07-17-2008, 02:45 PM
I think if you take the long view first there was the chatur(four) varna system of the vedic age. Then came the Jain and Buddhist phase when the varnas got blurred. With the revival of Sanathan Dharma, the occupations became jati. This was continued for atleast 1500 years. People were able to move up or down the ladder as they accumulated power and numbers. Thats why we had kings who were from various jatis throught out the Hindu period from the Mauryas onwards. The Muslims had vague notions but knew that they had to target the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas. They didnt care much for the trading class except some of them converted based on their needs -eg. the Bohras etc had to convert in order to retain their trading primacy in Arab ports. The Muslims also increased the conversion in medicants and beggars- could be former bhikshus.
The British ossifed and froze the jatis into the caste system with their surveys and glorifying or promoting collaborators and vice versa for those who opposed them. This is what modern India inherited from the colonials- Muslim and British.
The British ossifed and froze the jatis into the caste system with their surveys and glorifying or promoting collaborators and vice versa for those who opposed them. This is what modern India inherited from the colonials- Muslim and British.