The lowest caste in ancient India. What is and what are the castes in India

The untouchable caste in India is a phenomenon that cannot be found in any other country in the world. Originating in antiquity, the caste division of society exists in the country at the present time. The lowest rung in the hierarchy is occupied by the untouchable caste, which has absorbed 16-17% of the country's population. Its representatives make up the "bottom" of Indian society. The caste structure is a complex issue, but nevertheless we will try to shed light on its individual aspects.

Caste structure of Indian society

Despite the difficulty of recreating a complete structural picture of castes in the distant past, it is still possible to single out groups that have historically developed in India. There are five of them.

The highest group (varna) of Brahmins includes civil servants, large and small landowners, and priests.

Next comes the Kshatriya varna, which includes the military and agricultural castes - Rajaputs, Jats, Maratha, Kunbi, Reddy, Kapu, etc. Some of them form a feudal stratum, whose representatives further replenish the lower and middle links of the feudal class.

The next two groups (Vaishyas and Shudras) include the middle and lower castes of farmers, officials, artisans, and community servants.

And finally, the fifth group. It includes castes of community servants and farmers, deprived of all rights to own and use land. They are called untouchables.

"India", "caste of the untouchables" are concepts that are inextricably linked with each other in the minds of the world community. Meanwhile, in the country ancient culture continue to honor the customs and traditions of their ancestors by dividing people according to their origin and belonging to any caste.

History of the Untouchables

The lowest caste in India - the untouchables - owes its appearance historical process that took place in the Middle Ages in the region. At that time, India was conquered by stronger and more civilized tribes. Naturally, the invaders came to the country with the aim of enslaving its indigenous population, preparing it for the role of servants.

To isolate the Indians, they were settled in special settlements, built separately according to the type of modern ghettos. Civilized outsiders did not allow natives into their community.

It is assumed that it was the descendants of these tribes that later formed the caste of the untouchables. It included farmers and servants of the community.

True, today the word “untouchables” has been replaced by another - “Dalits”, which means “oppressed”. It is believed that "untouchables" sounds offensive.

Since Indians often use the word "jati" rather than "caste", it is difficult to determine their number. But still, Dalits can be divided according to the type of activity and place of residence.

How do the untouchables live

The most common Dalit castes are Chamars (tanners), Dhobi (washerwomen) and pariahs. If the first two castes have in some way a profession, then pariahs live only at the expense of unskilled labor - the removal of household waste, cleaning and washing toilets.

Hard and dirty work - such is the fate of the untouchables. The lack of any qualification brings them a meager income, allowing only

However, among the untouchables, there are groups that are at the top of the caste, for example, the Hijra.

These are representatives of all kinds of sexual minorities who are engaged in prostitution and begging. They are also often invited to all kinds of religious rituals, weddings, birthdays. Of course, this group has much more to live on than an untouchable tanner or laundress.

But such an existence could not but arouse protest among the Dalits.

Protest struggle of the untouchables

Surprisingly, the untouchables did not resist the tradition of division into castes implanted by the invaders. However, in the last century the situation changed: the untouchables under the leadership of Gandhi made the first attempts to destroy the stereotype that had developed over the centuries.

The essence of these speeches was to draw public attention to caste inequality in India.

Interestingly, the Gandhi affair was picked up by a certain Ambedkar from the Brahmin caste. Thanks to him, the untouchables became Dalits. Ambedkar ensured that they received quotas for all types of professional activities. That is, an attempt was made to integrate these people into society.

Today's controversial policy of the Indian government often causes conflicts involving the untouchables.

However, it does not come to rebellion, because the untouchable caste in India is the most submissive part of the Indian community. Age-old timidity in front of other castes, ingrained in the minds of people, blocks all thoughts of rebellion.

Government of India and Dalit policy

Untouchables ... The life of the most severe caste in India causes a cautious and even contradictory reaction from the outside, since we are talking about the age-old traditions of the Indians.

But still, at the state level, caste discrimination is prohibited in the country. Actions that offend representatives of any varna are considered a crime.

At the same time, the caste hierarchy is legalized by the country's constitution. That is, the untouchable caste in India is recognized by the state, which looks like a serious contradiction in government policy. As a result modern history The country has many serious conflicts between individual castes and even within them.

