Dalit (untouchable) children often have limited opportunities in the caste system.

Under the ancient caste system in South Asia, though, the idea of social mobility made no sense. People were born into strict social positions called castes, and their children belonged to the same social class. In fact, under the caste system, parents knew the jobs their kids would hold even before the kids were born.

The Hindu caste system is ordered hierarchically, with Brahmins at the top and Sudras at the bottom. Untouchables, also known as Harijans or Dalits, fall outside of the caste system all together.

Caste Parties

Hindus rank the four varnas from highest to lowest. In descending order of importance and prestige, they are the Brahmin, the Kshatriya, the Vaisya, and the Sudra.

The caste system is structured so that people marry within their own caste, but it isn't unheard of to marry outside of it. In fact, having a woman marry a man of a higher varna is a way for a family to achieve social mobility.

The Untouchables

The caste system is not described in the Hindu scripture. The system was originally devised to create an understandable division of labor and identify different groups of people.

Untouchables do all the most unpleasant work in South Asia. They are forced to live on the outskirts of towns and villages, and they must take water downstream from and not share wells with varna Hindus.

Many Hindus in the past believed that untouchables deserved this treatment — a treatment that is in many ways even harsher than that inflicted on African Americans before the Civil Rights Movement. Hindus think that a person is born to this class because of bad karma he or she earned in a pervious life.

Job Placement

There are different jatis for every kind of job, such as blacksmith, farmer, shoemaker, and accountant. There may be more than one jati that does a particular job, but most jatis do only one.

The Kshatriya are members of the warrior varna. Their lifetime goal is to serve as protector to their people.

Ideally, a person will marry someone in the same jati. This can sometimes be a problem when most of the people in the jati are related in some way. A father in South Asia must take responsibility for finding a good match for his children, and will work hard to find someone in the same jati who is not a close blood relative.

Westerners may find this complicated and sometimes cruel system hard to understand. A Hindu, however, accepts it as natural. In fact, Hinduism teaches that in order to be assured of a good life in one's next reincarnation, a person must do everything he or she can to live up to the expectations of his or her varna and jati. A Sudra should work hard; a Brahmin should study religious texts and pray hard.

The caste system has relaxed somewhat over the last hundred years or so. People can take jobs that are not exactly what their jati requires, especially as new kinds of jobs — such as computer programming, flying airplanes, and installing cable television — that have no traditional association emerge.

In fact, the caste system is officially illegal in India. Affirmative action programs have been adopted to create new opportunities for lower-caste Indians. Even the untouchable caste has had some success getting better jobs, including government positions.

But, the system is not dead. Two of the questions South Asians often ask about each other when they first meet are "What is your jati?" and "What is your varna?" Although most Westerners and many modern Hindus don't believe that the caste system can really say much about a person on the inside, knowing someone's caste gives one some idea of what his or her life and family are like.

The caste system existed almost unchanged for at least 2,000 years, and its effects can still be felt today. But in the last half century, the system has begun to change and the idea of social mobility has arrived in India.

Many castes have begun to improve their status, and others have changed dramatically with the introduction of new technologies. Contact with other cultures has had the most profound change, and today a Sudra or even an untouchable really does have a chance of making a fortune.

		Thinking about the Caste System: Opinions of the caste system vary throughout the world. What do you think?

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