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Caste System in India Facts & Worksheets

The caste system in India is a system of social stratification which has pre-modern origins, was transformed by the British Raj, and is today the basis of reservation in India.

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The caste system in India is a system of social stratification which has pre-modern origins, was transformed by the British Raj, and is today the basis of reservation in India.

See the fact file below for more information on the caste system in India or alternatively, you can download our 23-page Caste System in India worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

THE BACKGROUND

  • The caste system was formalized in a legal treatise called Manusmriti, which dates back to about 1,000 BCE.
  • Some historians also thought it to be the result of developments during the collapse of the Mughal era and the British colonial regime in India.
  • The rise of powerful men associated themselves with kings, priests, and ascetics, reshaping other social groups into differentiated caste communities.
  • Its principle lies in the “acknowledgement and justification of the caste system as the basis of order and regularity of society”.
  • In this system, society was divided into four strictly hierarchical groups known as varnas:
    • Brahmins – priests and other intellectuals
    • Kshatriya – warriors
    • Vaishyas – traders
    • Shudras – those who did menial labor
  • The system then evolved to about 3,000 castes and 25,000 subcastes over time, as social segregation and prejudice deepened.
  • Another layer of Shudras called Dalits (“divided, split, broken, scattered”) emerged at the base of the pyramid. They were barred from sharing food with or marrying people from higher castes, and some couldn’t even brush the shadow of a Brahmin.
  • They got their other name, “untouchables”, because their mere touch could supposedly defile the higher ranking castes.

HOW DOES THE CASTE SYSTEM WORK?

  • The caste system has pre-arranged every aspect of Hindu religious and social life in India, with each group occupying a specific place in the hierarchy.
  • Communities were arranged on the basis of castes – the upper and lower castes always lived in segregated colonies.
  • The water wells and basic amenities were not shared with those from different castes.
  • Brahmins would not accept food or drink from the Shudras, and one could marry only within one’s caste.
  • The people who suffered most were the “untouchables”. They could not cross the line dividing their part of the village from that occupied by higher castes.
  • They can not use the same wells, visit the same temples, or drink from the same cups in tea stalls used by higher castes.
  • In schools, the Dalit children are frequently made to sit at the back of classrooms.
  • The sociologist G. S. Ghurye defined six characteristics of castes:
    • Segmentation was determined by birth.
    • A hierarchical system, the Brahmins were the head of the hierarchy.
    • Restrictions on feeding and social interaction whereby upper castes could not accept food and drink from lower castes, but lower castes generally accepted food from upper castes.
    • Segregation – where individual castes lived together, the dominant caste lived in the center and other castes lived on the periphery.
    • Occupation is generally inherited. Caste members restricted their own members from taking up certain professions they considered degrading.
    • Endogamy – restrictions on marrying a person outside caste, but in some situations hypergamy was allowed.

EFFECTS OF THE CASTE SYSTEM IN INDIA

  • Over the years since its establishment, the caste system has shown its negative effects on society. The most affected by this system are the untouchables.
  • Often, they do not have electricity, sanitation facilities, or water pumps. Access to better education, housing, and medical facilities is also denied.
  • The lower castes are restricted to certain occupations, like sanitation work, plantation work, leather works, cleaning streets, etc. They are denied the better jobs that are available to the higher castes.
  • They are subjected to exploitation and slavery in the name of debt and tradition, resulting in having to work as laborers or perform menial tasks for generations.

GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES

  • Responding to the inequality, the Indian Government enacted laws to remove untouchability and introduced reforms to improve the quality of life for poorer Indians. A few of these laws include the following:
    • Constitutionally guaranteed fundamental human rights
    • Abolition of ‘untouchability’ in 1950
    • Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989
    • The Untouchability Offences Act of 1955 (now Protection of Civil Rights Act in 1976) states punishments for not allowing a person to enter a place of worship or from taking water from a well or tank
    • Provision of reservation in places like educational institutions, for employment opportunities, etc.
    • Establishing social welfare departments and national commissions for the welfare of scheduled castes and tribes
    • Equality in terms of:
      • Social equality and equal access to public areas
      • Employment regardless of race, caste, religion, creed, descent, or place of birth

Caste System in India Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the caste system in India across 23 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Caste System in India worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the caste system in India which is a system of social stratification which has pre-modern origins, was transformed by the British Raj, and is today the basis of reservation in India.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Caste System in India Facts
  • India Fast Facts
  • The Varna Sanskrit
  • The Brahmin
  • The Kshatriya
  • The Vaishya
  • The Sudra
  • The Dalit
  • Removing Caste
  • Social Classes
  • Reaching Out

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Link will appear as Caste System in India Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, January 29, 2021

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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