CASTE HIERARCHY

SUBMITTED BY

Ankush Bharti,
Rohan Kumar.
Surya Pratap Singh,
Sumit Joshi,
Abhishek Chauhan
What's the caste system?
• Broadly speaking, a caste system is a process of placing people in occupational
groups. It has pervaded several aspects of Indian society for centuries. Rooted in
religion and based on a division of labor, the caste system, among other things,
dictates the type of occupations a person can pursue and the social interactions that
she may have. Castes are an aspect of Hindu religion. Other religions in India do not
follow this system.
• Castes are ranked in hierarchical order (originally, the system wasn't to have a
hierarchy based on occupation or birth but purely on personality; this has been
skewed somehow over time), which determines the behavior of one member of
society over another. Even in a modern business setting, where caste isn't openly
acknowledged, there may be subtle observances of village or family-style ranking.
How it's structured
• India's caste system has four main classes (also called varnas) based originally on
personality, profession, and birth. In descending order, the classes are as follows:

• Brahmana (now more commonly spelled Brahmin): Consist of those engaged in

scriptural education and teaching, essential for the continuation of knowledge.
• Kshatriya: Take on all forms of public service, including administration, maintenance of
law and order, and defense.
• Vaishya: Engage in commercial activity as businessmen.
• Shudra: Work as semi-skilled and unskilled laborers.
How it works

Castes still rarely intermarry and are definitely not changeable. In urban India, though,
people of all castes meet socially or for business. Discriminating against anyone because of
their caste for things like club memberships and so on is against the law.
CASTE AND HABITATION AREAS IN
INDIAN VILLAGES
• Though a village appears to be simple from a distance, it has many complex intertwined
features, which are unique to it. Such complexity is reflected in the habitation areas,
construction of houses and roads. Let us discuss about caste and its relation to the
habitation area.
In any village, there exist a number of castes.
Generally, the upper castes reside in the
centre of the village, and their houses are
closely located. Each caste has a separate
area, known as ‘Wadi’. The term ‘Wadi’ varies
from region to region.
The lower caste people are always separated from upper castes. These are regarded as
untouchables by upper castes as their touch was supposed to pollute their caste. Hence,
the habitation area of lower caste people has always been located in the outskirts of the
village.
• Their habitation areas generally have a distinct name ‘Maharwada’. It is where
untouchables resided in Maharashtra. In the case of Andhra Pradesh, ‘Mala’ and
‘Madiga’ have separate cluster of houses, which are located at the end of the village.
Other caste people such as ‘Kumhars’
or potters also live a little away from
village and their habitation area is
known as ‘Kumharwada’. ‘Brahmins’
also have a separate habitation area,
but usually situated in the centre of the
village.
• In South India, their habitation area is known as ‘Agraharam’. Similarly in Andhra
Pradesh, ‘Malas’ live apart from the rest of the village. The ‘Madigas’ live near ‘Mala’
but they have their own separate cluster of houses. Likewise, each caste according to its
caste occupations has separate locations to reside with each having a distinct name for
its habitation area.
• this tendency to have separate sub-areas for habitation within a larger unit called
village can be explained in various ways and on different grounds like caste, hierarchy,
ideas of impurity and pollution, the need for certain occupations to have room, for
carrying out the different processes needed for their craft, etc.
• The first reason applies to the house complexes gen­erally; whereas second applies
to the distance found between the untouchable quarters and the rest and the third
applies to castes like potters, brick makers, weavers and dyers, etc. The primary
group in a village is the large family, which extends into caste.
THANKYOU