By Dr. OP Sudrania
Read Is Caste Only a Hindu Problem? Part 1
Read Is Caste only a Hindu Problem? Part 2
Read Is Caste only a Hindu Problem? Part 3
Read Is Caste only a Hindu Problem? Part 4
Read Is Caste only a Hindu Problem? Part 5
“Success always hugs you in private, but failure always slaps you in public”.
In my last five series it was attempted to serialize the caste monster in various religious communities apart from Hindus. Now an attempt will be made to give a broad outline of Castes prevailing in various nations globally except Japan, Tibet and Indian subcontinent which have been dealt in earlier parts, are not repeated. It may allow introspection for the responsible global institutions who blame Hindus for this curse on humanity; though it will still not be enough to silence the critics because of their vested ulterior motives ignoratio elenchi. Having said, it may empower the victim to plan their counter strategy for better cohesion and advancement.
China
The current Chinese society under the tuff communist regime may have tried to change, but only with partial success under the rise of Mao Tse Tung in 1949 with establishment of the People’s Republic of China but the earlier Chinese society was divided into multiples of castes. From 17th century to the early 20th century, Chinese society was divided into closed social classes/castes: aristocracy and officials, literati, commoners, and people with inferior status. The commoners were called liangmin, meaning good people. The inferior people were called jianmin, meaning cheap, lowly and mean people. The lowest caste, jianmin, included slaves as well as people who were born into families of certain occupations. These occupations considered inferior, shunned and defiling, included nupu, changyou and lizu (yamen runners). Within each caste, there were further hierarchies and status levels. Domestic servants and agricultural slaves were considered less defiling than actors. The upper castes had special privileges and a separate legal code. For the same behavior or crime, a person of upper caste was treated differently by law than a person of lower caste. Offsprings inherited their caste status from their fathers i.e. on paternity (jiefi chengfen or chitsen).
The commoner sub-castes in China were four, and were called the simin. These included the gentlemen (local nobility), farmers, merchants and artisans. The simin castes were considered the pure descent people. The so-called lowly, mean people were not part of the simin castes, and they were considered as filthy, dishonored and defiled by birth. Marriage between simin castes (commoners) and so-called lowly, mean castes were stringently prohibited. Marriages within commoners were also limited to those within sub-castes.
Beyond these castes, China had its pariah caste, who were the untouchables and who passed on this status to their descendants automatically. The untouchables were considered impure by birth, and had to live in isolation away from rest of the community. Within these outcastes, there were hierarchies, such as dan boat people, bandang people, beggar households, and hereditary servant people. Their state was fixed for life; they were frequently despised wherever they went, and there was no legal way for them to escape from their inferior status. The outcastes married within their caste and status level, and taught their offsprings their occupations. Some of the outcast occupations involved human and animal waste, dead carcasses, leather work, human corpse rituals, postpartum blood rituals, and such work; for this, the Chinese outcasts were considered a polluted and irreversibly impure segment of the society. The untouchables were different and below the so-called lowly, mean people castes. The treatment of untouchables was fluid and less harsh in some parts of China, and very rigid in others. All of these Chinese castes belonged to the same race, same religion and same culture prevalent in their community. In the Chinese system of law, the outcastes were unequal, had limited or no rights, and in social matters judged accordingly. The social status of outcastes mirrored their legal status; both reflected their sense of social identity. The outcasts were shunned and ostracized by the upper castes, and the sub-castes excluded, shunned and mutually repulsed the other.
Traditional Yi society in Yunnan was class based. People were split into the Black Yi (nobles, 5% of the population), White Yi (commoners), Ajia (33% of the Yi population) and the Xiaxi (10%). Ajia and Xiaxi were slaves. The White Yi were not slaves but had no freedom of movement. While Qing dynasty abolished appointment of hereditary headmen, slavery and the treatment of poor peasants as serfs continued through 1949.
Watson finds that rigid caste strata system continued after China’s communist revolution, and was actively exploited in rural regions by party officials for control, at least through 1960s. The old established customs die hard irrespective of legal or political maneuvers.
Korea
Korea had its own version of caste system through the 19th century. Yangban, above, were the aristocratic caste. Below them were petty officials, the middle people called Chungin. Inferior and below them were the freed commoners who were peasants and merchants called Pyeongmin or Sangmin. At the bottom were so-called vulgar commoners, called Cheonmin caste, with the pariah castes, the untouchable Baekjeong. Hereditary, hierarchical and closed, marriages across caste lines was strongly opposed.
The Baekjeong were an “untouchable” minority group of Korea. The term baekjeong literally means “a butcher”, but later changed into “common citizens” to change the class system so that the system would be without untouchables. In the early part of the Goryeo period (918-1392), these minority groups were largely settled in fixed communities. However, the Mongol invasion left Korea in disarray and anomie, and these groups became nomadic. Other subgroups of the baekjeong are the ‘chaein’ and the ‘hwachae’.During the Joseon dynasty, they were specific professions like basket weaving and performing executions.
With the unification of the three kingdoms in the 7th century with foundation of Goryeo dynasty in Middle Ages, Koreans systemised its own native caste system. At the top were the two official groups, the Yangban that literally means “two classes.” It was composed of scholars (Munban) and warriors (Muban). Within the Yangban, the Scholars (Munban) enjoyed a significant social advantage over the warrior (Muban) caste, until the Muban Rebellion in 1170. Muban ruled Korea under successive Warrior Leaders until the Mongol Conquest in 1253. In 1392, with the foundation of Joseon dynasty, the full ascendancy of munban over muban was final.
