ShodhPatra: International Journal of Science and Humanities

An Orientation of Caste System and Education: A Discourse

Various factors define the social stratification called caste which further defines the social hierarchy of its individuals. This stratification mainly based on power, prestige etc. Caste structure is formed on the basis of the birth of the individual. In the caste ideology the Brahminic model of Hindu Society faces a problem of ‘life and death’ derived from the Indian thinking in terms of ‘purity and pollution’. The purity of life is the absolute truth free from this world and beyond death in a state of mukti (salvation), whereas impurity is related to death, human waste, dirt etc. in such thinking it is easy to understand why most of the Hindus are against no-vegetarianism and the use of alcohol. Abstaining keeps them away from any possible contact with death and impurity. This is the character of the caste theory, whereas in practice, although ‘pure’ and impure’ are separated in order to protect life from death, special caste specialists and groups are in fact formed, who charge themselves with impurity to free others from pollution. It creates the hierarchical classification of the four main ‘verna’ and a number of jatis or castes which are based on series of gradations of ritual and religious purity, high and low status, and eating and drinking habits. The root of English meaning of Jati or Caste comes from the word ‘Casta’ which in Portuguese means breed, race or kind. Hindu system calls it Jati. The functional role of caste as a unit explains the status of equal individuals; caste also acts as a system which maintains the characters of the very caste and its members.