The untouchables are the most despised class in India. However, other citizens are still madly afraid of Dalits.

It is believed that a representative of the untouchable caste in India is able to defile a person from another varna by his mere presence. If the Dalit touches the clothes of a Brahmin, then the latter will need more than one year to cleanse his karma from filth.

But the untouchable (the caste of South India includes both men and women) may well become an object sexual abuse. And no defilement of karma happens in this case, since this is not prohibited by Indian customs.

An example is the recent case in New Delhi, where a 14-year-old untouchable girl was kept by a criminal for a month as a sex slave. The unfortunate woman died in the hospital, and the detained criminal was released by the court on bail.

At the same time, if an untouchable violates the traditions of their ancestors, for example, dares to publicly use a public well, then the poor fellow will face an immediate reprisal on the spot.

Dalit is not a sentence of fate

The untouchable caste in India, despite the policy of the government, still remains the poorest and most disadvantaged part of the population. The average literacy rate among them is just over 30.

The situation is explained by the humiliation that children of this caste are subjected to in educational institutions. As a result, illiterate Dalits are the bulk of the country's unemployed.

However, there are exceptions to the rule: there are about 30 millionaires in the country who are Dalits. Of course, this is minuscule in comparison with 170 million untouchables. But this fact says that Dalit is not a sentence of fate.

An example is the life of Ashok Khade, who belonged to the leatherworking caste. The guy worked as a docker during the day, and studied textbooks at night to become an engineer. His company is currently closing deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

And there is also an opportunity to leave the Dalit caste - this is a change of religion.

Buddhism, Christianity, Islam - any faith technically takes a person out of the untouchables. It was first used in late XIX century, and in 2007, 50 thousand people immediately converted to Buddhism.

Any traveler who decides to visit India must have heard or read that the population of this country is divided into castes. There is nothing similar in other countries, castes are considered a purely Indian phenomenon, so every tourist just needs to get to know this topic in more detail.

How did castes appear?

According to legend, the god Brahma created varnas from parts of his body:

1. Mouths are brahmins.
2. Hands are kshatriyas.
3. The thighs are vaishyas.
4. Feet are sudras.

Varna - more general concept. There are only 4 of them, while there can be a great many castes. All Indian estates differed from each other in a number of features: they had their duties, dwellings, individual color of clothes, color of the dot on the forehead and special food. Marriages between members of different varnas and castes were strictly forbidden. Hindus believed that human soul is reborn. If someone throughout his life observed all the rules and laws of his caste, in his next life he will rise to a higher estate. Otherwise, he will lose everything he had.

A bit of history

It is believed that the first castes in India appeared at the very beginning of the formation of the state. This happened about one and a half thousand years BC, when the first settlers began to live on the territory of modern India. They were divided into 4 estates, later these groups were called varnas, which literally means "color". The very word "caste" contains a certain concept: origin or pure breed. For centuries, each caste was determined mainly by a profession or type of activity. The family craft passed from father to son, did not change for dozens of generations. Any Indian castes lived under a certain set of prescriptions and religious traditions that regulated the norms of behavior of their members. The country developed, and with it the number of different groups of the population increased. The multiple castes in India were astonishing in their number: there were more than 2,000 of them.

Caste division in India

Caste is a certain level in the social hierarchy that divides the entire population of India into separate groups of low and high origin. Belonging to one or another part determines the type of activity, profession, place of residence, as well as who a person can marry. The division into castes in India is gradually losing its significance. In modern large cities and an educated environment, division into castes is officially prohibited, but there are still estates that largely determine the life of entire population groups in India:

1. The Brahmins are the most educated group: priests, mentors, teachers and scholars.
2. Kshatriyas are warriors, nobles and rulers.
3. Vaishyas are artisans, herdsmen and farmers.
4. Sudras are workers, servants.

There is also a fifth group representing the Indian castes - the untouchables, who in Lately became known as the oppressed. These people do the hardest and dirtiest work.

