kula-s and jaati-s exist; injustices and poverty exist. Does the caste-system exist? One can't use injustices or fights between different kula-s or jaati-s as a

kula-s and jaati-s exist; injustices and poverty exist. Does the caste-system exist? One can't use injustices or fights between different kula-s or jaati-s as an evidence for the existence of the caste-system. From: https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/what-can-india-offer/235020 https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/what-can-india-of... "While emphasizing that I do not attack and much less defend the caste system in what follows, let us look at the existing descriptions and their consequences. (a) Caste is an antiquated social system that arose in the dim past of India. If this is true, it has survived many challenges – the onslaught of Buddhism and the Bhakti movements, the Islamic and British colonization, Indian independence, world capitalism – and might even survive ‘globalization’. It follows, then, that the caste system is a very stable social organization. (b) There exists no centralized authority to enforce the caste system across the length and breadth of India. In that case, it is an autonomous and decentralized organization. (c) All kinds of social and political regulations, whether by the British or by the Indians, have not been able to eradicate this system. If true, it means that the caste system is a self-reproducing social structure. (d) Caste system exists among the Hindus, the Sikhs, the Jains, the Christians, the Muslims… It has also existed under different environments. This means that this system adapts itself to the environments it finds itself in. (e) Because new castes have come and gone over the centuries, this system must also be dynamic. (f) Since caste system is present in different political organizations and survives under different political regimes, it is also neutral with respect to political ideologies. Even though more can be said, this is enough for us. A simple redescription of what we think we know about the caste system tells us that it is an autonomous, decentralized, stable, adaptive, dynamic, self-reproducing social organization. It is also neutral with respect to political, religious and economic doctrines and environments. If indeed such a system ever existed, would it also not have been the most ideal form of social organization one could ever think of? How can we try to understand this odd state of affairs? The question of the immorality of the caste system became immensely important after the British came to India. Consequently, there are two interesting possibilities to choose from: one, Indians did not criticize the caste system (before the British came to India) because Indians are immoral; two, the Europeans ‘discovered’ something that simply does not exist in India, viz. the social organization that the caste system is supposed to be."