The Indian Caste System and Its Discriminatory Practices

The caste system in India is a social class structure which has led to great social injustices through class discrimination. The caste system has been present in the modern-day country of India since approximately 1500 B.C. and thus has deeply rooted itself in Indian culture as a matter of tradition. The Indian caste system is based on hereditary ties and thus a person is not able to ascend to a higher class through their own work or ambition. Though there are similar caste systems present in other countries particularly on the African continent, the Indian caste system tends to be the most rigid and widely seen, thus it draws the most attention. There are four classes in the Indian caste system and they are, in respective order: priests and teachers, rulers and warriors, merchants and traders, and finally the workers and peasants whose born duty was to provide service to the upper-three classes. However, there were some Indian people who weren't even entitled to become part of the caste system and were a part of their own social class structure and they were known as "Dalits" or "untouchables". These untouchables held highly undesirable, disgusting, and often dangerous jobs and as such were highly looked down upon by those in the caste system. Though the peasant class often suffered from discriminatory abuse, the untouchables were discriminated against the most. Those people who were thought of as "untouchables" were not allowed to worship in the same places, or drink water from the same sources. Among the untouchable class there were also varying degrees of "outcastes" and they would often discriminate even amongst themselves.