Caste system is peculiar and fundamental to Indian social structure. Caste pervades the entirety of Indian civilization. Almost everyone who knows anything about India has certainly heard of caste system. Caste system is an ingenious method to preserve hierarchy and discrimination amongst various caste categories. In the caste system the other classes are permanently at the bottom of the scale. The truth is that the system was probably a device to keep the Aryan conquerors apart from and above the conquered people.
Undoubtedly in its growth it has acted in that way, though originally there may have been a good deal of flexibility about it. Yet that is only a part of the truth and it does not explain its power and cohesiveness and the way it has rushed down to our present day. It survived not only the powerful impact of Buddhism in many centuries of Afghan and Mughal rule and the spread of Islam, but also the strenuous efforts of innumerable Hindu reformers who raised their voices against it.
It is only today that it is seriously threatening and its very basis has been attacked. That is not chiefly because of some powerful urge to reform itself which has arisen in Hindu society, though such urge is undoubtedly present, nor is it because of ideas from the West, though such ideas have certainly exerted their influence. The change that is taking place before our eyes is due essentially to basic economic changes which have shaken up the whole fabric of Indian society and are likely to upset it.
Caste society is rural in nature and varies in essential social, economic and religious interdependence. The interdependence is mutual, neither reciprocal nor equal. The division of occupations among multiple caste categories is so defined and clear cut that material and service relationships not only is routine but also essentially unavoidable. The conditions of life in caste societies are such that there is a significant pattern of intercaste interaction.
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The caste system does not stand by itself; it is a part and an integral part of a much larger scheme of social organisation. The whole society is divided into 4 ‘Varnas’, namely the Brahman, the Kshatriya, the Vaishya and the Shudra. Outside the Varna system, there are the ‘Avarnas’ who intimately articulate with the castes of 4 Varnas. Therefore, the Avarnas who are outside the Varna system have developed Jati characteristics though they are not the part of inner structure of the caste system. The essence of the varna order is hierarchy and the interrelationship among the castes of different Varnas and the intra-interaction among castes of a particular Varna are based in terms of the prevailing notion of local purity and pollution scale. Castes are mutually repulsive and are also directly interactive which shows functional attraction or interdependence.
Caste though is a Pan-Indian phenomenon and it binds the whole Hindu society, regional patterns reflect the social structures. The point may be clarified by stating that the pattern of interaction which is based on the notion of purity and pollution is either local or regional in reality. A person or a family interacts in a village or a settlement or in a community and not with people who are strangers. Rules of socio-cultural interaction are either local or regional and not Pan-Indian as such. Any specific caste belonging to any Varna order may be found in all the regions of the country, but interactions of its members are limited to the area of their habitation. That is why the rules of endogamy and exogamy are very clear cut in a community life or in a locality.