Caste as a natural social institution in India

 

 

To almost all Hindus and people belonging to other communities as well living in India, caste appears as a natural, dear and inevitable unit of society.

Family, extended family, Kula, Caste and religion are the fundamental social institutions for them. An individual is a natural member of a family, which is the unit of an extended family, extended family of Kula (clan), Kula of a tribe (Vish) and a tribe of a Jana or Jati (Caste). This way, Caste is nothing else but a large extended family bonded by same language, customs, thinking and way of living.

Caste is second only to the family – where a child learns his first lessons in human values and relationships- in widening a person’s social radius and in getting importance in his/her private and occupational life. Caste and Indian culture are inseparably related by traditional customs. It is virtually impossible to think of one without another. Calling maids, sweepers and other workers ‘mausi’, ‘amma’ or ‘kaka’ etc in many families has not been merely a sign of respect to elders, to whatever caste or creed they belong – upper castes or lower-, but younger generation’s first lessons in human relationships as well as a proof of indiscrimination prevalent in cultured sections of society.

 

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