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Friday, March 29, 2024

Does an oppressive Hindu caste system actually exist?

Public and academic discourse in Bharat often alludes to an oppressive Hindu caste system. An oppressive Hindu caste system has become a staple of discourse about Hindu Dharma. The purpose of this post is to examine this claim in the light of statistical reality. Statistical information regarding the phenomenon of the caste system was collected by the Pew Research Centre, as a part of its project entitled Religion in India: Tolerance and Segregation by Neha Sahgal, Johnathan Evans, Ariana Monique Salazar, Kelsey Jo Starr and Manolo Corichi. This report was published on June 29, 2021. The survey was carried out between late 2019 and early 2020, based on nearly 30,000 interviews conducted in nearly 17 languages. What follows is an attempt to examine the reality of the caste system in the light of the data collected in this report, which has a special section devoted to “Attitude Towards Caste” (pp. 96-107).

The first important finding according to this report, is that the caste system is not confined to Hindu Dharma. According to it, “nearly all Indians today identify with a caste, regardless of their religion” (p. 96). If, in contemporary Bharat, caste pervades all religions found in Bharat, then it is obviously misleading to refer to the caste system as the ‘Hindu caste system’, because it is in fact the ‘Indian caste system’, or even the ‘South Asian caste system.’, because caste is also found in Pakistan, and Bangladesh. This is one way in which the evidence provided by the Pew Research Centre Survey compels us to revise our conception of the caste system. It should be considered an ‘Indian caste system’.

The second important finding of this report is the following.

The manner in which the castes are grouped nowadays in Bharat, as reflected by this survey, follows the following pattern:

General Category Castes

Other Backward Classes

Scheduled Castes

Scheduled Tribes

These categories apply across all the religions in Bharat, unlike the categories of Brahmaṇa, Kṣhatriya, Vaishya, and Shudrawhich are Hindu categories. This is one more way in which the caste system is no longer a Hindu caste system but has become an Indian caste system. What has happened is that the first three varṇas are compressed in this new scheme into the General Category, while the fourth varṇa of the Shudras is now expanded into the three other categories of Other Backward Classes, “Scheduled Castes”, and Scheduled Tribes.

A third finding is related to discrimination based on caste.

One tends to associate the caste system –– whether in its Hinduised version or in its Bharatiyanised version –– with discrimination. In this respect, the finding of the Pew Research Centre is nothing less than surprising. This report makes a clear distinction between class segregation and caste discrimination. There is a natural tendency to assume that such segregation involves or implies discrimination. This survey reports, however, that

Caste segregation remains prevalent in Bharat. For example, a substantial share of Brahmins say they would not be willing to accept a person who belongs to a Scheduled Caste as a neighbors. But most Indians do not feel there is a lot of caste discrimination in the country, and two-thirds of those who identify with Scheduled Castes or Tribes say there is not widespread discrimination against their respective groups. This feeling may reflect personal experience: 82% of Bharatiya’s say they have not personally faced discrimination based on their caste in the year prior to taking the survey (p. 96).

It has been often alleged that because the upper castes in India do not encounter caste discrimination, they are unable to spot it as well. In view of this, it is striking that although the so-called lower castes did not claim there is no caste discrimination in India, they certainly did not believe that there was a lot of caste discrimination in Bharat. For instance, when asked if there is or is not “a lot of discrimination” against Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes in India, most people say there isn’t a lot of caste discrimination. Fewer than one-quarter of Bharatiya’s say they see evidence of widespread discrimination against Scheduled Castes (20%), Scheduled Tribes (19%) or Other Backward Classes (16%).

Generally, people belonging to lower castes share the perception that there isn’t widespread caste discrimination in Bharat. For instance, just 13% of those who identify with OBCs say there is a lot of discrimination against Backward Classes. Members of Scheduled Castes and Tribes are slightly more likely than members of other castes to say there is a lot of caste discrimination against their groups — but, still, only about a quarter take this position (p.100).

