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Once Upon a Caste in India

Updated: May 2


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[This Blog is part of A Conversation on Inclusivity Series]


Once upon a time, not so long ago in history, when the world was on the verge of becoming a global village and India was one of the frontrunners, I believed that the society around me was modern, meritocratic, and distant from the idea of caste. Surely, my family did not practice or believe in this age-old system. I certainly did not; I used to say it to myself proudly. Caste was a relic for history books; society, in the age of the internet, Artificial Intelligence, and whatnot, must have moved on from it, I presumed. Alas, reality has a way of humbling us in the things we believe, from the comfort we have garnered through our economic and social capital.


It was my grandfather’s funeral, the Shradh Bhoj[1].  It was a huge affair; people from the entire village and nearby areas were invited. During the ceremony, I noticed something peculiar. The first offering was made to the brahmans. I wondered if it was a normal practice. The entire offering was structured differently for different seats; I tried to observe and learn. After it was over, it was time for cleanup. All the leaf plates with leftovers were collected by one of the workers and piled up to be burned. I was asked to bring a matchbox, which I did. The matchbox was emptied, the majority of the matchsticks were placed in my hand, and a few were put back into the box and given to the worker. I asked the reason for this and received a casual answer: the worker belonged to a particular caste (supposedly falling into the lowest strata of the societal caste structure), and the matchbox, once touched by him, could not be brought back into the house.


This practice has been abolished by Article 17[2], yet it exists. The year was 2018. People in my reality are not just born; they are assigned a name, a role, a rank, and a distance—a distance they must maintain from other humans. A distance measured by watching the position of the sun, lest their shadows mingle with others. Their destiny is sealed because of their birth.


The anecdote shared is one of many that exist in the modern Indian society. This negates the hypothesis that caste is a thing of the past. “It is not a residual problem of tradition; it is a constitutive part of Indian modernity,”[3] manifesting in countless ways—whether it is renting a home, where landlords, like intelligence agents, look for subtle cues to identify or guess a prospective tenant’s caste; hiring domestic help; hesitating about serving tea in the usual cups to daily wage workers doing odd jobs in the house; hushed conversations questioning the credibility or merit of students or employees who have secured opportunities through reservations; or the casual use of caste-linked abuses in everyday speech. Association with an identity is indeed a fundamental human need, but the problem arises when that association is made hierarchical. That is where the real, enduring challenge lies.


The idea of not practising caste is not to ignore it, but to see it clearly—to recognise how it has seeped into our jokes, silences, seating arrangements, and even the type and nature of food served. Many social activists and scholars of the 21st century have refuted the argument that caste is an outdated relic, arguing instead that it is deeply woven into the logic of Indian democracy, capitalism, and governance.[4] 


The suicides of many students and scholars on university campuses depict institutional casteism. Rohith Vemula in his final letter[5] termed his birth to be a “fatal accident,” highlighting casteism in educational institutions. It is a system of governance and mind control.[6]  Social inclusion is not charity but a need of society; institutional inclusion of the oppressed castes is a matter of justice.[7] Periyar, echoing Ambedkar, termed caste as a “division of labourers by birth and not merit.”[8] In one of his speeches, he critiqued the argument that caste is divine and natural, questioning: if caste were natural, why do we not find a cat that refuses to eat beside another?[9] Tagore termed the idea of caste to be “a sin against humanity.”[10]


Caste remains an integral social reality in India, influencing access to resources, dignity, opportunity, and social mobility. It is ingrained in surnames, rituals, marital decisions, housing, employment, and attitudes toward intelligence and behaviour. Caste identity is not chosen, but it shapes social experience more powerfully than personal achievement or moral quality. For dominant positions in the hierarchy, caste becomes a legacy of social capital - of ‘purity’, lineage, and perceived superiority. Conversely, caste becomes a source of shame for historically oppressed people. To dismantle caste, legal reforms as well as cultural and moral reorientations are required, with pride based on empathy, justice, and shared humanity rather than ancestry.


Rohit is an Assistant Professor (SS) at UPES School of Law, Dehradun.


{The opinions expressed herein are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University.}


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[1] Offering of food to the ancestors and then to the extended family, relatives, clan, village usually performed on the 12th or 13th day of the demise of a family member. 

[2] Article 17 of the Constitution of India abolishes untouchability and its practice in any form.

[3] Anand Teltumbde, Republic of Caste: Thinking Equality in the Time of Neoliberal Hindutva 4 (Navayana 2018)

[4] Ibid.,

[5] Rohith Vemula, a dalit scholar of University of Hyderabad committed suicide alleging discrimination faced because of his caste.

[6] Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd, Post-Hindu India: A Discourse in Dalit-Bahujan, Socio-Spiritual and Scientific Revolution 35 (SAGE Publ’ns 2009)

[7] See generally Suraj Yengde, Caste Matters 212–14 (Penguin Viking 2019) (arguing that the inclusion of Dalits and other marginalized communities must be rooted in principles of justice and equality, not tokenistic benevolence).

[8] B.R. Ambedkar, Annihilation of Caste: The Annotated Critical Edition (Arundhati Roy ed., Navayana 2014)

[9] Periyar E.V. Ramasamy, Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. vol. 5, Dravidar Kazhagam Publications, p. 212 (Speech reprinted from Kudi Arasu, 1938) The transliteration is “Mirugangalukku kooda jaathi kidaiyadhu. Oru poonai matroru poonaiyudan saappida marukkiradhaa?” which translates to “Even animals do not have caste. If caste is natural, show me one cat that refuses to eat beside another”.

[10] Rabindranath Tagore, Nationalism 98 (Macmillan 1917), quoted in Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, The Mahatma and the Poet: Letters and Debates Between Gandhi and Tagore 1915–1941 45 (National Book Trust 1997).

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