Tags
Asia, Brahmin, Caste, Caste and Communal Issues, culture, Dalit, Government, history, human society, India, india caste, law, Tamil Nadu
The Cast division in the modern India still remains an open and ambiguous issue. The word “cast” is not of the Indian origin. It was introduced by the Europeans quite recently in the beginning of the twentieth century. There original systems of classifications in India: “varna” and “dzhati”. The first word means “color” and denotes exactly what is commonly called “cast’. There are four of them which include priests, warriors, sellers and servants. But apart from these four ones there is an endless number of other divisions according to the professions, families and the territory which is called “dzhati”.
This division is similar to the one that took place in the medieval Europe system of manufacture departments. There are dzhati of thieves, potters, workers of laundry and others. By the way laundry is still considered to be a work for men only in the present day India. Even today when the discrimination according to the cast belonging is prohibited is is almost impossible to move from one cast to another. Though the laws allow the marriage of the two people from different social layers, it is not easy to overcome all the obstacles in practice. There are often the notes in the newspaper columns with personal dating or marriage ads seen which say “casta no bara”- “the cast belonging doesn’t matter”, but is that really true?
