Christianity and Caste

Caste is a social formation peculiar to Indian Society. Whereas societies all over the world, with the possible exception  of  tribal societies, show similarities in terms  of  the hierarchical ranking  of  class formations, Indian society, in addition to class differentiation, shows a unique pattern  of  caste stratification which often, not always, overlaps with class formation. Caste in its origins may,  in  effect, have been a kind  of  functional differentiation within society and there­ fore analogues to class. However, in the course  of  ages, it acquired racial and religious overtones which predicated it  rigidly on birth-determined status with the accompanying notion  of  ritual purity and impurity. The result was an ambiguous social phenomenon. On the one hand, the votaries  of  ‘Varnasram’  claim that Indian society acquired an adaptive and integrative genius within a pluralistic set-up, and this enabled it  to last through the vicissitudes  of  his­ tory. On the other hand, critics  of  caste argue that it has been a factor  of  disintegration rather than integration, and that caste segregation and exclusivity has hindered the emergence  of  civil society in contemporary India.