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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.
The other castes were similarly further sub-classified by 19th-century and early-20th-century ethnographers based on numerous criteria ranging from profession, endogamy or exogamy or polygamy, and a host of other factors in a manner similar to castas in Spanish colonies such as Mexico, and caste system studies in British colonies such as India.
According to him, in this society, certain occupational groups were thought to be involved in controlling the malevolent supernatural forces; as an example, Hart mentions the Paraiyars, who played the drums during battles and solemn events such as births and deaths.
Sikhism's relationship to the caste system is a complex and controversial topic in the modern-period. [1] [2] Although the discriminatory practices derived from the Indian caste system is repudiated by the religion's tenets, which stresses upon humanity's oneness, castes continue to be recognized and followed by much of the Sikh community, including prejudices and biases resulting from it.
Nuns from a group of Dalit Christians, or India's lowest caste who converted to Christianity, protest in New Delhi. AP Photo/Gurinder OsanThe California State University system, America’s ...
Certain scholars of caste have considered jati to have its basis in religion, assuming that the sacred elements of life in India envelop the secular aspects; for example, the anthropologist Louis Dumont described the ritual rankings that exist within the jati system as being based on the concepts of religious purity and pollution. This view has ...
Sanskritization refers to the process of emulation that lower castes may adopt, to enhance their status in society by mirroring Brahminical (upper caste) rituals and values. [11] In contrast, ethnicization endeavors to establish a separate identity for a lower caste group because the objective is to produce "nonhierarchical social imaginaries."
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.