Beneath the Yangban class were the ‘Jung-in’ – literally “middle people”. They were the technicians. This was small and specialized in fields such as medicine, accounting, etc. Beneath the Jung-in were the ‘Sangmin’ – literally ‘commoner’. These were mostly the peasants. Beneath the Sangmin were the ‘Chunmin’. They specialised in lowly professions such as executing, butchering etc. These people composed the majority of Korean society until the 17th century. Underneath them all were the Baekjeong, meaning today is butcher. They originate from the Khitan invasion of Korea in the 11th century. The defeated Khitan invaders who had surrendered were settled in isolated communities throughout Goryeo to forestall rebellion. They were valued for their skills in hunting, herding, butchering, and making of leather, common skill sets among nomads. Over time their ethnic origin was forgotten, and they formed the bottom layer of Korean society. Korea had a very large slave population, ‘nobi’, ranging from a third to half of the entire population for most of the millennium between the Silla period and the Joseon Dynasty. Slavery was legally abolished in Korea in 1894 but remained extant in reality until 1930. Yet the Yangban families have carried on traditional education and formal mannerisms into the 20th century.
Balinese caste system
Caste system in Bali is akin to the four varnas of India with a little different spellings e.g.
– Shudras – peasants making up more than 90% of Bali’s population. They constitute close to 93% of population.
– Wesias (Vaishyas) – the caste of merchants & administrative officials
– Ksatrias (Kshatriyas) – the warrior caste, it also included some nobility and kings
– Brahmins – holy men and priests
The Brahmana caste was further subdivided by these Dutch ethnographers into two: Siwa and Buda. The Siwa caste was subdivided into five – Kemenuh, Keniten, Mas, Manuba and Petapan. The other castes were similarly further sub-classified by these 19th century and early 20th century ethnographers based on numerous criteria ranging from profession, endogamy or exogamy or polygamy, and a host of other factors in a manner similar to castas in Spanish colonies such as Mexico, and castes in British colonies such as India.
Hawaii and Polynesia
Ancient Hawaii was a caste-based society, similar to Polynesia. People were born into specific social classes; social mobility was extremely rare. Each caste had their distinct dresses, mores, and hierarchical status. Each caste was subdivided into 4 to 11 endogamous sub-castes. The primary castes were:
Alii – the royal suuwop caste. This consisted of the high and lesser chiefs of the realms. They governed with divine power called mana.
– Kahuna, the priestly and professional caste. Priests conducted religious ceremonies, at the heiau and elsewhere. Professionals included master carpenters and boat builders, chanters, dancers, genealogists and physicians and healers.
– Maka?inana, kanaka-wale or noa the commoner caste. Commoners farmed, fished and exercised the simpler crafts. They labored not only for themselves and their families, but to support the chiefs and kahuna.
– Kauwa, the outcast or slaves. They are believed to have been war captives, or anyone born in an outcast or slave family. Marriage between higher castes and the kauwa was strictly forbidden. The kauwa worked for the chiefs and were often used as human sacrifices at the luakini heiau. They were not the only sacrificial victims; law-breakers of all classes or defeated political opponents were also acceptable as victims. (Organised cannibalism)
West Asia
Social stratification into caste system elsewhere in the world has been part of West Asia and neighboring regions, both before and after advent of Islam. Partly they have been dealt with Muslim and Persian cultures in earlier sections. These caste strata were endogamous, exclusionary and their social status inherited. In most cases castes had no social mobility. In some cases, mobility was possible; for example, a slave caste member could get manumission according to a mukatab. In some societies, social mores dictated that women could only marry men in her caste or a caste higher than her own. Men had no such rules.
West Asia has witnessed a numbers of pariah castes e.g. Huteimi, Sulaib, Jabarti, Hijris, Jabart or Gabart, Akhdam amongst others; a social status granted to them by birth. They have been shunned and ostracized by their local communities.. These castes are considered ritually unclean. Serjeant reports them as amongst the untouchable castes of South Arabia. Mainstream Arab society can be conceived of as divided into three classes, Bedouin (nomads), farmers – fellahin (villagers) and hadar (townspeople).
In Yemen there exists a further caste, the African-descended Al-Akhdam who are perennial manual workers and are still considered lowly, dirty, ill-mannered, immoral and untouchables with over 1 million of these discriminated and ostracized people – about 5 percent of Yemenis.
Latin America
The Spanish and Portuguese colonists of the Americas instituted a system of racial and social stratification and segregation based on a person’s heritage – castas. The system remained in place in most areas of Spanish America up to the time of independence from Spain. Classes were used to identify people with specific racial or ethnic heritage e.g. Peninsular, Criollo, Castizo, Mestizo, Cholo, Mulato, Indio, Zambo and Negro. This caste system was based on race, ethnicity and economic condition. According to Cahill, for governance ease, the Spanish developed a complicated breeding calculus to classify people into twenty-one ‘castas or genizaros’ according to their color, race and origin of ethnic types. Both the Spanish colonial state and the Church expected higher tax, proportionate tribute payments from those of darker color and lower socio-racial categories.
