History Main / TypeCaste

The Indian Government classifies people into castes in order to run affirmative action programs as it reserves some seats in the various national and state legislatures for disadvantaged castes, as well as universities. This is subject to controversy similar to debates about affirmative action in the United States. Intermarriage between castes does take place, but is unusual. With arranged marriages, often people will specify what caste they want potential partners to belong to. Caste-based political parties also exist.

* Brahmin, religious priests and scholars.

See UsefulNotes/KnightFever for hereditary peerage and the associated noble titles (along with non-hereditary titles) in UsefulNotes/{{Britain}}, FantasticCasteSystem for fictional caste systems not related to Indian traditions, HiveCasteSystem for the hierarchy determined by birth in an insect society, and BlueBlood for high-born families in any setting. Also see StarCrossedLovers, for instances where they face difficulties due to this system being in effect.

The ''Literature/{{Manusmriti}}'' theoretically divides society into four ''varnas'' (a Sanskrit word which means type, order, or class) listed below, which can be further divided into ''jatis'' (clans, tribes, communities and sub-communities, and religions).

See UsefulNotes/KnightFever for hereditary peerage and the associated noble titles (along with non-hereditary titles) in UsefulNotes/{{Britain}}, FantasticCasteSystem for fictional caste systems not related to Indian traditions, HiveCasteSystem for the hierarchy determined by birth in an insect society, and BlueBlood for high-born families in any setting.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "{{Literature/Strikebreaker}}": Ragusnik reminds the sociologist Lamorak of the Untouchables in ancient India. This compares the story's FantasticCasteSystem to the Dalit castes. Both the Dalit and the Ragusnik perform sanitation servies for their society.

* ''Bollywood/{{Devdas}}'': Paro is born of a family of traders while Devdas is born of a higher class. This leads to them being StarCrossedLovers.

* ''Bollywood/{{Lagaan}}'': Kachra, their bowler, is a crippled Dalit. Some of the members refuse to participate in the game and get a morality lecture from the protagonist.
* ''Bollywood/{{Lajja}}'': Sushma is the daughter of Gajendra, a wealthy politician. Prakash's mother, on the other hand, is a widowed and poor country midwife disliked by Gajendra for her radical desire to educate the women of her rural village. When Gajendra finds out that Sushma has kissed Prakash and is helping him escape from her father, who wanted him castrated, he disowns her and tells everyone she's dead.
* ''Bollywood/MughalEAzam'': Salim is the Prince and the son of the Emperor Akbar. Anarkali is a ''tawaif'', a dancer who entertains the court. Their different social status leads them to become StarCrossedLovers.

* Outside of these four groups are the Dalit castes, who have historically been considered "untouchable" and relegated to supposedly unclean jobs like sanitation, cremation, and leatherworking. About 160 million Dalits live in India today.

Modern caste identity is something akin to ethnicity or race, and as with race, some caste groups are distinctly disadvantaged. And though there is a strong relationship between caste, occupation, and economic status, it is not as homogeneous or simple a system as Westerners are led to believe. Its power varies across India and across time. People can and have taken occupations outside those associated with their caste, historically as well as in the present day. [[note]]See the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakatiya_dynasty "Sudra Kings"]][[/note]]

The ''Manusmriti'' theoretically divides society into four ''varnas''[[note]]a Sanskrit word which means type, order, or class[[/note]] listed below, which can be further divided into ''jatis''[[note]]clans, tribes, communities and sub-communities, and religions[[/note]].

* Brahmin - religious priests and scholars
* Kshatriya - kings and warriors
* Vaishya - merchants and artisans
* Sudra - service

'''However, these are not'' the ''castes.''' This is a common misconception. There are thousands of groups in India that are called castes (such that it would be difficult to list all here in any meaningful way) and an Indian will identify with one of these thousands of groups rather than one of the varnas[[note]]With the exception of Brahmins and Dalits, whose ''varna'' is truly a large part of their identity[[/note]].

The concept of ''jati'' is closer to the actuality of caste, and in fact the two words "jati" and "caste" are often used interchangeably in India. There is not always a clear-cut hierarchy because there are a ''lot'' of jatis, and they change across region and time. Castes can also arise from various ethnic, tribal, or religious divisions (i.e, not solely from class or occupational divisions). In addition, there can be overlap and redundancy, with more than one ''jati'' occupying the same "niche" of occupation or function.

Although the British, relying on the ''Manusmriti'' to govern Indians, did use the varna system for categorizing the castes, varna has little practical relevance today except in the case of the brahmins and the dalits. It was a simple theoretical system imposed imperfectly upon a large and complex real one. So, because people are not tropes that can be neatly cataloged, the two concepts of Jati and Varna are not inflexibly linked, and the lines can be blurred, with some castes not clearly belonging in a varna, some belonging to multiple, and some moving around in status.

