The Caste System

A few days ago, I was talking with a friend of mine about how some Indian people only have one name, their first name. They dropped their last name as a protest against the caste system, because a person’s last name often signifies the caste they belong to. Many higher caste people have dropped their last names to protest against what they consider an unjust system.

For many people who live under that system, it is in many ways as oppressive as slavery.

What is the Indian caste system?

The caste system is probably the world’s longest surviving social hierarchy. Within it, people are divided among four main castes which are treated with some dignity, and the fifth caste, which used to be called Untouchables.

In the late 1880s, Jyotirao Phule started to use the word “Dalit” to refer to these people. The word is derived from Sanskrit, and means “broken, divided, scattered”. In modern times, they are referred to as scheduled castes.

A person within this system cannot change the caste to which he or she is born. Under the Hindu concept of karma, a person has a particular caste due to their deeds in previous lifetimes.

The highest caste is that of priests and teachers, the Brahmins. Below them are the rulers and soldiers, the Ksyatriyas. Then come the merchants and traders, or Vaisyas. Finally, within this hierarchy are the laborers and artisans, or Shudras.

What were Untouchables?

Untouchables existed outside the caste system. The lowest rung on the social ladder, they were considered to be unclean. They could be, and were, treated abominably because it was considered that they deserved to be treated this way. Nothing they could do would change this. They could never rise above their birth.

Since purity and cleanliness were considered important for everyone else, but Untouchables were considered unclean and impure no matter what they did, they were forced to do all the work that was considered “polluting”.

Not only were they forced to do the worst types of labor in order to survive, they were often mistreated with impunity.

How are the scheduled castes treated?

In a village, there was a line that divided the scheduled castes from the four higher castes. They could not use the same wells that everyone else in the village used, for example. They could not drink from the same cups when they visited a tea stall, and they were not allowed in the temples that other castes could freely visit.

In ancient times, it was considered pollution if their shadows touched a higher caste person, so they were forced to ring a bell to warn others that they were approaching.

Upper caste men would rape Dalit women despite the “ritual uncleanliness” they would incur by touching her. These poor women were treated as subhuman and there were no consequences to the rapist.

The treatment of the scheduled castes in modern times

The Indian constitution abolished “untouchability” in 1950.

However, the segregation of the Dalits from the rest of Indian society continues to this day. Like apartheid in South Africa, or Jim Crow in the American South, the scheduled castes remain discriminated against.

In rural villages, they are still completely segregated from the rest of society. Their children, long denied an education, are now allowed to attend school but must sit in the back of the classroom.

If water pumps, sanitation facilities, or electricity are provided to the upper castes, the Dalits will be given inferior versions, if they are provided with anything at all. Not only are water taps and wells segregated, so is medical care.

Suffering during 2001 Gujurat earthquake

The 2001 seismic event killed over 30,000 people and injured 150,000. It also left hundreds of thousands homeless as it destroyed or damaged over a million buildings.

As reported in The Guardian, instead of coming together after the devastating disaster, the upper castes refused to have anything to do with the scheduled castes.

When the army erected tents to house the refugees, the upper castes refused to live there because it was too close to the makeshift shelters that the Dalits had already created out of bedsheets and bamboo poles. The army was forced to take down the tents.

When first aid trucks arrived, members of the upper caste diverted them to their own communities. According to Pravin Bharwad, a Dalit villager, for the first three days after the earthquake, they were not provided any food or aid.

The Jains, one of the higher castes, started a relief kitchen, but made it clear that it was not available for Dalits.

It was only after a swami (holy man) arrived with three trucks that a food camp was opened for the scheduled classes. According to Mr. Bharwad, if not for this religious man, the Dalits would have died of hunger.

Gandhi called them Harijan

Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi believed that the Dalits should not be treated this way. He called them Harijan, which means children of God. He said it was not right to call a human being an “untouchable”. In his home state of Gujurat, the term is still widely used by those who believe in his ideals. He also spoke out against the oppression of women.

Unfortunately, as can be seen by what happened in the earthquake, there are still many, particularly in the villages, who continue to cling to the old beliefs, not only oppressing the scheduled castes but also women.

Note: While Gandhi popularized the term Harijan, he did not coin it. Prior to Gandhi’s using it, there was a newspaper named Harijan written for this group.

Fighting the caste system today

While legally, the caste system has been abolished, the reality is very different.

One reason many Hindus I know have dropped their surnames — because these often indicate a person’s caste. Not only Dalits but also upper caste individuals who hate the injustices of the caste system have done this.

One way the government has used to try to make up for past injustice is to create a quota system. These reparations have become mandated by the Indian constitution. Certain types of jobs, such as those in the government, must be set aside for groups such as the scheduled castes and tribes. University spaces also needed to be reserved for these groups.

In 1990, the quota rose to 49%, which has led to resentment by upper castes who feel that disqualified people were being promoted over them. However, in middle school civics classes, teachers explained that this system was now a foundation for Indian democracy. In order to reverse the injustices of the past, more opportunities are required for those who were previously disenfranchised.

Protests occurring

When an upper caste student scores higher than lower caste ones but is still not admitted to the university system due to quotas, he or she may not care about past injustices. Some of them are staging protests against what they consider an unfair system, discounting that the lower castes make up as much as 2/3 of the population.

Meanwhile lower caste students are upset because they are only getting 49%, which is less than their share of the population.

In the fault lines between the two groups, the advantage probably goes to the upper castes. While the lower castes have the numbers, the upper castes have the money.

The leader of the upper-caste protests in Gujurat, Hardik Patel, has threatened that the Patels would remove their money from banks and stop supplying food if their demands were not met.

This crisis puts Modi’s government in the crosshairs. Can he create enough jobs and deliver enough inclusive growth to stabilize the situation?

I hope you found this article interesting.

I am fighting stage IV cancer. If you can help with medical bills, I would really appreciate it. Or if you enjoy my writing and would like to buy me a cup of coffee, that’s great too. Maybe someday I can return the favor.

—

This post was previously published on Shefali O’Hara’s blog.

***

You may also like these posts on The Good Men Project:

White Fragility: Talking to White People About Racism

Escape the “Act Like a Man” Box

The Lack of Gentle Platonic Touch in Men’s Lives is a Killer

What We Talk About When We Talk About Men