1. Caste system defined The word caste is derived from the Portuguese casta meaning lineage, breed, or race.

2. The countries: Asia: India, Japan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka; Africa: Senegal, Mauritania, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Yemen, Niger, Rwanda, Nigeria, Kenya.

Key characteristics: The concept of ‘purity-pollution’. An inherited occupational role. Inability or restricted ability to alter inherited status. Socially enforced restrictions on inter-marriage.  Segregation in location of living areas, and in access to and use of public places  Subjection to debt bondage. Generalized lack of respect for their human dignity and equality.

3. Indian caste system Indian caste system is routed in Hinduism and its order of four castes and four stages in life. Originates from the Aryan invaders four to five thousand years ago.

Indian caste system The social organization of India is based on two fundamental notions: the natural endowment, nurture and upbringing.

Nurture and upbringing Dharma (a man) has to go through four stages of life: Brahmacharya – student stage, Gruhastas Ashrama – householder stage, Vanaprasta Ashrama – hermitage state, Sanyasa Ashrama – strive towards moshka or liberation.

Natural Endowment Brahmins – priests and teachers Kshatriyas – warriors, rulers and landlords. They are the main source of food. Vaishyas – merchants. They sell all kind of products. Shudras – laborers, agriculturalists. They sell all kind of services. Harijans - Untouchables (polluted laborers). They were regarded so dirty that weren’t even touched by people from upper castes.

Caste system in India Marriage is allowed only within caste. Caste is a social unit. It is autonomous: Each caste sets its own rules.

The Untouchables Social stratification has ousted the untouchables from the rest of Indian society.

The Untouchables Emerged from forbidden and tabooed mixing between the high and the low castes. The Untouchables were also made Unseeable, Unapproachable, Unhearable. Untouchables had no surname. They did not choose their children’s names. Untouchable women could not wear any clothes above waste. Untouchables could not enter a Hindu temple.

Caste system in India After the emergence of Buddhism there have been attempts to abolish caste system. In 1833 the British declared that no person on account of “his religion, place of birth, descent, color” would be disabled from holding any office or employment. Great movement against caste system was started by Mahatma Ghandi.

Caste system in India The barriers between the sub-caste weakened in the twentieth century. The Indian Constitution of 1950 proclaimed the principle of equality to all citizens irrespective of caste differences, and abolished the practice of untouchability.