Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The caste system consists of two different concepts, varna and jati, which may be regarded as different levels of analysis of this system. The caste system as it exists today is thought to be the result of developments during the collapse of the Mughal era and the rise of the British colonial government in India.
This quadruple division is a form of social stratification, quite different from the more nuanced system of Jātis, which correspond to the European term "caste". [8] The varna system is discussed in Hindu texts, and understood as idealised human callings. [9] [10] The concept is generally traced to the Purusha Sukta verse of the Rig Veda.
A subject of much scholarship by sociologists and anthropologists, the Hindu caste system is sometimes used as an analogical basis for the study of caste-like social divisions existing outside Hinduism and India. In colonial Spanish America, mixed-race castas were a category within the Hispanic sector but the social order was otherwise fluid.
The devotees rushed to collect soil from the ground the man had just walked on, thousands thronging to the front of a venue densely crammed with a quarter of a million people, under stifling heat.
In June, Wahab amended the bill to remove background information on the caste system, as well as references to Hinduism and South Asia — though she said that this did not affect the bill’s intent.
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.
Modern scholars state that such usage of the term Brahmin in ancient texts does not imply a caste, but simply "masters" (experts), guardian, recluse, preacher or guide of any tradition. [ 13 ] [ 14 ] [ 15 ] An alternate synonym for Brahmin in the Buddhist and other non-Hindu tradition is Mahano .
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. [30] [31] The Hindu concept of Varna historically incorporated occupation-based communities. [30]