Caribbean Nations
Modern day social stratification in Caribbean nations such as Jamaica and Haiti developed during the colonial era with closed, hierarchical social stratification in castes. The colonial planters from Britain and France, and other European powers stratified laborers. Johnson describes that the African identity constructed the caste system by dividing enslaved Africans, mixed race offsprings, and indentured servants by their occupations, and by skin color; which proved a singular most powerful symbol of social and economic mobility. The perpetuation of caste system amongst Africans continued through the 20th century, claims Johnson to maintain social control in the Caribbean nations that served colonial interests.
Franklin Knight notes that the caste system was extended to the whites also. At the top were the elite Europeans who owned plantations. Next in social hierarchy were the occupational merchants, officials, doctors and clergymen. At the bottom of the white social hiearchy came the so-called “poor whites,” often given such pejorative names as ‘red legs’ in Barbados, or ‘walking buckras’ in Jamaica. The lowest hierarchical layer of whites included small farmers, servants, laborers, artisans, as well as the various hangers-on required by the so-called “deficiency Laws” – requiring plantations to retain a minimum number of whites to safeguard against slave revolts. Slaves and indentured laborers were segregated from others, and were further classified into separate groups. Beyond these were colored people of mixed descent, who were treated with suspicion.
West Africa
Griot, described as an endogamous caste of West Africa, specializes in oral storytelling and culture preservation. They have been also referred to as the bard caste.
A Madhiban, also known as Midgan or Medigan or Boon or Gaboye, specialize in leather occupation; have been listed as one of three occupational castes discriminated in East Africa. Austrian Red Cross reports that they, along with Tumal and Yibir people are locally known collectively as sab, meaning low caste people.
Among the Igbo of Nigeria – especially Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, Edo and Delta states of the country – Obinna finds Osu caste system has been and continues to be a major social issue. The Osu caste is determined by one’s birth into a particular family irrespective of the religion practised by the individual. Once born into Osu caste, this Nigerian person is an outcast, shunned and ostracized, with limited opportunities or acceptance, regardless of his or her ability or merit. Obinna discusses how this caste system-related identity and power is deployed within government, Church and indigenous communities.
The Osu caste system of eastern Nigeria and southern Cameroon is derived from indigenous religious beliefs and discriminate against the “Osus” people as “owned by deities” and outcasts. The Songhai economy was based on a caste system. The most common were metalworkers, fishermen, and carpenters. Lower caste participants consisted of mostly non-farm working immigrants, who at times were provided special privileges and held high positions in society. At the top were noblemen and direct descendants of the original Songhai people, followed by freemen and traders.
In a review of social stratification systems in Africa, Richter reports that the term caste has been used by French and American scholars to many groups of West African artisans. These groups have been described as inferior, deprived of all political power, have a specific occupation, are hereditary and sometimes despised by others. Richter illustrates caste system in Cote d’lvoire, with six sub-caste categories. Unlike other parts of the world, mobility is sometimes possible within sub-castes, but not across caste lines. Farmers and artisans have been, claims Richter, distinct castes. Certain sub-castes are shunned more than others, e.g. exogamy is rare for women born into families of woodcarvers.
Similarly, the Mandé societies in Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone have social stratification systems that divide society by ethnic ties. The Mande regards the jonow slaves as inferior. Similarly, the Wolof in Senegal is divided into three main groups, the geer (freeborn/nobles), jaam (slaves and slave descendants) and the underclass neeno. In various parts of West Africa, Fulani societies also have caste divisions. Other castes include Griots, Forgerons, and Cordonniers.
Tamari has described endogamous castes of over fifteen West African peoples, including the Tukulor, Songhay, Dogon, Senufo, Minianka, Moors, Manding, Soninke, Wolof, Serer, Fulani, and Tuareg. Castes appeared among the Malinke people no later than 14th century, and were present among the Wolof and Soninke, as well as some Songhay and Fulani populations, no later than 16th century. Tamari claims that wars, such as the Sosso-Malinke war described in the Sunjata epic, led to the formation of blacksmith and bard castes among the people that ultimately became the Mali Empire. As West Africa evolved over time, sub-castes emerged that acquired secondary specializations or changed occupations. Social status according to caste was inherited by off-springs automatically. That is, children of higher caste men and lower caste or slave concubines would have caste status of father.
Central Africa
Albert in 1960 claimed that the societies in Central Africa were caste like social stratification systems. Similarly, in 1961, Maquet’s theories though controversial, note that the society in Rwanda and Burundi can be described best as castes. Maquet noted the Tutsi considered themselves as superior, with the more numerous Hutu and the least numerous Twa regarded, by birth, as respectively, second and third in the hierarchy of Rwandese society and were largely endogamous, exclusionary and with limited mobility.
East Africa
In a review published in 1977, Todd reports that numerous scholars report a system of social stratification in different parts of Africa that resembles some or all aspects of caste system. Examples of such caste systems, he claims, are to be found in Rwanda and Ethiopia in communities such as the Gurage and Konso. He then presents the Dime of South-West Ethiopia, amongst who operates a system which Todd claims can be unequivocally labeled as caste system. The Dime has seven castes whose size varies considerably. Each broad caste level is a hierarchical order that is based on notions of purity, non-purity and impurity. It uses the concepts of defilement to limit contacts between caste categories and to preserve the purity of the upper castes. These caste categories have been exclusionary, endogamous with social identity inherited.
The Borana Oromo of southern Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa also have a class system, where the Watta, an acculturated Bantu group, represent the poorest.
The traditionally nomadic Somali people are divided into clans, wherein the Rahanweyn agro-pastoral clans and the occupational clans such as Madhiban are sometimes treated as outcasts.
