{"id":608,"date":"2014-06-20T17:08:34","date_gmt":"2014-06-20T17:08:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/postcolonialstudies\/?p=608"},"modified":"2017-10-30T01:59:36","modified_gmt":"2017-10-30T01:59:36","slug":"caste-system-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/postcolonialstudies\/2014\/06\/20\/caste-system-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Caste System in India"},"content":{"rendered":"

Background<\/h3>\n

The caste system in India is an important part of ancient Hindu tradition and dates back to 1200 BCE. The term caste was first used by Portuguese travelers who came to India in the 16th century (see Spice Trade in India<\/a>). Caste comes from the Spanish and Portuguese word \u201ccasta\u201d which means \u201crace\u201d, \u201cbreed\u201d, or \u201clineage,” but many Indians use the term \u201cjati\u201d. There are 3,000 castes and 25,000 sub-castes in India, each related to a specific occupation. These different castes fall under four basic varnas:<\/p>\n

Brahmins \u2013 priests
\nKshatryas \u2013 warriors
\nVaishyas \u2013 traders
\nShudras \u2013 laborers<\/p>\n

Caste not only dictates one\u2019s occupation, but dietary habits and interaction with members of other castes as well. Members of a high caste enjoy more wealth and opportunities while members of a low caste perform menial jobs. Outside of the caste system are the untouchables. Untouchable jobs, such as toilet cleaning and garbage removal, require them to be in contact with bodily fluids. They are therefore considered polluted and not to be touched. The importance of purity in the body and food is found in early Sanskrit literature. Untouchables have separate entrances to homes and must drink from separate wells. They are considered to be in a permanent state of impurity. Untouchables were named \u201cHarijans\u201d (children of god) by Gandhi<\/a>. He tried to raise their status with symbolic gestures such as befriending and eating with untouchables. Upward mobility is very rare in the caste system. Most people remain in one caste their entire life and marry within their caste (see Christianity in India<\/a>, Jews in India<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The Novel<\/h3>\n
\"The<\/a>
The God of Small Things, 1997<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Arundhati Roy<\/a>\u2019s novel,\u00a0The God of Small Things<\/em>, the laws of India\u2019s caste system are broken by the characters of Ammu and Velutha, an untouchable or Paravan. Velutha works at the Paradise Pickles and Preserves Factory owned by Ammu\u2019s family. Yet, because he is an untouchable, the other workers resent him and he is paid less money for his work. Velutha\u2019s presence is unsettling to many who believe he acts above his station. His own father notes this problem: \u201cPerhaps it was just a lack of hesitation. An unwarranted assurance. In the way he walked. The way he held his head. The quiet way he offered suggestions without being asked. Or the quiet way in which he disregarded suggestions without appearing to rebel\u201d (73).<\/p>\n

Hindus believe that being an untouchable is punishment for having been bad in a former life. By being good and obedient, an untouchable can obtain a higher rebirth. Velutha\u2019s lack of complacency causes him many problems throughout the novel. \u201cIt was not entirely his fault that he lived in a society where a man\u2019s death could be more profitable than his life had ever been\u201d (267). Although he is a dedicated member of the Marxist<\/a> Party, his Untouchable status makes other party members dislike him, and so local Party leader Comrade K.N.M. Pillai would be more politically successful without him.<\/p>\n

When Velutha has an affair with Ammu, he breaks an ancient taboo and incurs the wrath of Ammu\u2019s family and the Kerala <\/a>police. He breaks the rigid social rules of the caste system and therefore, the authorities must punish him. Roy describes the policemen\u2019s violent actions as being done out of fear, \u201c\u2026civilization\u2019s fear of nature, men\u2019s fear of women, power\u2019s fear of powerlessness\u201d(292). The division between the Touchables and Untouchables is so ingrained in Kerala society that Velutha is seen as a nonhuman: If they hurt Velutha more than they intended to, it was only because any kinship, and connection between themselves and him, any implication that if nothing else, at least biologically he was a fellow creature \u2013 had been severed long ago (293).<\/p>\n

Traditionally, a woman who has had sex with a man from a lower caste would be expelled from her caste. The reason such scandal is caused by the affair of an untouchable and a touchable woman might be difficult for some American readers to grasp. Reviewer Patrick Sullivan claims that \u201can excellent parallel would be a wealthy Southern white woman falling in love with a black man\u201d (Sullivan).<\/p>\n

Caste in India Today<\/h3>\n

Although\u00a0The God of Small Things<\/em>\u00a0takes place in 1969, the caste system is still present in India, especially in rural areas. Today there are about 250 million Untouchables. Caste discrimination has been against the law since 1950, but prejudice continues. The United Nations estimates that there are 115 million child laborers and 300 million starving people in India, most of which are untouchables. Government programs and quotas have tried to raise the living standards of untouchables by reserving places in the legislature, government jobs, and schools. These government actions often result in an increase of violence by caste members. Urbanization, economic development, and industrialization benefit untouchables by breaking down caste barriers. In the cities of India, members of different castes are constantly in close contact and forced to interact with one another which helps to weaken the strict rules of the caste system.<\/p>\n

Untouchables have also become a strong and organized political force who refer to themselves as Dalits. In a recent interview with Emily Guntheinz, Arundhati Roy was asked to comment on the caste system. Her reply follows: \u201cIt\u2019s the defining consideration in all Indian politics, in all Indian marriages<\/a>\u2026 The lines are blurring. India exists in several centuries simultaneously. So there are those of us like me, or people that I know for instance, to whom it means nothing\u2026 It\u2019s a very strange situation where there\u2019s sort of a gap between\u2026 sometimes it\u2019s urban and rural, but it\u2019s really a time warp\u201d (n. pag.).<\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/h3>\n
    \n
  • Avishai, Margalit. \u201cDecent Equality and Freedom: A Postscript.\u201d\u00a0Social Research<\/em>\u00a064.1 (Spr. 1997): 147.<\/li>\n
  • Kala, Awind. \u201cYour Caste is Your Life.\u201d\u00a0Scholastic Update<\/em>\u00a0(Teacher\u2019s Edition) 129.13 (11 Apr. 1997): 5.<\/li>\n
  • McGirk, Jan. \u201cRaped or Revered?\u201d\u00a0Marie Claire<\/em>\u00a0Oct.1997: 43-48.<\/li>\n
  • Roy, Arundhati.\u00a0The God of Small Things<\/em>. New York: Random, 1997.<\/li>\n
  • Zubrzycki, John. \u201cLower Castes Still stuck on India\u2019s Bottom Rung.\u201d\u00a0The Christian Science Monitor<\/em>\u00a089.193 (29 Aug. 1997): 1.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Author: Allison Elliott, Fall 1997
    \nLast edited: October 2017<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Background The caste system in India is an important part of ancient Hindu tradition and dates back to 1200 BCE. The term caste was first used by Portuguese travelers who came to India in the 16th century (see Spice Trade in India). Caste comes from the Spanish and Portuguese word \u201ccasta\u201d which means \u201crace\u201d, \u201cbreed\u201d,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":327,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[57,28,42,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-608","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-terms-and-issues","7":"tag-class","8":"tag-india","9":"tag-race","10":"tag-religion"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paWL6U-9O","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/postcolonialstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/postcolonialstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/postcolonialstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/postcolonialstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/327"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/postcolonialstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/postcolonialstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2953,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/postcolonialstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608\/revisions\/2953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/postcolonialstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/postcolonialstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/postcolonialstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}