The Caste System & How It Affects Society Today
The other day, I overheard my father speaking about how our family needed to find someone of our same caste for my cousin to marry. I didn’t even know what our caste was until very recently, and I was surprised to even hear us still talking about it. An arbitrary label that was provided to us at birth was supposed to define who we were to marry?
The caste system, a centuries old system used to categorize people by their profession, is still in use today. Crazy, right? Such a discriminatory system is still in play hundreds of years after activists worked hard to eliminate it from the government. Families, especially in small villages in India, still hold the caste system in a high regard, knowing well that it was an unfair, unjust system.
What is the Caste System?
If you haven’t heard of the caste system yet, it might be time to hit the history books. India’s caste system is basically as old as time, with Vedic Hindu texts explaining the system. On the top of the system, there are the brahmins (the priests), the kshatriyas (the warriors), the vaisyas (the merchants), and then finally the shudras (the laborers). There were also the untouchables, people in the lowest of the lowest caste.
How was it unjust?
The Hindu caste system undoubtedly created a culture of oppression, only worsened by the rule of the British Raj later. The social hierarchy created very little movement between castes as people were forced to marry within their caste. Intercaste marriages were often met with dangerous violence. Social status dictated what people would be doing for the rest of their lives- no freedom to choose what they wanted to be. Untouchables were denied the basic human right to clean water. Even though it was a part of religion, there was no justification for the system, as it only promoted oppressive, discriminatory practices.
When was it eradicated?
In 1948, discrimination based on the caste system was outlawed in India after achieving independence from the British. In 1950, the whole system was deemed illegal.
If it’s illegal, why does it still exist? And, where?
Although the system was eradicated, and the government utilized affirmative action to provide equivalent benefits for people of all castes, the change needed to come from society itself, and as we observe today, that change never came. Intercaste marriage is still very much so taboo, and violence against people who defy their caste regulations is still very common. About 80% of the 166.6 million dalits (untouchables) that still exist in India live in low-income rural areas. The dalits who are women also face unspeakable sexual violence and abuse. And, after the pandemic, everything just got worse.
Even though it may not be systemically involved with the government, the caste system is still systemically involved with Indian society, as well as its diaspora- it just looks a little bit different. The violence and discrimination that we see today due to the caste system is just hidden behind closed doors. Removing the caste system means eradicating a centuries-old tradition that may not be possible, but we can all certainly try our best by spreading awareness about the issue, and working with the government as well as NGOs to provide care and resources for those in need.