The Caste System in India Notes

Why did the caste develop?

A way of defining social and economic distinctions

Perhaps in a later life a person who had followed his/her dharma would?

Go up in the caste system

How did the 1968 Law help the lives of the Untouchables?

Provided that 22% of government jobs were to go to ex-untouchables or schedules castes

How did the 1989 government commission help the lives of the untouchables?

Recommended that the number of reserved jobs be doubled

Describe the life of an Untouchable. What were they not able to do? What occupations/jobs did they have?

They were not able to worship in Hindu temples, were prohibited from using public i roads, and could not let their children play with the children of any other caste. As occupations they were street cleaners or tanners

Why is the attitude towards caste still slow to change in India?

Many Indians consider the caste system an essential part of Hinduism. A Hindu's acceptance of the religious doctrines of karma and dharma includes the obligations of caste membership

What leader in India began a campaign to raise the status of Untouchables?

Mohandas Gandhi

When is caste still the most important consideration?

In marriage

Where/why is the caste system still strong?

In the villages. The change is slow, the influences of education and industrialization have only begun to be felt

How were the castes divided?

Into groups according to birth, based on purity and pollution

How did the Indian Constitution (1950) help the lives of the untouchables?

It outlawed untouchability and made discrimination against any citizen on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth punishable by law

If a person was dissatisfied with his/her place in life, what could he/she hope for?

That in the next reincarnation the wôułd would be promoted to a higher subcaste, or even to a higher caste

When was the caste system introduced? By whom?

The caste system may have been introduced in about 1500 B.C. by the Aryans who invaded India

Each caste had its own code of behavior, duties, and responsibilities. What did this code influence?

The education, occupation, diet, marriage, and social privileges of every member in the caste

What are the factors that are weakening the caste system in modern India?

The great increase in educational opportunities, the increasing movement of people from villages, the constitutional changes favoring Untouchables, the leadership of people like Mohandas Gandhi who fought discrimination, the growth of industry