We see then, that the caste system is neither Hindu (it is Bharatiya) nor perceived as discriminatory in a major way.

Yet another finding of the survey is worth noting.

It is also generally assumed that the lower castes would be opposed to the caste system. If, however, one measure of caste is a reluctance to marry outside one’s caste, then this sentiment is surprisingly shared by lower castes as well. The relevant figures are as follows: 64% of Brahmin men and 66% of Brahmin women were opposed to inter-caste marriage; 59% of men and 60% of women were opposed to inter-caste marriage in the Other General Category; 61% of men and 62% of women were opposed to inter-caste marriage in the Scheduled Castes/Tribes category; and 67% of men and 69% of women were opposed to inter-caste marriage in the Other/Most Backward Class category (p.106).

The figure for opposition to inter-caste marriage hovers around 60%, which might create the impression that the opposition is not that strong. But one should note the manner in which the question is phrased. The survey reports that the percentages are in the form of “Indian adults who say it is very important to stop someone from marrying into another caste” (p. 106). Emphasis in the original.) A majority of people, not only among Hindus (64%) but Muslims as well (74%), were opposed to marrying across caste lines, while less than half of Christians and Buddhists take that same position. The figure for the Sikhs is 58%, and the Jainas 61%.

The following finding of the survey must be considered extremely significant in the present context.

As another measure of caste segregation, the survey asked respondents whether it is very important, somewhat important, not too important or not at all important to stop men and women in their community from marrying into another caste. Generally, Indians feel it is equally important to stop both men and women from marrying outside of their caste. Strong majorities of Bharatiya’s say it is at least “somewhat” important to stop men (79%) and women (80%) from marrying into another caste, including at least six-in-ten who say it is “very” important to stop this from happening regardless of gender (62% for men and 64% for women) (p. 106).

This report, therefore, seriously calls into question the following propositions associated with the caste system: 1) that the caste system is a Hindu phenomenon, 2) that caste segregation invariably involves caste discrimination, 3) that lower castes would like to see the caste system abolished, and 4) religions other than Hindu dharma would be strongly opposed to the caste system.

-By Prof. Arvind Sharma

(This article was first published on firstpost.com on February 26, 2023 and has been republished with minor edits to conform to HinduPost style guide)

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3 COMMENTS

  1. Admissions , Education and Jobs are ideally supposed to be on basis of Non-Casteism and non-class ( not based upon fees, referencing and status) with Character and Vocational capability as Bases

  2. Caste system Rationale was originally IQ ( Intelligence Quotient) ,founded upon SQ ( Spiritual Quotient). It was Vocation based.

    State and Religion Caste are separate; Qualified people occupy Government positions. Government is towards Intelligent decision-making and not Casteism.

    Capable Professionals evaluate& set Highest Code of Conduct ( irrespective of faults in Divisive& Negative casteism religion) and those who Comply with it, are in Leadership

    Those who have been victimised by negative Casteism, Gender, Race and Colour are rendered Equal opportunities in Education etc. (to be able to qualify themselves &even surpass Offenders,& occupy Earned positions).
    This strengthens the Country.

    Relationship between and amongst people is more Harmonious when based upon SQ IQ quotient.

  3. The discrimination in Caste was supposed to be Vocational; casteism that distinguishes in any other manner is negative.
    Ofcourse it’s obvious that Caste system yet exists- but it’s Rationale initially was , IQ based& that was founded upon SQ.

    The State and Religion are separate; Qualified people are supposed to be in Government , and not Caste ( negative Divisiveness) influencers; the various faults in various Religions& Castes are to be evaluated by Capable professionals -& the Highest code of Conduct made Compulsory for Public employees in Government at all Levels. Government positions are not for Ostentation or Casteism-:this weakens the Nation.

    Those who have suffered due to Casteism are given Support towards Equal Opportunity & that can enable surpassing those who victimised them ( or yet want to).

    Its not a Perfect world, and there are Challenges in regard Casteism; keeping it’s Effects to least or no Negative impact is always Ongoing.

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