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The caste system in India is the paradigmatic ... There are at least two perspectives for the origins of the caste system in ancient and medieval India, which focus ...
Ambedkar views that definitions of castes given by Émile Senart [5] John Nesfield, H. H. Risley and Dr Ketkar as incomplete or incorrect by itself and all have missed the central point in the mechanism of the caste system. Senart's "idea of pollution" is a characteristic of caste in so far as caste has a religious flavour.
These caste groups retained their identity even after conversion to Islam or Christianity. Each of the caste groups was thus the unit within which cultural and perhaps genetic evolution occurred, at least for the last 1500 years when the system was fully crystallized and probably much longer.
The Nikaya texts also imply that endogamy was not mandated in ancient India. Masefield concludes, "if any form of caste system was known during the Nikaya period - and it is doubtful that it was - this was in all probability restricted to certain non-Aryan groups". [41]
Shudra or Shoodra [1] (Sanskrit: Śūdra [2]) is one of the four varnas of the Hindu class and social system in ancient India. [3] [4] Some sources translate it into English as a caste, [4] or as a social class. Theoretically, Shudras constituted a class like workers. [2] [5] [6]
The caste system in Sri Lanka is a division of society into strata, [38] influenced by the textbook jāti system found in India. Ancient Sri Lankan texts such as the Pujavaliya, Sadharmaratnavaliya and Yogaratnakaraya and inscriptional evidence show that the above hierarchy prevailed throughout the feudal period.
Despite being outlawed in 1950, the caste system, which categorizes Hindus at birth and once forced the so-called “untouchables” or Dalits to the margins of society, is still omnipresent in ...
Reddy [a] (also transliterated as Raddi, Reddi, Reddiar, Reddappa) is a Hindu caste predominantly found in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in South India. They are classified as a forward caste. The origin of the Reddy has been linked to the Rashtrakutas, although opinions vary. They were feudal overlords and peasant proprietors.