North Africa
In Islamic North Africa, caste system has existed in recent centuries amongst the Tuareg people. The castes include: nobles (imoshar), clerics (ineslemen), pastoral vassals (imghad), and artisans (inadan). The clerics occupy an inferior position to nobles in the Tuareg hierarchy of castes. All of these people of Tuareg castes are of the same race, religion and culture.
Below the four castes were slaves (éklan or Ikelan in Tamasheq, Bouzou in Hausa, Bella in Songhai). Eklan were further split into distinct sub-castes, and their serf status was inherited. Other Tuareg castes were also hereditary and social strata closed with one exception: if a slave woman married a noble or vassal, her children could belong to the respective free caste. A 2005 report claimed that 8 percent of modern Niger‘s population continues to be slave, discriminated and routinely humiliated.
Sahrawi-Moorish society in Northwest Africa was traditionally (and still is, to some extent) stratified into several tribal classes, with the Hassane warrior tribes ruling and extracting tribute – horma – from the subservient Znaga tribes. Although lines were blurred by intermarriage and tribal reaffiliation, Hassane were considered descendants of the Arab Maqil tribe Beni Hassan, and held power over Sanhadja Berber-descended zawiya (religious) and znaga (servant) tribes. The so-called Haratin lower class, largely sedentary oasis-dwelling black people, has been considered natural slaves in Sahrawi-Moorish society.
In Algeria, “desert Berbers and Arabs usually have a rigid class system, with social ranks ranging from nobles down to an underclass of menial workers, mostly ethnic Africans.”
Europe
Haviland says social systems identical to caste system elsewhere in the world, are not new in Europe. Stratified societies were historically organized in Europe as closed social systems, each endogamous, into e.g. nobility, clergy, bourgeoisie and peasants. These had distinctive privileges and unequal rights that were neither a product of informal advantages because of wealth nor rights enjoyed as another citizen of the state. These unequal and distinct privileges were sanctioned by law or social mores, confined to only that specific social subset of the society, and were inherited automatically by the offspring. In some European countries, these closed social classes were given titles, followed mores and codes of behavior according to their closed social status, even wore distinctive dress. Royalty rarely married a commoner; and if it did, they lost certain privileges. This endogamy limitation wasn’t limited to royalty; in Finland, for example, it was a crime, until modern times to seduce and defraud into marriage by declaring a false social class. In parts of Europe, these closed social caste groups were called estates.
Along with the three or four estates in various European countries, another outcast layer existed below the bottom layer of the hierarchical society, a layer that had no rights and was there to serve the upper layers. It was prominent for centuries, and continued through middle 19th century. This layer was called serfs. In some countries such as Russia, the 1857 census found that over 35 percent of the population was serf. While the serfs were of the same race and religion, serfs were not free to marry whomever their heart desired. Serf mobility was heavily restricted, and in matters of who they can marry and how they lived, they had to follow rules put into place by the State and the Church, by landowners, and finally families and communities established certain social mores that was theirs to follow because the serfs were born into it.
In modern times, regions of Europe had untouchables in addition to the upper castes and serfs. These were people of the same race, same religion and same culture as their neighbors yet were considered morally impure by birth, repulsive and shunned, just like the Burakumin caste of Japan and Osu caste of Nigeria.
A sense of hereditary exclusion, unequal social value, and mutual repulsion was part of the relationship between the different social strata in Europe. In late 19th century through the early 20th century, millions of the outcasts, downtrodden and socially ostracized people from Europe migrated on their own, or transferred as indentured laborers to the New World.
Roma
Romani people have been variously described as the low-caste or untouchable people of Europe. While some are dark skinned and insist on their own customs, others are of the same color and are Christians or Muslim like the communities they live in. This map shows their relative distribution in various parts of Europe.
Along with the rest of the world, Europe has had its own periods of social trauma. Twice in Europe’s history, for example, Romani people were the target of genocide. In other periods, they were expelled, or children forcibly removed from their parents so that they can learn a superior culture (?).
The discrimination of Roma people, in different parts of Europe, for the last 1000 years, has been an elaborate and complex social system. In the best of times, the European social system enforced elements of endogamy, closed occupation, culture, social class, affiliation and power – all of which define any caste system. In the worst of times, such as during the World War II, just like Jewish people, they were gathered in concentration camps and exterminated.
Alaina Lemon writes that in parts of Europe, Roma people have been called children of India; or worse, in Eastern Europe as ‘Asian parasites’. Everywhere, their Indic origins have been reduced from historical narrative to a source of stereotypes about India (stress). These stereotypes and prejudices about India have been projected onto Roma people. Some European communities, claims Lemon, consider the Roma people to be of low caste. They have been called untouchables in Europe.
Czech Republic
Caste system in Czech Republic and neighboring countries emerged few centuries after an equivalent system was prevalent in Western Europe. According to Gella, the royalty created a system of warrior nobility to preserve their kingdom. This warrior nobility were given exclusive rights to land, each with ‘glebae adscripti’ (peasants tied to the land). This warrior caste thus became landowners. Caste consciousness, hereditary titles, exclusive privileges and strata discrimination followed. As armies modernized into infantry and team effort, the warrior caste evolved into modern form of nobility caste. The political boundaries shifted with time between Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and other countries; the three social strata remained a constant: clergy, nobility and peasants.
