Page 101 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Social Stratification Rosy Hastir, Lovely Professional University

Notes Unit 6: Caste

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
6.1 Concept of Caste
6.2 Features of Caste System
6.3 Caste System as a System of Stratification
6.4 Summary
6.5 Key–Words
6.6 Review Questions
6.7 Further Readings

Objectives
After studying this unit students will be able to:
• Understand the Concept of Caste.
• Discuss the Features of the Caste System.
• Explain the Caste System as a System of Stratification.

Introduction

The caste system in India has been studied with three perspectives : Indological, socio-
anthropological and sociological. The Indologists have viewed caste from the scriptural point of
view, social anthropologists from the cultural point of view, and sociologists from the stratificational
point of view.
In the Indo-religious perspective, the Indologists take their cue from the scriptures about the
origin, purpose and future of the caste system. They maintain that varnas have originated from
Brahma—the virat purusa—and castes are the fissioned units within the varna system developed as
the result of hypergamy and hypogamy practices. These units, or jatis, received their ranks relative
to one another in the varna order. The rituals to be performed by the four varnas are status-bound
and prescribed in the Brahmanas (written in about 800 B.C.), while the customs and the laws to be
followed by each caste are prescribed in the Smritis (written in about 200-100 B.C.). The regional,
linguistic, ethnic, and sectarian variations have gradually come to affect the ordering of jati
relationships. The object of the origin of castes, according to them (Indologists), was the division
of labour. As people came to accept the general ideology of the division of society into four groups
(or say, classes or orders), they became more and more rigid, and membership, occupation, etc.,
became hereditary. The Brahmins were given the superior position in the social system because of
the belief in the divine right of Brahmins to interprete and administer the laws. The rigidity in the
caste system is, thus, the result of beliefs in karma (deeds) and dharma (duties and obligations),
which means that the motive force for the caste dogmas was definitely religious. Referring to the
future of castes, the Indologists maintain that since they are divine, they will continue to exist .

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