Cast characteristics

All castes in ancient India are characterized by some criteria:

1. Endogamy, that is, marriages can only be between members of the same caste.
2. By heredity and continuity: one cannot move from one caste to another.
3. You can not eat with representatives of other castes. In addition, any physical contact with them is strictly prohibited.
4. A certain place in the structure of society.
5. Limited choice of professions.

Brahmins

Brahmins are representatives of the highest varna of Hindus. This is the highest Indian caste. The main goal of the Brahmins is to teach others and learn themselves, bring gifts to the gods and make sacrifices. Their main color is white. At the very beginning, only priests were brahmins, only in their hands was the right to interpret the word of God. Thanks to this, these Indian castes began to occupy the most high position, since only God himself was above, and only they could communicate with him. Later, scientists, teachers, preachers, officials began to be attributed to the highest caste.

The men of this caste were not allowed to work in the fields, and the women could only work homework. A Brahmin cannot eat food prepared by a person from another class. In modern India, more than 75% of government officials are representatives of this caste. There are unequal relationships among the various sub-estates. But even the most impoverished Brahmin podcast occupies a higher rung than others. The murder of a member of the highest caste in ancient India is greatest crime. From time immemorial it has been punishable by death in a cruel form.

Kshatriyas

In translation, "kshatriya" means "powerful, noble." These include nobles, military personnel, managers, kings. The main task of a kshatriya is to protect the weak, to fight for justice, law and order. This is the second most important varna, representing the Indian castes. This estate maintained its existence by levying minimal taxes, duties and fines from subordinates. Previously, warriors had special rights. They were the only ones allowed to apply punishments against representatives of other castes, except for the Brahmins, including execution and murder. Modern kshatriyas are the military, representatives of law enforcement agencies, heads of enterprises and firms.

Vaishyas and Shudras

The main task of the vaishya is the work associated with raising livestock, cultivating the land and harvesting crops. This is any occupation respected in society. For this work, the vaisya receives profit or salary. Their color is yellow. This is the main population of the country. In modern India, these are clerks, simple hired workers who receive money for their work and are satisfied with it.

The lowest caste in India is the Sudras. From time immemorial, they have been engaged in the most difficult and dirty work. Their color is black. In ancient India, these were slaves and servants. The purpose of the Shudras is to serve the three higher castes. They did not have their own property and could not pray to the gods. Even in our time, this is the poorest segment of the population, which often lives below the poverty line.

Untouchables

This category includes people whose soul has sinned greatly in past life the lowest stratum of society. But even among them there are numerous groups. The highest classes, representing the untouchable Indian castes, whose photos can be seen in historical publications, are people who have at least some kind of craft, for example, garbage and toilet cleaners. At the very bottom of the hierarchical caste ladder are petty thieves who steal livestock. The hijru group, which includes representatives of all sexual minorities, is considered the most unusual layer of the untouchable society. Interestingly, these representatives are often invited to weddings or births of children, and they often participate in church ceremonies.

Most worst person is one who does not belong to any caste. The name of this category of the population is pariahs. These include people who were born from other pariahs or as a result of inter-caste marriages and who are not recognized by any class.

Modern India

Although there is public opinion that modern India is freed from the prejudices of the past, this is far from the case today. The system of division into estates has not disappeared anywhere, castes in modern India are as strong as before. When a child enters school, he is asked what religion he professes. If it is Hinduism, the next question will be about its caste. Also, when entering a university or college, the caste has great importance. If the prospective student belongs to a higher caste, he needs to score less points, etc.

Belonging to a particular class affects employment, as well as how a person wants to arrange his future. A girl from a brahmin family is unlikely to marry a person from the vaishya caste. Unfortunately it is so. But if the groom is higher in social status than the bride, sometimes an exception is made. In such marriages, the child's caste will be determined on the paternal side. Such caste rules regarding marriage are completely unchanged from ancient times and do not tolerate any relaxation.

The desire to officially downplay the importance of caste in modern India has led to the absence in the forms of the latest censuses of the population of the line about belonging to a particular group. The last data on castes in the censuses were published in 1931. Despite this, the cumbersome mechanism of dividing the population into estates still works. This is especially noticeable in the remote provinces of India. Although the caste system appeared thousands of years ago, today it is alive, working and developing. It enables people to be close to their own kind, provides support for fellows and determines the rules and behavior in society.

