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Historically speaking, the alliance and the open status group, whether war band or religious sect, dominated medieval and early modern Indian history in a way descent and caste did not." [130] Adi Purana, an 8th-century text of Jainism by Jinasena, is the first mention of varna and jati in Jain literature. [131]
Its roots lie in South Asia's ancient history and it still exists; [1] [5] however, the economic significance of the caste system in India seems to be declining as a result of urbanisation and affirmative action programs. A subject of much scholarship by sociologists and anthropologists, the Hindu caste system is sometimes used as an analogical ...
Practically, it is an institution that portends tremendous consequences. It is a local problem, but one capable of much wider mischief, for "as long as caste in India does exist, Hindus will hardly intermarry or have any social intercourse with outsiders; and if Hindus migrate to other regions on earth, Indian caste would become a world problem ...
Las castas.Casta painting showing 16 racial groupings. Anonymous, 18th century, oil on canvas, 148×104 cm, Museo Nacional del Virreinato, Tepotzotlán, Mexico Casta (Spanish:) is a term which means "lineage" in Spanish and Portuguese and has historically been used as a racial and social identifier.
Although comparable forms of discrimination are found all over the world, untouchability involving the caste system is largely unique to South Asia. [1] [2] [3] The term is most commonly associated with treatment of the Dalit communities in the Indian subcontinent who were considered "polluting".
The Hindu caste system is structured around two key concepts through which members of society are categorized, varṇa (वर्ण) and jāti (जाति).Jati refers to countless endogamous groups defined by occupation, social status, shared ancestry, and locality, while varna divides society into a hierarchy of (usually four) broad social classes.
Caste systems in Africa are a form of social stratification found in numerous ethnic groups, found in over fifteen countries, particularly in the Sahel, West Africa, and North Africa. [1] These caste systems feature endogamy, hierarchical status, inherited occupation, membership by birth, pollution concepts and restraints on commensality. [2]
Many cultures throughout history have speculated on the nature of the mind, heart, soul, spirit, brain, etc. For instance, in Ancient Egypt, the Edwin Smith Papyrus contains an early description of the brain, and some speculations on its functions (described in a medical/surgical context) and the descriptions could be related to Imhotep who was the first Egyptian physician who anatomized and ...