“From Purity of Blood to Race: Colonial Frameworks and the Construction of Caste”, Brhat, July 08, 2026
“rated from the intellectual history of Europe. To understand how Indian social distinctions came to be represented as a unified “caste system,” it is necessary to examine the concepts and classificatory frameworks through which Europeans interpreted the societies they encountered.
Martin Fárek (2017) argues that when Vasco da Gama reached Calicut in 1498, the Iberian Peninsula was undergoing profound religious and social transformation. The kingdoms of Spain and Portugal had recently completed the Reconquista and had embarked upon policies aimed at creating religiously homogeneous Christian societies. Jews and Muslims were expelled, forcibly converted, or subjected to severe discrimination. Large populations of converts, known as New Christians, remained within these societies. Although many had sincerely embraced Christianity, they were often viewed with suspicion by those who claimed descent from ancient Christian families.
It was in this context that the doctrine of limpieza de sangre – purity of blood – emerged. According to this doctrine, a person’s ancestry became a matter of social significance. Old Christians were believed to possess “pure” blood, while descendants of Jews or Muslims were regarded as carrying a hereditary stain. What mattered was not merely one’s present faith or conduct, but one’s lineage. Over time, this distinction became institutionalized. Access to government offices, religious orders, military appointments, and positions of prestige increasingly depended upon proof of ancestral purity. Investigations into family background became common, and social mobility was constrained by inherited status……..”
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