"India - modern state in which there is no place for discrimination and inequality,” Indian politicians orate from the stands. "Cast system? We live in the 21st century! Any form of discrimination based on caste is a thing of the past,” public figures broadcast on the talk show. Even the local villagers, when asked whether the caste system is alive, answer at length: “everything is no longer the same.”

Having seen enough from near, I set myself the task of observing and compiling own opinion: whether the caste system of India remained only in textbooks or on paper, or whether it lives for itself, disguised and hiding.

Village children from different castes play together.

As a result, having lived in India for 5 months, I can say with confidence:

1. The caste system exists in Indian state and today. People are given official relevant documents, which reflect their belonging to a caste.
2. Huge efforts of politicians, PR people and television are aimed at eradicating discrimination based on caste.
3. In society, the caste system has been preserved and lives happily ever after. Elements of discrimination are still present. Of course, not in the same form as before, but nonetheless. “Caste is unimportant these days,” say Indians with their naive eyes wide open. And their daily actions confirm the opposite.

A bit of theory. What is caste system.

In India, there are 4 main castes depicting the human body. Russians like to argue about whether caste, Varna, what is what. I do not pretend to be a scientific treatise and will use the terminology used by the "ordinary" Indians with whom I spoke on the issue. Casts and podcasts they use in English version. Jati is in live Hindi used. If they want to know the caste of a person, they only ask what his jati is. And if they say where he is from, they usually give his last name. The caste is clear to everyone by the surname. When asked what Varna is, ordinary Indians could not answer me, they did not even understand this word. For them, it is ancient and unused.

1st caste - head. Brahmins. Priests (priests), thinkers, scientists, doctors.

Married couple from the Brahmin caste.

2nd caste - shoulders and arms. Kshatriyas. Warriors, police, rulers, organizers, administrators, landowners.

3rd caste - torso or abdomen. Vaishya. Farmers, artisans, merchants.

Furniture makers. 3rd caste.

4th caste - legs. Sudras. Servants, cleaners. The Indians call them Untouchable - untouchables. Can both perform the most low work and to occupy high positions - thanks to the efforts of the government.

Within the castes are divided into a large number of podcasts, which are arranged in a hierarchical order relative to each other. There are several thousand podcasts in India.

No one in Khajuraho could really tell me what is the difference between podcasts within the 1st and 2nd castes, what, more specifically, is their purpose. Today, only the level is clear - who is higher, who is lower relative to each other.

With the 3rd and 4th castes it is more transparent. Directly by the surname, the people determine the purpose of the caste. Shearing, sewing, cooking, preparing sweets, fishing, making furniture, grazing goats are examples of podcast 3. Leather dressing, removal of dead animals, cremation of bodies, cleaning of sewers are examples of podcasts of the 4th caste.

The child from the caste of cleaners is the 4th.

So what has survived from the caste systems in our time, and what has sunk into oblivion?

I share my observations on the life of the people of Madhya Pradesh. Residents of advanced cities - I know what's wrong with you :) You are already much closer to the west. But we are in the wilderness the way I write :)

Manifestations of the caste system that have disappeared or changed today.

1. Earlier settlements based on the principle of separation of castes. Each of the 4 castes had their own streets, squares, temples, etc. Today, somewhere there are communities, and somewhere mixed. It doesn't bother anyone. Only a few villages have retained their original organization, with a clear division of the territory. For example, in .

Old village Khajuraho. She kept the organization of the streets in accordance with the castes.

1. All children have equal opportunities in education. The issue may be money, but not caste.

The boy at sunset grazes buffaloes and learns a lesson from a notebook.

