Hinduism and caste system

International Journal of Novel Research and Development, 2018

This paper examines the complexity of the interconnection of varna and caste systems in Indian society. It reflects the complexities of the traditions of different caste groups and the system that regulates their relationship with each other. It will also reflect on the modes where they turn slightly flexible and become harshly rigid. The concept of community no longer exists. However, it is a stronger claim but is made while stressing the importance of the social Purushārtha Sādhana. Both terms (caste and varna) are used interchangeably. However, a question regarding their meaning would need an entire book to be written. Both words are too ambiguous, especially for non-Indians or non-Hindus, though everyone, including Hindus and Indians, may find it challenging to distinguish between them.

Bryan S. Turner (ed.) The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory, New York: Wiley Blackwell, 2017

This entry discusses the transformation of caste in the Indian context. The entry starts with a discussion of the Indological and anthropological accounts of caste and then examines whether “caste” is essentially unique to Hinduism. Furthermore, the entry discusses the possibility of mobility within the ritual hierarchy of caste. In the final section, the entry shows how caste, once described by the Christian missionaries and the colonial state as an irrational traditional institution, has transformed into a modern entity and become a vital instrument of democratic mobilization in contemporary India.

American International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, 2015

The presence of hierarchy and inequality within Indian tradition is a prominent aspect that manifests through the unequal positioning of caste and class groups within the societal framework. This intricate connection is observed in the way dharma (normative order), karma (personal moral commitment), and jāti (caste) - the foundational tenets of Indian culture - simultaneously shape the distinctiveness of Indian cultural heritage and lay the groundwork for social hierarchy. This research paper delves into an extensive and exploratory assessment of diverse scholarly perspectives aimed at illuminating the deeply entrenched traditional facets of caste within Indian society.

2015

Caste as a social system has always been in limelight for those who made effort to understand the Hindu culture, and often vaguely interpreted due to its complexity and genesis. Caste is expansion of Varna due to further development of social needs. However, they both are different things. The article focuses on the influence of various cultural elements and concurrent process happened in course of time which propelled to emerge a system that became a reality and has been affecting the Indian social setup positively and negatively both respects. Indian society is divided into several castes and groups. Each Caste group is distinctive than the others and reflects in various ways such as life style, thinking process, professional choice as well as social behavior etc. Indeed, caste system is a social institution full with unique reality and as an institution with hierarchy giving professional choice for those living in it as part. It concludes that Caste is a professional group with ...

Asian Ethnicity, 2015

Academia Letters, 2021

The theoretical debate on caste among social scientists has receded into the background in recent years. This is unfortunate, as scholars tend to return to older works to understand the issue, and these works do not really reflect the knowledge we have at present. I wrote a book on the subject recently (Transaction and Hierarchy, Elements for a Theory of Caste-Manohar, Delhi, 2017) and I feel it may be useful to summarize some of my findings here. In this short article, I simply state my views-references can be found in the book mentioned.. But first, let me stress that caste is in no sense disappearing: indeed, the present wave of neo-liberal policies in India, with privatisation of enterprises and education, has strengthened the importance of caste ties, as selection to posts and educational institutions is less based on merit through examinations, and increasingly on social contact as also on corruption. There is a tendency to assume that caste is as old as Indian civilization itself, but this assumption does not fit our historical knowledge. To be precise, however, we must distinguish between social stratification in general and caste as a specific form. There was considerable class difference in the Indus civilization, and there is no doubt that the urban developments of the early part of the last millennium before the Common Era were stratified societies. At the time of Buddha and Mahavir-the middle of that millennium-we can distinguish both social classes and ethnic groups: there is no doubt that ethnic and social stratification was present. But we look in vain for the term jati, which only comes to designate a caste by the time of the Guptas, at the beginning of the Common Era. It is true that the Varnas-the four-category classification of Indin society-is older than this: Brahmins are clearly distinguishable as a group in later Vedic times (ca. 1000 B.C.E.) and the Kshatriya category becomes important between that time and the time of the Buddha. But the two last categories-Vaishya and Shudra-were not constellated into groups even then.

Edited by Frances W. Pritchett. Editing has consisted only of numbering the paragraphs and fixing a few typographical errors. The attempt here is to see positively what this young researcher says, and how he thinks, how he arrives at what he does. This is not an explication, or even a reading/ interpretation. This is a commentary, occasionally critical, to remember that it was a hundred and one years ago that this text was presented (read out) by this young scholar, studying for his M.A. degree. I am using this version of the text because it was the most easily accessible on the web. If there are any copyight issues, please use some other version. The commentary, will remain more or less the same. The commentary is in a different and smaller italic font, and has a few clickable links (in blue and underlined) to pages on the web. Some of the paragraph breaks are mine, for clarity about the lines on which I comment. This commentary is under a Creative Commons Attribution­NonCommercial­ ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Aniket Jaaware, 08.05.2017. [email protected] Caution: The commentary assumes that you have read this essay earlier, independent of intepretation and evaluations. If you have not, I strongly suggest that you read the essay separately before you read this version with commentary. I include the text herewith. Those who have read the essay earlier, or know it better than just a reading, can proceed to page 14 directly.

Isara solutions, 2023

Present paper highlights the very beginning of the caste system. It presents the caste system during pre independence Indian society as well as in the post independence Indian society. It also highlights the changes brought in caste and society from time to time. The transformation in society has been presented in the current paper making caste as the base. The four Varnas based on Hindu mythology are discussed in the paper. An attempt has been made to bring into light the origin and the starting of this caste system in society and transformation in it from time to time. Keywords: caste, society, social barrier, transformation in caste system, social change. Etc. In India, the caste system has existed from the beginning of time. The Indian caste system has historically been used to distinguish between members of various tribes. Given that the Indian Caste System is a closed system of stratification, a person's social standing is determined by the caste they were born into. Interaction and conduct with those of a lower social position are constrained. The caste system has been changed and varied over and again in the past. This study will highlight the role of patriarchy in caste and class distinction in India, as well as present the Indian caste system and its prevalence post-independence to the present. A caste is a group of families or a collection of families with the same name, who claim to be descended from a mythical ancestor (either human or divine), who claim to follow the same hereditary calling, and who are seen by those with the authority to form judgments as constituting a single homogeneous community. B.R. Ambadkar in his article endorses M. Senart's description of caste as "a close corporation in theory at any rate rigorously hereditary; equipped with a certain traditional and independent organization including a chief and a council, meeting on occasion in assemblies of more or less plenary authority and joining together at certain festivals: bound together by common occupations, which relate more particularly to marriage and to food and to question of ceremonial pollution, and ruling it member by the exercise of jurisdiction the extent of which varies, but which succeeds in making the authority of the community more felt by the sanction of certain penalties and above all by final irrevocable exclusion from the group." (The Surplus Man and Woman) He further says, "According to well-known ethnologists, the population of India is a mixture of Aryans, Dravidians, Mongolians and Scythians. All these stocks of people came into India from various directions and with various cultures, centuries ago, when they were in a tribal state. They all in turn elbowed their entry into the country by fighting with their predecessors, and after a stomachful of it settled down as peaceful neighbours. Through constant contact and mutual intercourse they evolved a common culture that superseded their distinctive cultures. It may be granted that there has not been a thorough amalgamation of the various stocks that make up the