'''Caste Changes - Castes Today'''

!!The Caste System in Fiction:

[[folder: Literatures]]
* The ''Literature/{{Mahabharata}}'':
** Karna is condemned to not participate in a match of arms because he is the son of a charioteer by Kuru elders and the Pandavas. He is rejected by Draupadi as a potential suitor because of his origin. He becomes a warrior and a King regardless due to the help of Duryodhana, the serial antagonist who gifts him the kingdom of Anga and his superior archery skills. It is later revealed that he was actually the son of Kunti and therefore half-brother to the Pandavas.
** In the expanded version, Krishna, the Avatar is criticized by Uttanka, a brahmin, for not having stopped the Kurushetra war and his partiality towards the Pandavas. Krishna is impressed by his argument and promises him that he would get water whenever he is thirsty. Uttanka wanders in the desert and is thirsty. He sees a untouchable who walks up to him and offers him water in a bag made of animal skin. Uttanka refuses due to his prejudice. Krishna appears and states that the untouchable was actually Indra who had ambrosia/nectar in his bag that would make him immortal. He then chastises Uttanka for his own prejudice.
** Women in the Mahabharata were less subjected to caste restrictions and could rise up to a higher caste/social station through hypergamy. Satyavati is the daughter of a fisherwoman and becomes the wife and Queen of Shantanu. Vidura's mother is a slave who slept with Author Avatar Vyasa whose son therefore easily rises to the level of Vizier.
* In an apparent subversion, in the ''Literature/{{Ramayana}}'', the author, Valmiki's profession was that of being a thief. He repented of his thievery and became instead a hermit and a poet. It does not seem like Valmiki had any obstacles to this path, perhaps because being a hermit/sage removes one from all obligations to society and by default, caste. It could also be that caste was not as rigid back at that time as it turned out to be much later.
** This is true, historians agree that the caste system was not part of the original Vedic texts and is a later, post-Vedic, addition.
* ''Thillai Govindan'' (1901)
* ''Literature/TheGodOfSmallThings''
* 'A Fine Balance' by Rohinton Mistry
* The novels of Philip Meadows Taylor dramatizing Thuggees brush into caste as a matter of course. In ''Literature/{{Seeta}}'', for instance, the leader of the Thuggees, Azrael Pande, is noted to be a Brahmin, a holy man, in spite of being a murderous dacoit bandit.

[[folder:Films]]
* ''Bollywood/{{Devdas}}'' ends up as a tragedy because of this. Paro is born of a family of traders while Devdas is born of a higher class. This leads to them being {{Starcrossed Lovers}}
* Bollywood/MughalEAzam ends in a tragedy because of this as well. Salim is the Prince and the son of the Emperor Akbar. Anarkali is a ''tawaif'', a dancer who entertains the court. Their differing social status leads them to become {{Starcrossed Lovers}}
* The Movie ''Bollywood/{{Lagaan}}'' addresses this issue. Kachra, their bowler, is a crippled Dalit. Some of the members refuse to participate in the game and get a morality lecture from the Protagonist.
* The Movie Swades deals with this issue as well. The protagonist finds that Dalits were segregated and not allowed into school in the village that he was educating. He is able to better their condition by the end though.
* Dilli 6, another Bollywood movie released in 2008, deals with caste as one of the many stories of Dilli 6. A Dalit woman in the movie is shunned by a higher caste man that she loves because of her caste. She is not allowed to touch anyone who is higher caste in case she "pollutes" them. She is also subject to harassment by the local police officer. The movie ends with the higher caste man reciprocating her love and bemoaning the foolishness of caste segregation and meaningless rituals.
* In ''Bollywood/{{Lajja}}'', two young side characters, Sushma and Prakash are in love. Sushma is the daughter of Gajendra, a wealthy politician, and Prakash is the son of a widowed and poor country midwife (who is also not liked by Gajendra for her radical desire to educate the women of her rural village). When Gajendra finds out that Sushma has kissed Prakash and is helping him escape from her father (who wanted him castrated), he disowns her and tells everyone she's dead.

[[folder:Depictions of Caste outside India]]

* ''Literature/TheMoonstone'' (published in 1868) correctly states that observant Hindus lose their caste when they cross the sea/large body of water. However, this is not universal. South Indian Hindus didn't have much of an issue with crossing the Black Water as the maritime kingdoms of the region attest.
* The matter is also touched upon in the ''Raj Quartet'' set in UsefulNotes/TheRaj, where an Indian [[StrangerInAFamiliarLand brought up in England]] is asked to take part in a ceremony to rectify this.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Apu has casual sex with a random Indian woman at a party. He promises to "tell everyone [she was] untouchable", presumably to defend her reputation. His mother also says in another episode that their family is Brahmin (it has become more common in modern times to have real Brahmins as {{Asian store owner}}s and other poor professions).
* Creator/OsamuTezuka's ''Buddha'', a fictionalized biography of the Gautama Buddha, deals heavily with issues of caste prejudice throughout the series.
* ''VideoGame/{{Unrest}}'' is set in the city-state of Bhimra, a fantasy interpretation of ancient India, complete with a caste system. Tanya, [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent one of the protagonists]], has her story begin with her parents arranging for her to marry Hanu, a young man of the merchant caste.
* In an episode of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', Raj's parents set him up on a date with an Indian woman whom he knew as a child. He remembers her as, "The little fat girl that used to kick me in the samosas and call me untouchable." In another episode, Raj is criticized for using the world "lackey", to which he replies, "Oh, I’m sorry, is that politically incorrect? In India, we just call them untouchables."