1. All people have the opportunity to work in government agencies or big companies. People belonging to the lower castes are allocated quotas, jobs, and so on. God forbid, they will talk about discrimination. When entering a university or a job, the lower castes are generally in chocolate. For example, a passing score for a kshatriya might be 75, and for the same seat for a sudra, 40.
2. Unlike the old days, a profession is often chosen not according to caste, but as it happens. Take at least the employees of our restaurant. The one who has to sew clothes and the fisherman work as cooks, one waiter is from the caste of laundresses, and the second is from the kshatriyas - the caste of warriors. The janitor is called to be a janitor - he is from the 4th caste - Shudra, but his younger brother already washes only the floor, but not the toilet, and goes to school. The family hopes for a bright future for him. In our family (kshatriyas) there are several teachers, although traditionally this is the patrimony of the brahmins. And one aunt sews professionally (one of the podcasts of the 3rd caste does this). My husband's brother is studying to be an engineer. Grandfather dreams of when someone will go to work in the police or the army. But so far no one has.
3. Some things were forbidden for castes. For example, the consumption of meat and alcohol by the first caste - the Brahmins. Now many Brahmins have forgotten the precepts of their ancestors and use whatever they want. At the same time, society condemns this very strongly, but they still drink and eat meat.
4. Today people are friends regardless of castes. They can sit together, chat, play. Previously, this was not possible.
5. Government organizations - such as schools, universities, hospitals - are mixed. Any person has the right to come there, no matter how some wrinkle their noses.

Evidence for the existence of a caste system.

1. The untouchables are sudras. In cities and the state, they are protected, but in the outback they are still considered untouchable. In the village, the sudra will not enter the house of the higher castes, or will only touch certain objects. If he is given a glass of water, then he is thrown out. If someone touches a sudra, he will go to take a shower. For example, our uncle has gym. It is located in a rented building. 3 representatives of the 4th caste came to my uncle. He said, sure, do it. But the brahmin, the owner of the house, said - no, I do not allow untouchables to be in my house. I had to refuse them.
2. A very clear proof of the viability of the caste system is marriage. Most weddings in India today are organized by parents. These are the so-called arranged-marriage. Parents are looking for their daughter's fiance. So, the first thing they look at when choosing it is the caste. In large cities, there are exceptions when young people from modern families finds each other for love and marries under the sighs of their parents (or simply runs away). But if the parents themselves are looking for a groom, then only in accordance with the caste.
3. We have 20,000 inhabitants in Khajuraho. At the same time, no matter who I ask about - from what caste, they will definitely answer me. If a person is little known, then his caste too. At least the top - 1,2,3 or 4, and very often they know the podcast - where it is inside. People easily say who is taller than whom and by how many steps, how the castes relate to each other.
4. The arrogance of people from the upper castes - 1st and 2nd - is very striking. Brahmins are calm, but periodically express slight contempt and disgust. If a lower caste or Dalit works as a cashier at a railway station, no one will wonder what caste he belongs to. But if he lives in the same village as a Brahmin, and everyone knows what caste he is from, the Brahmin will not touch him and take something. Kshatriyas are outright bullies and braggarts. They bully the representatives of the lower castes as a joke, command them, and they only giggle stupidly, but do not answer anything.

The representative of the 2nd caste is the Kshatriyas.

1. Many representatives of the 3rd and 4th castes show demonstrative respect to people from the 1st and 2nd. They call the Brahmins Maraj, and the Kshatriyas - Raja or Dau (patron, protector, elder brother in Bhundelkhand). They fold their hands in namaste to the level of the head when they greet, and in response they only deign to nod their heads. They often jump up from their chairs when the upper caste approaches. And, worst of all, they periodically try to touch their legs. I already wrote that in India, when they say hello or during important holidays may touch the legs. Mostly they do it with their families. Even the Brahmins touch their feet in the temple or during the ceremony. So some individuals strive to touch the feet of people of a higher caste. It used to be common, but now, in my opinion, it looks ingratiating. It's especially annoying when old man runs to touch the legs of the young man in order to show him respect. By the way, the 4th caste, as oppressed earlier, and now actively defended, behaves more impudently. Representatives of the 3rd caste behave respectfully and are happy to serve, and the janitor can snap back. It is very funny to watch, again, using the example of a restaurant, how employees, without hesitation, scold each other. At the same time, it is given to everyone with great effort to make a remark to the cleaner, and they are trying to shift this mission to me. He always listens to me, looking wide with delight open eyes. If the rest have the opportunity to communicate with whites - the place is a tourist one, then the Shudras rarely succeed, and they retained awe of us.
2. Despite the fact that representatives of different castes spend time together, as I wrote earlier (point 6 of the last block), nevertheless, inequality is felt. Representatives of the 1st and 2nd castes communicate with each other on an equal footing. And in relation to others, they allow themselves more impudence. If you need to do something, the one with the lower caste will immediately blow up. Even between friends, these marajis and dhows are constantly heard. It happens that parents can forbid their children from friendship with representatives of lower castes. Much, of course, depends on education. What is more vividly expressed on the street, at the institute, for example, is no longer noticeable - here everyone usually communicates on an equal footing and with respect.

