Caste has been described as the fundamental social institution of India. Sometimes the term is used metaphorically to refer to rigid social distinctions or extreme social exclusiveness wherever found, and some authorities have used the term ‘colourcaste system’ to describe the stratification based on race in the United States and elsewhere. But it is among the Hindus in India that we find the system in its most fully developed form, although analogous forms exist among Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and other religious groups in South Asia. It is an ancient institution, having existed for at least 2,000 years among the Hindus who developed not only elaborate caste practices but also a complex theory to explain and justify those practices (Dumont 1980 [1966]). The theory has now lost much ofits force although many of the practices continue.
The English word ‘caste’ might mean either varna orjati. Varna refers to an ideal model, a plan or design of society whereas jati refers to the actual social groups with which people identify themselves and on whose basis they interact with each other. The varnas are only four in number — Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra — and they were the same and were ranked in the same order among Hindus everywhere, from ancient to modern times; this scheme has now lost its legal authority and also much of its social authority. The jatis are many in number and often internally segmented; although they vary from one religion to another and have changed their identities over time, they continue to maintain an active existence among most Indians.
Membership in a caste is by birth, and caste is extremely important in marriage. Most Indians, especially Hindus, marry within their caste. Nowadays individuals might marry in a different subcaste of their own caste, and sometimes in a different, though cognate, caste; but marriages without consideration of caste are still rare. In the past, each caste was associated with a distinct traditional occupation, and a caste might be divided into subcastes in keeping with differences in occupational practice. The emergence of a large number of modern, ‘castefree’ occupations has greatly weakened the specific association between caste and occupation; but there is still a general association, such that those in superior non-manual occupations are mostly from the upper castes, and those in inferior manual occupations mostly from the lower castes. Castes were elaborately ranked in the past, and the social ranking of castes is still conspicuous. This ranking has been characteristically expressed in the ritual idiom of pollution and purity, although economic factors were always important and are now increasingly so.
Caste has been closely associated with a variety of ritual practices and with religious beliefs about a person’s station in life. The ritual and religious basis of caste has weakened greatly, but it has been given a new lease of life by democratic politics which encourages the mobilization of electoral support on the basis of caste. In this respect, caste loyalties tend to act like ethnic loyalties in many contemporary societies.