Spain
Spain has had a number of isolated and endogamous social groups where an individual’s mores, culture and worth is set at birth. These groups had negligible mobility. Examples include the Vaqueiros de Alzada of Asturias, the Maragatos of Leon, the Agotes of Navarra, and the Kale (gypsies) of the entire Iberian Peninsula. These have been called castes, and by some as accursed races.
France
Cagots were the shunned caste of France. They were considered polluted and untouchables by birth. They were not allowed to enter a Church through the main entrance. There is a segregated drinking fountain for Cagots in Oloron Cathedral.
Under the Ancien Régime, French society was divided into three estates (“États” in French). The first estate was the clergy, the second estate was the nobility, and the third estate was the commoners (“Tiers État” in French). The clergy itself was divided into an upper and a lower stratum. Even after the French Revolution, a closed system of social stratification continued through the 19th century. These groups were endogamous; marriages were arranged particularly in the aristocracy and bourgeoisie classes. Social mobility between these strata, regardless of an individual’s effort, was difficult and uncommon.
Roland Mousnier is amongst those French sociologists who found that the French society was stratified beyond three levels. Mousnier proposed that France, in modern history, had at least four major social levels and nine sub-hierarchies. He observed that the closed social system idea in France resembled in design the essence of a caste system. The vertically ordered society had social mores and inherited sense of maître-fidèle – relationships between those considered to be socially superior and those in the socially inferior orders.
The history of France, along with Spain, has other sides of caste systems. Along with Romani people (also called Gypsie), France has long shunned Cagots (also called Agotes, Gahets, Gafets, Capets, Caqueux). For centuries, through the modern times, the majority regarded Cagots of western France and northern Spain as an inferior caste, the untouchables. While they had the same skin color and religion as the majority, in the Churches, they had to use segregated doors, drink from segregated fonts, receive communion on the end of long wooden spoons. Socially isolated Cagots were endogamous, and chances of social mobility non-existent.
Netherlands
The hierarchical social strata in Netherlands included prince, noblemen (some called Ridder, knight), clergy, patricians (councilmen and officials), bürghers (commoners), plebeians (vagabonds), and peasants. The nobility was either inherited op allen (by all descendants), or by met het recht op eerstgeboorte (first born male per Salic law). The noblemen and clergy had exclusive privileges and rights, such as being tax exempt. The lowest castes, the peasants supported the upper estates of society not only through direct taxation but also agriculture and keeping of livestock.
The Dutch created unusual caste policies in their colonies. For example, in Sri Lanka, the Dutch formally promulgated a rule that automatically expelled any Dutch woman from the Sri Lankan Dutch community, if she married a man who was not Dutch, yet no equivalent rule for expelling Dutch men. The Dutch in Sri Lanka were not an exception; over time, laws forbidding intermarriages between social strata were seen in other colonies, such as South Africa.
Germany
Germany had its hierarchical social strata like The Netherlands before the 20th century. Early modern era in Germany also witnessed the so called unehrliche Leute (dishonorable or dishonest people), an outcaste group; considered dishonorable by virtue of their trades. This dishonor was either hereditary or arose from ritual pollution whereby honourable citizens could become dishonorable by coming into casual contact with these untouchables. Therefore, the social mores required the upper caste honorable people to shun and ostracize the lower caste dishonorable people leading to endogamy. The dishonorable people included the executioners, skinners, grave-diggers, latrine-cleaners, shepherds, barber-surgeons, millers, sow-gelders (spay female animals), and bailiffs. The honourable and dishonorable people were from the same race, religion and culture. Stuart described unehrliche Leute caste in the city of Augsburg over three centuries through early 19th century in early modern Germany. She notes that this was a closed system, with negligible social mobility, and this severely affected the self identity of the so called dishonorable people. Other sociologists such as Danckert claim unehrliche Leute caste and other hereditarily excluded poor were present elsewhere in Christian Germany. Jewish extermination is well known.
England
In medieval Anglo-Saxon England, society was organized, according to Alfred the Great into three hierarchical orders: Gebedmen (men who pray), Fyrdmen (men who fight), Weorcmen (men who work). Other classifications included Ethel (nobles), Eorls (freemen) and Ceorls (villeins, farmers).
Even past the medieval times, characteristics of closed social systems that define any caste system, existed in England through the modern times. Beatrice Gottlieb notes that households in England, just like the rest of Europe, experienced social stratification from ancient times through the 20th century. Inheritance and a sense of social value fixed for life, two key requirements of any caste system according to Haviland, was a pervasive principle of almost everyone’s life.
The principle of inheritance continues to recent times. The House of Lords of the UK parliament had, for example through the 1990s, over 700 members with a hereditary right to being a lawgiver; this practice was reformed in 2004, still some 92 parliamentary seats are set aside for hereditary peers as of 2012. Edward Freeman called such peerage system as a privileged hereditary caste.