Children of farmers - 3rd caste.

1. Above I wrote about equal and even Better conditions for low castes upon admission to public work or big companies. However, this does not work in small towns and villages. I asked my husband if he could hire a sudra as a cook. He thought for a long time, and said, after all, no. No matter how great the cook is, it's not possible. People won't come, the restaurant will have a bad reputation. The same applies to hairdressing, sewing, etc. Therefore, for those who want to get to the top, the only way- move away from home. Where there are no friends.

In conclusion, I want to say about the new caste that rules the world. And in India too. This is a caste of money. Everyone will remember that a poor kshatriya is a kshatriya, but they will never show as much respect as a rich kshatriya. It saddens me to see how educated but poor Brahmins are sometimes flattered and humiliated in front of those who have money. A rich sudra will rotate in a “higher”, so to speak, society. But he will never receive the same respect as the Brahmins. They will run to him to touch his feet, and remember behind his eyes that he is. What is happening now in India is probably very similar to the slow death of European high society, when rich Americans and local merchants slowly penetrated into it. The lords resisted at first, then secretly slandered, and in the end they completely turned into history.

For many hundreds of years, the inhabitants of India have been faithful to their main religion - Hinduism. It regulates all aspects of life, prescribing what to do in a given situation. And among other things, it divides society into peculiar estates that have practically not mixed for more than a thousand years. In our series of articles about India, we could not miss this strange modern world thing. Let us tell you more about the history of this phenomenon.

Traditions

According to the "Vedas" - a collection of ancient sacred texts of Hinduism - the god Brahma created people and immediately divided them into castes, or more precisely - varnas. Varna in Sanskrit means "color". There were four such colors:

Hindus believe that behavior in the present life affects what caste a person will be in after rebirth. He can fall into the brahmanas or be born as a sudra.

Estates are not allowed to mix. Having been born, for example, a Vaishya, a person can marry and associate only within his own community. The untouchables are forbidden to defile the higher castes by touch.

According to scientists, this state of affairs has been preserved for at least one and a half thousand years. Geneticists at the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics in West Bengal, who studied the DNA of Indians, found that most of the members of the varnas have been married for 70 generations only within their "colors".

How did such a system come about?

Story




Historians argue that the emergence of such a division appeared at the moment when the Aryans, a group of peoples of the Indo-European family, left the Indus Valley and settled near another river - the Ganges. The local, non-Aryan population that lived in those places was enslaved and deprived of all rights. Some of them, who voluntarily submitted, became Shudras. The rest are untouchable.

Jatis are a kind of sub-groups. They are related to hereditary professional activity. Each of the varnas consists of many jati. In modern India (according to the last census, in which the question of castes was still asked), there are about 3 thousand of them.

Modernity

In the 50s of the 20th century, a movement began in India for the equality of castes and the untouchables. The constitution considers caste-based discrimination a criminal offense and forbids being interested in belonging to one or another varna when hiring a person. Outcasts were allowed access to the temples. The educated population supports this trend.

In 1997 in India there was an important event: the first president who belonged to the untouchable caste was elected - Kocheril Raman Narayanan.

But the traditions are still strong. For example, the untouchables make up about 20% of society. And Mahatma Gandhi, who was one of the first to fight for the rights of these outcasts, was against the fact that his son would marry a girl from another caste - this was contrary to his religious views.

The hierarchy of varnas continues to be preserved in the religious sphere and privacy. Especially in rural areas.

Yet Indian castes are gradually losing their influence on society. In large cities, they begin to lose importance. Perhaps things do not happen very quickly - a thousand-year tradition is unlikely to disappear in one day. But I would like to think that one day it will happen.

