following this line of thought, the caste system did not primarily arise out of secular notions of power but because of socioeconomic considerations. Notions of power, like impurity and pollution, were (and still are) used to uphold the caste system. It is a system of socialization, where all individuals are made to “acknowledge and support the social boundaries imposed on them, and this is effected primarily through social rituals" (Olivelle 1998:214). Exclusion is therefore internal to the system and thus necessarily an outcome of its underlying principles (Ingole 2012:74).