The caste system in India
Many thanks to my great friend Greg Havely for some vital help at this crucial stage as I prepare for my transit to Iran. I am hampered in my preparations by the Iranian New Year celebrations starting on 19th and lasting a week!
Also thanks to Greg for his research on this article as no travel blog on India would be complete without a reference to the so called caste system. The Caste system in India today
There is much to be said about the caste system in India (now declared illegal), but for this entry suffice it to say that it is (was) a system of social stratification. Historically it separated various endogamous hereditary groups called “Jatis”—Today, the usage of Jatis and caste are somewhat synonymous.
The “Jatis” are separated into 4 categories called “varnas” which are ranked in hierarchical order (originally, the system wasn’t to have a hierarchy based on occupation or birth but purely on personality; this has been skewed somehow over time), which determines the behavior of one member of society over another.
The levels are as follows:
Brahmana (now more commonly spelled Brahmin): Consist of those engaged in scriptural education and teaching, essential for the continuation of knowledge.
Kshatriya: Take on all forms of public service, including administration, maintenance of law and order, and defense.
Vaishya: Engage in commercial activity as businessmen.
Shudra: Work as semi-skilled and unskilled laborers.
The most common problem with this system was there was no ability to move between castes, i.e for lower castes to rise to a higher level caste–thus restricting economic progress amongst the populace.
Mahatma Ghandi added a fifth class to the system—that being called Harijan or “Children of God”. These are the so called “untouchables”—the very lowest rung on the class ladder.
Rooted in religion and based on a division of labor, the caste system, among other things, dictates the type of occupations a person can pursue and the social interactions that she may have. Castes are an aspect of Hindu religion. Other religions in India do not follow this system.
Castes still rarely intermarry and are definitely not changeable. In urban India, though, people of all castes meet socially or for business. Discriminating against anyone because of their caste for things like club memberships and so on is against the law.
Today if you asked a person who lives in the city what caste means to them, you would get a very different response than that of a person who lives in a village. It can be argued that in India’s emerging middle class, consisting of about 50-75 million people, many would say that there is no longer such a thing as caste. However, it soon becomes evident that though in many respects caste is diminishing, in many others it is still an important part of Indian society. In the villages especially, caste dictates marriage, rituals concerning birth and death as well as occupation which all in turn have a large role in economic status. In this way the impact is tremendous although subtle and varied.
March 15th, 2014 at 6:25 pm
Well after reading that Tony, I’m glad I don’t live in a village in India. Especially in the Bihar state, we don’t know how lu my we are really, take care Ann
March 15th, 2014 at 10:12 pm
great work tony. i am beginning to feel i know the indians well. but you will be moving on soon. keep it going. kevin
March 17th, 2014 at 1:00 am
Happy St. Patrick’s Day Tony, enjoy your day finishing off India. Take care Ann
March 17th, 2014 at 2:38 am
Thanks everyone and a happy St. Patrick’s Day to you all also!
I will finish running India today. I have less than 35km so it will be an easy day,I hope! It is still very hot and humid here. Yesterday I ran a
wearing a turban which got many very puzzled stares! Thanks to the people of Mahuana for that.
I ran 41km yesterday, 51 on Saturday, a terrible 28 on Friday as I was tired from Thursdays effort of 63km. Total to date is 41,521km for 948 road days. Yesterday I finished in Arni Wala village and many thanks to Manish for hosting me in his house. This morning I had breakfast in his family home before setting out to run the last stretch of road in India from this village to Fazilka and then another 12km or so as far as the Pakistan border.
I will then return to New Delhi by train or bus and in a few days time get a flight to Terhran, Iran and return to eastern Iran for my run across that country and onwards towards Turkey and at last Europe
Thanks again for your suppport.
March 17th, 2014 at 8:17 am
brilliant tony. happy st patrick’s day. its amazing to see you inch closer to home on the map. keep up the great work. kevin
March 17th, 2014 at 9:53 am
manish ur friend from arniwala…………best of luck for great work…….
March 17th, 2014 at 2:38 pm
Happy st Patrick’s day Tony on your last day running in India. Take care
March 17th, 2014 at 7:49 pm
Happy saint Patrick’s day tony
March 18th, 2014 at 6:30 am
Having some problems logging on so don’t know if spit updated as I noticed
It wasn’t earlier in the day.
India has been run T.G.
But still the insanity continues including a security man hassling me in the train station because I had only small baggage! Many people like to make problems out of nothing. India 2,888km in 69 road days total circa 41,560 in 949 days. So the thousand marathons in under a thousand road days is getting easier and easier by the day! For my non running friends that target is 42,195km.
Almost in Delhi
Got some stuff to sort
Talk soon Tony
March 18th, 2014 at 11:27 pm
India has been run thank God and good riddance!
March 19th, 2014 at 2:08 am
very great tony .. i hope u will be happy …..after many problems ..
March 19th, 2014 at 7:55 am
tony please tag my snape on ur website……….manish….and now where r uuuuuuu…………nnning?