THE CASTE: AN OBSTACLE TO SOCIAL HARMONY

Indian society is based on the basis of the caste system and the Hindu people are divided into as many as six
thousand castes. The caste system is derived from the Varna system which is having sanction in Rig Veda
(Xth Mandal). The Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra are four Varnas in descending order, of which
first three varnas are known as “Dvija”1, while Shudras are there to serve upper Varnas. Later on this Varna
system gave birth to Caste system when there happened inter-Varna marriages because the blood purity was
given prime importance by the Brahmins. The caste system forced many restrictions and injustices on the
Shudras while the Brahmins enjoyed all kinds of privileges. The attempt here is to study the consequences of
the caste system in the present context.
The caste was the prime basis of social organization in pre-colonial India. The caste system is the basic
nature of Hinduism and prevailing throughout the ages in Indian history. It is beneficial to upper castes by
conferring privileges upon them, and at the same time it is very oppressive to lower castes and especially to
untouchables as it took away all kinds of human rights from them. They were made just for providing
services to upper castes without any gain. They were never treated on the lines of humanity. They were
deprived of all the natural human rights; the animals could enter in the temples and untouchables were
regarded as so impure that they could not enter the temples. The evil effects of the caste system do not
merely suppress the untouchables (Dalits) and lower caste people, but due to persistence of the caste system,
India as a nation cannot progress by any means as a whole.