“Caste”, derived from the Spanish and Portuguese “casta”, was used to denote the various indigenous clans during the conquest of the New World.There is a story in the great Indian epic ‘Mahabharata’ where a boy called Ekalavya cuts his thumb off because he was a lower caste Nishada who made the mistake to be a great warrior, which was the job of castes higher than his own.Caste in India cannot be objectively pointed out. It can only be observed by reading between the lines when an incident takes place.In 2006, 4 members of the Bhotmange family were raped, mob lynched and murdered because their mother, Surekha Bhotmange, belonging to the Mahar caste, decided that she would educate herself and her children. Caste is the invisibility of this news in media.Caste is the fire that burnt in 2020 after a Dalit girl in Hathras was raped by 4 upper caste Thakur men. Her body was burned by the police without conducting a post mortem.Caste is the truth of the world’s largest democracy. In 2022, Indra Meghwal, a 9-year-old boy, was beaten by a teacher for touching a pot of water meant only for the upper castes. The boy later succumbed to his injuries.Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar defined caste as “not a division of labour, but a division of labourers.” The Europeans when they first came to India, did not comprehend this system of differentiation which was not a race-based concept. Its roots ran deeper than race and it’s organization was much more specific. In fact, to rid the misconceptions of the Europeans, Dr. Ambedkar said that “The caste system does not demarcate racial division. Caste system is a social division of people belonging to the same race.” Origins Of The Caste System: A Monster For Maintaining Social OrderThe origins of the caste system of India are neither absolute, nor definite. The caste system, as we see it today, is the product of evolution and invasion.Where the confusion stems from, is the terms ‘varna’, and ‘jati’. As different books deal with these two terms meaning different things, it is difficult to pin- point their actual usage. Some studies believe that varna is a non-genealogical concept, based on moral characteristics and later, the occupations of each person. This type of varna, was not an unchangeable or rigid norm in early Vedic society.Now, we come to ‘jati’. Jati, in Hindi, literally means species. Jati was used to denote the different clans, tribes, and other endogamous groups present in the subcontinent. It is also believed that these jatis, were a pre- Vedic concept, present in the Indus Valley Civilisation as well, denoting class- caste patterns. The Noose Made Up Of Caste Biases: Consequences In Every Sphere ImaginableThe caste system is a vicious creeper feeding off on the tree of society. It is built upon the blood, sweat and tears of the lowest rungs in this vile hierarchy.The biggest injustice created by this system is the fact that people are not allowed to improve their lives no matter how hard they work for it. If someone is from a so-called lower caste, the community around them will make sure that they stay so, all their lives.A very dangerous part of this is when caste becomes the most integral player in politics. This is a reality of almost every political activity in India. Entire parties are caste-based, and politicians make policies based on the wishes of the majority caste in an area.Lower caste and tribal representation is used in order to gain their vote bank, but at the end of the day, these communities still find themselves excluded from important policy decisions.An important aim of the caste system is also to keep the economic set-up akin to the social one. The lower one goes down the caste hierarchy, the poorer one gets. This is maintained by denying higher education and jobs to those belonging to marginalized castes. In cases like that of Rohith Vemula, who was a PhD scholar in the University of Hyderabad, it was seen that his caste status played a role in his unresolved suspension from the university. This later resulted in him committing suicide.When it comes to owning property and living spaces, the areas demarcated also follow caste biases.In this way, the social phenomenon that is caste has managed to permeate several other spheres of life. Food And Marriage: Weapons Of An Unjust WarThe entirety of the caste system in India can be seen through the lens of food, and marriage. These are the vehicles upon which caste hierarchy maintains its order.The theory of purity propagated in books like the ‘Manusmriti’, placed one caste over the other and gave rise to the concept of ‘Untouchability’.Untouchability was one of the greatest ways to maintain the power of caste. The people who were termed ‘untouchable’ were made to live at the periphery of villages, announcing their arrival with a broom tied around their waist and a bell, so that they cleaned the area where their feet touched, and people could be warned of their arrival.Food has a separate identity in every caste and sub-caste. From the ingredients used to the way of cooking, the social and economic aspects of caste can easily be studied through this. For example, lower caste families often have meat incorporated in their cuisine as it was a cheaper source of gaining required protein. Whereas, upper caste households had the privilege of choosing to be vegetarian due to their economic status.Inter-marriage between castes in India has left a violent history in it’s wake. What people like to term as “honour killings” have occurred to save a warped societal standing. Couples who have married outside their castes are shunned from society and often face threats to their lives.However, the venom of a snakebite is often cured by the anti-venom made from that same poison. In this way, the greatest weapons are often self-destructive. ‘Dalit’: A Thread Sewn Through Several Broken WingsThe word “Dalit” means “broken or scattered”. It is a word which today refers to the thousands of Untouchables, tribals and other depressed classes, broken by the rigid laws of society. This term gained a widespread political significance in the 1970’s as it was a term created by the people for themselves. It served as a welcome substitute for the falseness of the word ‘Harijan’ created by Gandhi to call them ‘Children of God’, when in reality they were crushed in the name of that same God.The Dalit Panther Movement that’s started in the slums of Bombay, expanded the use of the term ‘Dalit’. They called Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, neo-Buddhists, landless and poor peasants, exploited women, as well as all other oppressed persons as ‘Dalit’.This gave an identity to several people who were earlier shackled by their caste names.When we talk about annihilating the caste system, it is not just a task that can be done through large-scale policy changes. Today, while Reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes stand incorporated, the people who utilize these benefits are met with criticism and contempt, accusing them of stealing educational and professional positions. This is because caste needs to be annihilated first from people’s minds. The only way to do this is to use it’s weapons against it. When people from different castes inter-dine, and more importantly inter-marry, the whole foundation of this system is threatened significantly.What we need as people who are given the fundamental right to live lives of dignity, is equal opportunities, regardless of who we are. Not only that,but also keeping in mind the generational trauma that affects those who have faced the brunt of this system, we need to work through society and then move on to other spheres.Women in this system are doubly-marginalised. Feminist narratives in India that do not incorporate caste angles are one-sided and privileged narratives.Globally, knowledge of the caste system can help a lot in reducing it’s impact. When world actors realise how such a rotten system operates under the guise of the world’s largest democracy, it becomes more transparent and loses it’s power to work from the shadow lines.In conclusion, despite the many difficulties we have faced as a society in tackling this godly demon, I still believe in Dr. Ambedkar’s message that “caste is not a divine institution. It is a human institution, and it can be changed by human effort.”An effort that is necessary if we as a people are to really live in a space that is free from generations of suffering under the instruments of oppression.