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Activity Discussion General Discussion What is caste system? Reply To: What is caste system?

  • tanya

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    June 1, 2021 at 2:11 pm
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    A caste is a form of social lamination defined by endogamy, the hereditary passage of a style of life that incorporates an occupation, ritual state in a regime, and conventional social cooperation and separation based on cultural notions of purity and pollution. This ritual is there since ancient history. However, the caste system in India has been declining now because of urbanization and the modernization that is prevailing these days. The caste system was reconstructed by several ruling elites in medieval, early-modern, and Modern India, primarily the Mughal Empire and the British Raj. The caste system consists of two distinct notions, varna and jati, which may be considered as diverse levels of study of this system. The Indian Society was divided into five castes. They are the Brahmins, the Kshatriyas, the Vaisya, the Sudras, the Untouchables.

    Brahmins are considered the priestly caste. Once their religious position declined in society, they became the caste of officialdom. The Kshatriyas are known to be the warrior ones. They were the direct descendants of the warriors who had conquered India. The Vaisya consists of the common people. Generally, they comprise of merchants. The Sudras at that time represented the maximum part of the population. Most of them were peasants, artisans, and others who worked as a part of the manual labor. The fifth caste system comprised of the Untouchables. They were the descendants of either the slaves or the prisoners. They were not given any importance by the people in the society. They were given the most degrading work by people. In Ancient India, people lived and died only as members of their particular caste. Even the marriages mostly took place in the same caste. Every caste thought of the other castes as below average and did not give much importance to the people belonging to the other caste.

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