ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on understanding the essential features of the caste system: its origin, its evolution into a unique system of stratification, its comparison with other such systems and also the comparison between its victims, the Dalits, with those of others. It discusses how the Dalits articulated their struggles for emancipation. While it will necessarily deal with some prominent theories and opinions, the chapter explains how understanding castes in their evolutionary perspective is still a work in progress. Scholars have proffered theories of the origin of castes, which are at best hypotheses without any agreement. The notion of hierarchy of castes stemmed basically from the superiority or inferiority of occupations. The pervasiveness of the caste system over the vast subcontinental space and its becoming a ‘lifeworld’ of people must lead us to search for some more enduring material factors than purely ideological ones.
