Articles
Jagran sakhi magazine
Jagran sakhi magazine published this article page no 30 in theory every person has a caste and every caste has a specified place in the hierarchy of all castes. while the hierarchical position of many castes particularly in the middle ranks may vary from region to region there is always a hierarchy. 5. castes also involve sub-divisions within themselves i.e. castes almost always have sub-castes and sometimes sub-castes may also have subsub-castes. this is referred to as a segmental organi...
Junior science refresher
Buy and subsribe here Junior science refresher published this article page no 31 on the other hand a particular occupation could only be pursued by the caste associated with it – members of other castes could not enter the occupation. these features are the prescribed rules found in ancient scriptural texts. since these prescriptions were not always practiced we cannot say to what extent these rules actually determined the empirical reality of caste – its concrete meaning for the people living at that time. as you can see most of the prescriptions involved prohibitions or restri...
Junior science refresher
Buy and subsribe here Junior science refresher published this article page no 32 most important once caste became rigidly determined by birth it was in principle impossible for a person to ever change their life circumstances. whether they deserved it or not an upper caste person would always have high status while a lower caste person would always be of low status. theoretically the caste system can be understood as the combination of two sets of principles one based on difference and separation and the other on wholism and hierarchy. each caste is supposed to be different from – and...
Junior science refresher
Buy and subsribe here Junior science refresher published this article page no 33 many of the scriptural rules of caste are thus designed to prevent the mixing of castes – rules ranging from marriage food sharing and social interaction to occupation. on the other hand these different and separated castes do not have an individual existence – they can only exist in relation to a larger whole the totality of society consisting of all castes. further this societal whole or system is a hierarchical rather than egalitarian system. each individual caste occupies not just a distinct pla...
Junior science refresher
Buy and subsribe here Junior science refresher published this article page no 34 castes that are considered ritually pure have high status while those considered less pure or impure have low status. as in all societies material power i.e. economic or military power is closely associated with social status so that those in power tend to be of high status and vice versa. historians believe that those who were defeated in wars were often assigned low caste status. finally castes are not only unequal to each other in ritual terms they are also supposed to be complementary and non-competing grou...