More generally, inheritance now is quite different than those in the past. Offsprings still inherit, to the extent the parents own something of material value, and leave instructions in their will or per local laws. In past, however, everything was inherited – material possessions, social status, lifelong occupation and a personal sense of value. This principle defined the closed system, and this principle was not a function of one’s skin color or religion or economic class. It applied to all of England, or Europe for that matter. At the highest levels of hierarchical society, titles and names and special privileges were inherited. Status was enshrined in the law, regarded as hereditary, and fixed. Mobility was inconceivable. A serf, a commoner, a gentleman, a lady, a lord, a noble or a royalty was what he or she was from birth. Even those in the Church inherited their privileges and status. From clergy jobs to farming to shepherd to smith to cobbling jobs, virtually all occupations were inherited. Peasants whose job was to deliver babies were the offspring of the previous holder of that job. This system was so fixed, the mores so strong, the affiliation and culture so widely ingrained that while nobles were insisting that certain exclusive privileges be theirs, theirs alone and of their offsprings, shepherds in the countryside were insisting, occasionally with violent demonstrations, that their jobs be strictly hereditary. In economically impoverished times, such demands for hereditary exclusivity and related mores were stronger.
Endogamy within England’s closed social strata was common. The social structure and classes in England remains a controversial topic. Like the rest of the world, social mobility in modern England – and Europe – has increased because of industrialization, economic growth, access to knowledge, and cultural transformations. Sociologists such as Mike Savage suggest there is not simple decline of social strata identities, but rather a subtle reworking of how the strata are articulated. Please also peruse: “Caste or Class Systems versus India in Global Perspective – CHAPTER NINE & TEN” – Western Obsession on Caste in Indian Society.
Ireland
Ireland had social strata that were hereditary, closed and hierarchical. Examples include Flaith (lords, warriors), Áes Dána (druids, fili, bards) and Áes Trebtha (farmers). These three orders were later subdivided into seven ranks or grades.
In some ways, Ireland’s caste system was unique from other countries of the world. Along with the nobility and clergy caste, the Celtic population treated poets as the upper caste. Known as the bards caste, they and other upper castes had privileges that they inherited by birth. These castes had sub-castes, each with its privileges, its distinctions, its peculiar dresses. The bards, according to Williams for example, were divided into so-called Fileas or Fili, who accompanied the Celtic chief. Below the Fileas, were the Brehons – the second layer of bards caste. The Brehons composed verses of law. The third sub-caste was the Senachies who preserved the genealogies in a poetic form, along with the annals of time. The Senachies were the repository and disseminators of Celtic cultural truths. The bards and other upper castes were exempt from lay courts, and they were also endogamous. The farming peasants and artisans were at the bottom of the social strata.
Over the modern history of Ireland, Greer and Murray observe that it would be difficult to find a more rigid example of caste system than that of 19th-century rural Ireland, with its landlords and peasants. The society was closed, endogamous and with no mobility.
Hungary
Hungarian nobles, circa 1831: Before the 19th century, closed social hierarchies were common in Hungary. Each had their own mores, hereditary privileges (maiores natu et dignitate), and endogamous practices. The Hungarian castes were: Nobility (f?nemesség), Nobles of the Church (egyházi nemesek), and commoners. Each of these had their own segregated sub-hierarchies – for example the prelates, the magnates and the nobles-in-laws. These sub-classifications and privileges changed over the history of Hungary. The special privileges for the Clergy and the Nobles continued through Hungarian Revolution of 1848. Even past the 1848 Revolution, these closed social systems continued to enjoy hereditary power and privileges through late 19th century.
Szelényi observes that at the start of the 20th century, Hungary along with other countries in Central Europe resembled a caste society.
Russia
Russia has had a long history of caste system. The details changed with time, the core was the same: a hierarchical society, with each strata closed, privileges that were hereditary, and mobility was non-existent.
Noble gentry had serfs to serve them. Both the nobility and the serfs had sub-layers and social ranks. Palmer observed that Russian society in early 20th century had a rigid insistence and strict observance of differences in social rank. The serfs of a lower level, for example, would never take their meals with serfs of a higher level.
The Russian priests formed a caste apart, according to Palmer. They were distinct from both the peasants and the nobles. The sons of priests were forbidden to undertake other occupations, and compelled to become priests. Priests could marry, but only within their caste. For centuries, the priestly caste had remained an unmixed social group. There was near universal prejudice against the priests among other social strata.
Sweden and Finland and Norway and Denmark
Stories on shunned social strata from 1948: The four estates in Sweden and Finland were the clergy, nobles, burgesses and peasantry. The hierarchical, exclusionary and hereditary characteristics of these were similar to estates in other parts of Europe.
Below the four estates, were the villeins. To reflect how the people belonging to the upper castes saw them, the Finnish word for “obscene“, säädytön, has the literal meaning “estateless“.
In Sweden, one of the shunned social strata in modern times has been the Tattare. They were called natmandsfolk in Denmark. In Norway, they were called fanter. Another word for them was kältringar. They emptied the latrines, worked as hudavdragare (processing skin, leather), chimney sweeps and busters at night. In 1948, Sweden witnessed Tattarkravallerna Jönköping, where the prejudices for these social strata led to speeches on how these people were degenerate, impure, and parasitic and corroded from within, triggering violence and cleansing.
Poland
Palmer noted the caste system prevalent amongst Polish people in the 20th century, in his essay on Austro-Hungarian life in comparison to life in continental Europe. He noted:
“The Polish aristocracy is, in fact, a caste entirely apart from the people. This, it is true, is also the case among the aristocracies of nearly all Continental countries, but in hardly any other nationality is the gulf so wide as almost to exclude the possibility of mutual feelings of respect. The Austro-German nobles, though no less a caste, are, as a rule, decidedly proud of the Germanic peasantry, and regard them as infinitely superior to those of other races. The Magyar nobles have, perhaps, an even higher opinion of the peasantry of their own nationality. The Polish peasant, on the contrary, is not regarded with greater contempt by the Austrians, Prussians, or Russians than he is, with rare exceptions, by nobles of his own race.”