From childhood, we were taught that there is nothing worse than a caste society. But oddly enough, the castes have survived to this day, as evidenced by, for example, India. And what, in fact, do we know about how the caste system works?

Each society consists of certain basic units that form it. So, in relation to Antiquity - such a unit can be considered a policy, modern to the West - capital (or a social individual owning it), for Islamic civilization- tribe, Japanese - clan, etc. For India, from ancient times to the present day, caste has been and remains such a basic element.

The caste system for India is not at all a dense archaic or "relic of the Middle Ages" as for a long time we were taught. The Indian caste system is part of a complex organization of society, a historically developed versatile and multifaceted phenomenon.

One can try to describe castes in terms of a number of signs. However, there will still be exceptions. Indian caste differentiation is a system of social stratification of isolated social groups connected by a single common origin and legal status of their members. They are based on the principles:

1) common religion;
2) general professional specialization (as a rule, hereditary);
3) marriages only between "their own";
4) nutritional features.

In India, there are not 4 at all (as many of us still think), but about 3 thousand castes and they can be called differently in different parts of the country, and people of the same profession can different states belongs to different castes. What are sometimes mistakenly considered Indian “castes” are not castes at all, but varnas (“chaturvarnya” in Sanskrit) - social strata of the ancient social system.

Varna of Brahmins (Brahmins) are priests, doctors, teachers. Kshatriyas (rajanya) - warriors and civil leaders. Vaishyas are farmers and merchants. Sudras are servants and landless peasant laborers.

Each varna had its own color: brahmins - white, kshatriyas - red, vaishais - yellow, shudras - black (once every Hindu wore a special cord of the color of his varna).

Varnas, in turn, are theoretically divided into castes. But in a very complex and intricate way. A clear direct connection is not always visible to a person with a European mentality. The word "caste" itself comes from the Portuguese casta: birthright, genus, estate. In Hindi, this term is identical to "jati".

The infamous "untouchables" are not just one separate caste. In ancient India, everyone who was not part of the four varnas was automatically classified as “marginal”, they were avoided in every possible way, they were not allowed to settle in villages and cities, etc. As a result of their position, the "untouchables" had to take on the most "non-prestigious", dirty and low-paid work, and they formed their own separate social and professional groups - in fact, their own castes.

There are several such castes of "untouchables" and, as a rule, they are associated either with dirty work, or with the killing of living beings or death (so all butchers, hunters, fishermen, tanners, scavengers, sewers, laundresses, workers of cemeteries and morgues, etc. should be "untouchable").

At the same time, it would be wrong to believe that every "untouchable" is necessarily someone like a homeless person or "lowered". In India, even before gaining independence and the adoption of a number of legislative measures to protect the lower castes from discrimination, there were "untouchables" who achieved a very high social status and deserved universal respect. Like the prominent Indian politician, for example, public figure, human rights activist and author of the Indian constitution - Dr. Bhimaro Ramji Ambedkar, who received a law degree in England.

One of the many monuments to Bhimaro Ambedkar in India

The "untouchables" have several names: mleccha - "alien", "foreigner" (that is, formally all non-Hindus, including foreign tourists, can be attributed to them), harijana - "child of God" (a term specially introduced by Mahatma Gandhi), pariahs - "outcasts", "expelled". And the most commonly used modern name"untouchables" - Dalits.

Legally, caste in India was fixed in the Laws of Manu, drawn up in the period from the 2nd century BC to the 2nd century AD. The system of varnas has traditionally developed in a much more ancient period(the exact date does not exist).

As mentioned above, castes in modern India still by no means can be considered simply an anachronism. On the contrary, all of them are now carefully recalculated there and listed in a special appendix to the current current Indian constitution (Table of Castes).

In addition, changes (usually additions) are made to this table after each census. The point is not that some new castes appear, but that they are fixed in accordance with the data indicated about themselves by the census participants. Only discrimination based on caste is prohibited. What is written in article number 15 of the Indian Constitution.

