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The Caste System
Past injustices and modern attempts to redress past wrongs
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.
