The story of Caste: Old and New

This paper is an attempt to discuss the Indian caste system and a few concepts with relation to it. The ideas and frameworks that surround it are caste, jati, sanskritization, caste mobility, passing and caste-passing which will be examined too. All these will be deliberated from sociological, anthropological as well as historical perspectives. Therefore, this paper offers an overview of the caste system and through it we are also introduced to other elements like caste mobility, suitability of marriage partners, social and personal relationships that are determined by one’s caste are some of the issues brought to fore in this research. Caste mobility whether, it is discussed overtly or lies only as a dormant idea, but nevertheless visible to the Indian or society exclusively or the world at large is an important part in Indian society. The act of either moving up or moving down the caste ladder is not a new issue in India or in Indian fiction and other discourses. This paper shows that there have been efforts made by certain castes or groups to move up the caste ladder. Nevertheless, these attempts involve groups, not individuals. How individuals can pass up the caste ladder will also be discussed using the African-American racial passing paradigm. The act is labeled as caste-passing by Halimah Mohamed Ali (2006, 2011) in her research on this issue. The term is a neology created by her via this research.