— Francis Palmer, reporting on life in Europe
Lenin called Jewish people in Poland as a caste, a claim that became controversial. Celia Heller has called the rigid social segregation and status of Jewish people from Middle Ages through early 20th century in Poland as a closed caste system.
Italy
Georges Dumézil in his controversial trifunctional hypothesis proposed that ancient societies had three main classes each with distinct functions: the first judicial and priestly; the second connected with the military and war, while the third class focused on production, agriculture, craft and commerce. Dumézil offered Roman Empire with its flamens, legions and peasants, along with the caste system in India to illustrate his theory.
After the Roman Empire, hierarchical castes continued in Italy from ancient times to the medieval times. Jacob Burckhardt, in his cultural classic The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, observed that hierarchy, exclusionary and inherited caste structure was pervasive in Italy, from the nobili caste to the merchants to the peasants. These castes had a complex structure in the fragmented city states of Italy such as Genoa, Venice, Naples, Roma, Florence and Lombardy; in some, the merchants were the nobili, in others the nobili despised the merchant caste and were agriculturalists, in yet others the nobili caste despised all work. Even the Church and hereditary clergy had become highly hierarchical, and the holders of benefices, the canons and the monks were under scandalous aspersions and mutual repulsion. It was Renaissance in Italy, in the late Middle Ages, that started a movement of hostility to caste hierarchy, and then a shift towards ideas of equality, merit, freedoms, skepticism, innovation, judge people by their talent and not by their birth, and such concepts.
Epilogue
Caste system develops, in view of Ross, when the worth difference within a society sharpens to such a point that the social superior shuns fellowship and intermarriage with the inferior, thus creating a society made up of closed hereditary classes. This happened in European history for centuries. For example, among the Saxons of the eighth century social divisions were cast-iron, and the law punished with death the man who should presume to marry a woman of rank higher than his own. The Lombards, claims Ross, killed the serf who ventured to marry a free woman, while the Visigoths and Burgundians scourged and burned them both. Among the early Germans a freedman remained under the taint of ancestral servitude until the third generation, i.e., until he could show four free-born ancestors.
As class lines harden, the upper class becomes more jealous of its status and resists or retards the admission of commoners, however great their merit or wealth. This was the motivation of observed caste lines in the Roman Empire. Castes become a means to block social mobility. Over time, it does not matter if an individual has merit or talent or creative energy. The birth or purity of blood becomes more decisive for social status than the differences of occupation or wealth which raised up the original social inequalities. Look for more details on global perspectives and for “The last untouchable in Europe”.
KRISHNA BAALU says
A wonderful and laborious artcile with full of facts and figures grt8 hats off to the author
M Patel says
A thought provoking eye opener based on facts. Collecting so many facts is a very time consuming task. Thank you Dr. Sudrania.
Dr. O. P. Sudrania says
Thank you Krishna Baalu and M Patel for your kind words. If it is worth for its value, my entire labour is paid off.
There are about 300 million untouchables in the entire world and India is honoured only with less than half of them. The remarkable thing is, “We Hindus acknowledge it though sadly yet gracefully but then why are these pseudo-egalitarians hesitant to acknowledge the same in their fold e.g. Christians, Islam, Buddhists, Zorastrians, Sikhs, Jains and Jews”?
Christians are too smart to say that Indian state should accept that there are untouchables in Christians because they feel hesitant to accept it lest their egalitarian credentials will be tarnished. This is a hideous invidious technique to come through backdoor.
It is again these same treacherous Christian bands who seek to malign Hindus for this curse but refrain from accepting the same sad plight of untouchables in their fold. A wicked technique. Reason is obvious. I have attempted it to expound in my next article that is waiting printing and publishing. I hope that Hindus should be bold enough to hit back, instead of feeling guilty on this account.
S P Chaudhari says
Every country in world has caste-ism.And every country gave .equal opportunity to everyone.It seems only India is uni q as it awarded “Reservation Policy” only to keep hold on political hold on India.This policy did not bring Upper casts & resrved cast near to each other but more distance created between them.In India nobody accepts that reserved cast person is of any use in any field but govt jobs…Ambedkar is excluded.. Politicians glorified reserved casts;;hence every body has only one aim to get his cast certified as reserved.Irony is that this plague has entered in Military services also..God save India from politicians…..