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Apu has casual sex with a random Indian woman at a party. He promises to "tell everyone [she was] untouchable", presumably to defend her reputation.

Although the British, relying on the ''Manusmriti'' to govern Indians, did use the varna system for categorizing the castes, varna has little practical relevance today except in the case of the brahmins and the dalits. It was a simple theoretical system imposed imperfectly upon a large and complex real one. So, [[CaptainObvious because people are not tropes that can be neatly cataloged]], the two concepts of Jati and Varna are not inflexibly linked, and the lines can be blurred, with some castes not clearly belonging in a varna, some belonging to multiple, and some moving around in status.

The caste system is a powerful institution prevalent in Indian society today. For many Indians, caste is a major aspect of their identity. It is something one is born into. People are expected to marry (and in some places, even socialize) within their own caste. A person inherits their parents' caste, and it cannot change regardless of what job they have or how much wealth they accumulate.

The caste system is a powerful institution prevalent (though not as much as it once was, due to British educations) in Indian society today. For many Indians, caste is a major aspect of their identity. It is something one is born into. People are expected to marry (and in some places, even socialize) within their own caste. A person inherits their parents' caste, and it cannot change regardless of what job they have or how much wealth they accumulate.

The caste system is a powerful institution prevalent in Indian society today. For many Indians, caste is a major aspect of their identity. It is something one is born into. People are expected to marry (and in some places, even socialize) within their own caste. A person inherits their parents' caste, and it cannot change regardless of what job they have or how much wealth they accumulate.

* Outside of these four groups is the Dalit - earlier so called "untouchables" who can historically do only menial jobs, like street cleaning, cremation and leather tanning. There about 160 million Dalits in India today.

See FantasticCasteSystem for fictional caste systems not related to Indian traditions, HiveCasteSystem for the hierarchy determined by birth in an insect society, and BlueBlood for high-born families in any setting.

See FantasticCasteSystem for fictional caste systems not related to Indian traditions, and HiveCasteSystem for the hierarchy determined by birth in an insect society.

The ''Manusmriti'' theoretically divides society into four ''varnas''[[note]]a Sanskrit word which means type, order, or class[[/note]] listed below, which can be further divided into ''jatis''[[note]]clans, tribes, communities and sub-communities, and religions[[/note]] a Sanskrit word which means type, order, or class[[/note]].

The ''Manusmriti'' theoretically divides society into four ''varnas'' listed below, which can be further divided into ''jatis''.

See FantasticCasteSystem for fictional caste systems not related to Indian traditions, and HiveCasteSystem for the hierarchy in an insect society determined by birth.

The concept of ''jati'' is closer to the actuality of caste, and infact the two words "jati" and "caste" are often used interchangeably in India. There is not always a clear-cut hierarchy because there are a ''lot'' of jatis, and they change across region and time. Castes can also arise from various ethnic, tribal, or religious divisions (i.e, not solely from class or occupational divisions). In addition, there can be overlap and redundancy, with more than one ''jati'' occupying the same "niche" of occupation or function.

See FantasticCasteSystem for fictional caste systems not related to Indian traditions, and HiveCasteSystem for the hierarchy in an insect society determined by birth.

'''The Caste System in Fiction'''

'''The Caste System in Movies'''

'''Depictions of Caste outside India'''

* The ''{{Mahabharata}}'':

The Indian Government classifies people into castes in order to run affirmative action programs as it reserves some seats in the various national and state legislatures for disadvantaged castes, as well as universities and [[http://surerecruitment.in different types of government jobs]] . This is subject to controversy similar to debates about affirmative action in the United States. Intermarriage between castes does take place, but is unusual. With arranged marriages, often people will specify what caste they want potential partners to belong to. Caste-based political parties also exist.

The Indian Government classifies people into castes in order to run affirmative action programs as it reserves some seats in the various national and state legislatures for disadvantaged castes, as well as universities and [[http://surerecruitment.in/"different types of government jobs"]] . This is subject to controversy similar to debates about affirmative action in the United States. Intermarriage between castes does take place, but is unusual. With arranged marriages, often people will specify what caste they want potential partners to belong to. Caste-based political parties also exist.

The Indian Government classifies people into castes in order to run affirmative action programs as it reserves some seats in the various national and state legislatures for disadvantaged castes, as well as universities and government jobs. This is subject to controversy similar to debates about affirmative action in the United States. Intermarriage between castes does take place, but is unusual. With arranged marriages, often people will specify what caste they want potential partners to belong to. Caste-based political parties also exist.