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Beginning in ancient India, the caste system was originally centered around varna, with Brahmins (priests) and, to a lesser extent, Kshatriyas (rulers and warriors) serving as the elite classes, followed by Vaishyas (traders, merchants, and farmers) and finally Shudras (labourers).
The evolution of the lower caste and tribe into the modern-day Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe is complex. The caste system as a stratification of classes in India originated about 2,000 years ago, and has been influenced by dynasties and ruling elites, including the Mughal Empire and the British Raj.
The paradigmatic ethnographic example of caste is the division of India's Hindu society into rigid social groups. 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 ...
The “rigidity of caste structure” is an important reason for the proliferation of godmen, said K. Kalyani, an assistant professor of Sociology at Azim Premji University, Bangalore.
A diagram depicting the structure of varnas in India. See more at Caste system in India. In India, a caste although it's a western stratification arrived from Portuguese word Casta and Latin word castus, is a (usually endogamous) social group where membership is decided by birth. [1]
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.
Despite its apparent rigidity, the jajmani system adapted to some wider changes. For example, Gould reported in his 1960s study of an area of eastern Uttar Pradesh, North India, that the Kori caste, who were traditionally weavers, had become agricultural labourers, ploughmen, because industrialisation had made their prior role redundant ...
Caste panchayats, based on caste system in India, are caste-specific juries of elders for villages or higher-level communities in India. [1] They are distinct from gram panchayats in that the latter, as statutory bodies, serve all villagers regardless of caste as a part of the Indian government, although they operate on the same principles.