Indian society is very colorful and heterogeneous in its structure; besides the division into castes, there are several other differentiations in it. There are both caste and non-caste Indians. For example, Adivasis (descendants of the main indigenous black population of India before its conquest by the Aryans), with rare exceptions, do not have their own castes. In addition, for some offenses and crimes, a person can be expelled from his caste. And there are quite a lot of non-caste Indians - as evidenced by the results of the census.

Castes exist not only in India. A similar public institution takes place in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bali and Tibet. By the way, the Tibetan castes do not correlate with the Indian ones at all - the structures of these societies formed completely apart from each other. It is curious that in Northern India (the states of Himachal, Uttar Pradesh and Kashmir) the caste system is not of Indian, but of Tibetan origin.

Historically, when the vast majority of the population of India professed Hinduism, all Hindus belonged to some kind of caste, with the exception of the pariahs expelled from the caste and the indigenous non-Aryan peoples of India. Then other religions (Buddhism, Jainism) began to spread in India. As the country was subjected to invasions by various conquerors, representatives of other religions and peoples began to adopt from the Hindus their system of varnas and professional cast-jati. Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists and Christians in India also have their own castes, but they are somehow different from the Hindu castes.

What about Indian Muslims? After all, the Koran originally proclaimed the equality of all Muslims. Legitimate question. Despite the fact that British India was divided into two parts in 1947: “Islamic” (Pakistan) and “Hindu” (India proper), today Muslims (about 14% of all Indian citizens) in absolute terms live in India more than in Pakistan, where Islam is the state religion.

However, the caste system is inherent in India and Muslim society. However, caste differences among Indian Muslims are not as strong as among Hindus. They have practically no "untouchables". Between the Muslim castes there are no such impenetrable barriers as the Hindus - it is allowed to transfer from one caste to another or marriages between their representatives.

The caste system was established among Indian Muslims relatively late - during the Delhi Sultanate in the 13th-16th centuries. The Muslim caste is usually referred to as biradari ("brotherhood") or biyahdari. Often their occurrence is attributed by Muslim theologians to the influence of Hindus with their caste system(Supporters of "pure Islam" see in this, of course, the insidious intrigues of the pagans).

In India, as in many Islamic countries, Muslims also have their own nobility and common people. The first are called sharifs or ashraf ("noble"), the second - ajlaf ("low"). About 10% of Muslims living in the territory of the Republic of India currently belong to Ashraf. They usually trace their genealogies to those external conquerors (Arabs, Turks, Pashtuns, Persians, etc.) who invaded Hindustan and settled over many centuries.

For the most part, Indian Muslims are the descendants of the same Hindus who, for one reason or another, converted to a new faith. Forced conversion to Islam in medieval India was the exception rather than the rule. Usually, the local population was exposed to slow Islamization, during which elements of a foreign faith were unobtrusively included in local cosmology and ritual practice, gradually replacing and replacing Hinduism. It was an implicit and sluggish social process. People in the course of it kept and guarded the isolation of their circles. This explains the persistence of caste psychology and customs among large sections of Indian Muslim society. Thus, even after the final conversion to Islam, marriages continued to be concluded only with representatives of their own castes.

It is even more curious that even many Europeans were included in the Indian caste system. So, those Christian missionaries-preachers who preached to noble brahmins eventually ended up in the "Christian brahmin" caste, and those who, for example, carried the Word of God to the "untouchables" - fishermen - became Christian "untouchables".

Often it is impossible to determine exactly which caste an Indian belongs to only by his appearance, behavior and occupation. It happens that a kshatriya works as a waiter, and a brahmin trades and cleans up garbage in a shop - and they don’t particularly complex about these reasons, and a sudra behaves like a born aristocrat. And even if an Indian says exactly what caste he is from (although such a question is considered tactless), this will do little for a foreigner to understand how society works in such a strange and peculiar country as India.

The Republic of India declares itself a "democratic" state and, in addition to the prohibition of caste discrimination, has introduced certain benefits for members of the lower castes. For example, special quotas have been adopted there for their admission to higher educational establishments as well as positions in state and municipal bodies.

The problem of discrimination against people from the lower castes and Dalits, however, is quite serious. The caste structure is still fundamental to the lives of hundreds of millions of Indians. Outside major cities caste psychology and all the conventions and taboos that follow from it are firmly preserved in India.