Jimmy chauhan says
Well,Mr writer when u’ve mentioned casta sustem of spanish empire in new world(americas n oceania)!Casta word in reality meant group or category! N which u have mentioned that criollo(white european),spanoard,mestizo,native american,negro,mullatto etc!!U.S blacks n whites etc are races n their mixture first of all,they are not occupational castes,or jatis!That is racial heirarchy,use correct name for any social system please!!In ur adventure of globlizing indian occupational caste system u r commiting mistakes academically!!n spanish empire itself existed just for 300 yr b/w 1520 to 1821!n even these gps were not endogamous or closed!!Even u can see today large mixed mullato n mestizo populations in new world!!there sole purpuse of bformation was to whiten the populace by inter marrying!!it was not endogamous occupational caste system like ours!n now come to europe!n when we talk about korean baekjeongs than i can tell that they were manchurian khitan invaders (12th century)captured and reppressed to an extent that they used to become hunters n nomads n butchers etc,so they were hated due to their invasion n defeat n theoir those unclean works!!and u ur self is using’they were’,wording means those distinctions have been destroyed long ago!!Today there is no any closed class systemin korea,china njapan!!All ate open class systems fully free nfair!!i doubt china is class less society or not bt that is highily repressive government of communists our there!!n those al akhdam in yemen,they are african refugees whom had came there some hundred yrs ago n they are poor people coz they have no any inhereted property!so they do menial works n hence are treated as untouchables,i think thats racism not casteism!!Hizrati,gobairt etc are also like that little communities there!!n when u r talking about europe their were estate system originated not before a 800yr!As in france first eastate was clergyAnyone can become a member of clergy becoz u cant marry after that!!So this is just a question of prestige if u think about it!than nobility(2nd estate,made of royal family,dukes{governors},counts,knights etc) and third estate is commoners!!N those caggots were descendants of moors or blacks,i think thats racism too not casteism!!germany england,poland,holland!Had this kind of closed class system bt nw since industrial revolution they are fully developed n advanced so there is an open class system operating nw!!So where are 6400 occupatinal castes n untouchables in europe nw??oh n wait u said roma n jews,these both were foreigners to europe n watever they faced was scientific racism not our occupational caste system!!n in russia there was simalar structure!! Bt there was no any untouchable,can u show any?above 82% population were peasants n four percent craftsmen!means unprivileged class or commoners,where are 6400 castes??Even bolsehevism destroyed every kind of privileged nobility there!!read history of soviet union!!it was a class less society while oppresive dixtatorship 2!!while slavery in west africa osu religious caste of nigeria which collectively affects lives of 250 lakh people in africa is really ridiculous!!But apartheid in south africa n zimbawe was not occupatinal casye system that was scientific racism!n in arab dominated north africa there is poor class black african labrours in 12 lakh strong tuareg society too have some black slaves sadly!!So that is called slavery n racism in africa!!Where are 6400 occupational caste gps n untouchables on the basis of profession??We can only find this in our incredible india
Jimmy chauhan says
N even those huth n tutsi gps they are races or ethnic gps not occupational caste gps while that tutsi was powerfull landlords n hutu were peasants n workers!!tutsi were minority even before 1994 genocide,not more than 13% of population!
Jimmy chauhan says
So i just want to say that dont try to distort true facts that those racialisms,that racism based slavery,that european estate system as a whole from england,france to russia which was made of large commoner estate or class,like third estate of france n commoner or unpriviled class of russia,and another third classes of another countries like U.K,Germany n holland,sweden,norway etc were more than 80% in most or each particular case!! N u r talking about grades or ranks within it;so i can tell u that this large commoner estate or class was maybe endogamous but that was 80% population remember that!!n those grades or ranks were not hereditary within it even in those feudal times!!There was no any monopaly over any particular job or work,even before industrial revolution!!anyone can do anything it depended on individual will and skill or merit!!So they changed proffesions as per their will or they retained it and inherited as they wished inherited same proffesion too!!they were not obliged by religious or political power to do same job forever for generations,for centuries as in case of indian endogamous occupational 6400 caste gps still!!n that european estate system was not old than 800 yrs in most cases!!n u r talking about talking about grades or ranks,that exists even within open class systems of modern western world n new world!! N that was solely dependant upon personal merits n skill development or education n accding to another capabilities ranks n grades were assigned as in case of modrn jobs!! N taht small minority like nobility n clergy which were not more 4 percent of whole populatin in france before revolution were maybe hereditary in most cases n heavily endogamous,bt that was made for monarchy to work!like noble were appointed counts ,barons or landlords m knights or armored cavalrimen or higher officer cadres in army units,bt common soldiers were always commoners in most cases!!So where is our rajputt caste whom were officer,soldiers,kings,landlords etc!!Was there no any grade or rank within rajputts or khsatriyas based on merits or skills or valour or economic,political affiliations???bt at last it is still one hereditary endogamous caste na right from king to common soldier??n here are 6400 like this,which u cannot find anywhere other than our incredible indiA!!There is a reason why our country is called Incredible or different from whole world!! Because we do condemn whole worlds racial problems,we do condemn there there by large open economic class systems which are full of opportunity n mobility!!Bt at the other hand we enhances our own particular still practiced endogamous occupational 6400 caste system!!by hidden n hypocratic way!!That is why we all r incredible!!n watever u r talking about those out of india small communities like al akhdam,hijrti,caggots,baekjeong,jews,roma,gypsy whom u r saying untouchable castes n trying to compate them with our untouchable population!!Than u knw well that they were all of them foriegners or captured invaders,or assylum seekers whom were considered racially impure or inferior that is why they were segragated in those foriegn lands to them wherever they used to reside!!or went sme hundred yrs ago,even they were less than 1% of local population in most cases!!So that is called racism i think!!not occupational caste system!!So,Mr writer pls acknowledge this bitter truth that this brand of occupatinal endogamous 6400 caste system is particular to a section or a large region of indian sub continent!!n hinduism is prime source of it!!!becoz muslims or cristians of india only if they sme kind of this evil than pls acknowledge the fact that most people are converts from hinduism in those religions,whom have brought that evil with them there too,so main culprit is …….. as we knw!!!Dont try to distort facts by revising history inur own favour becoz watever is reality will remain same!!We have to feel appology that we only people in whole world are following this kind of system n even enhancing this in a hypocratic way!!Try to say that our 25% population is untouchable(SC,ST)n we have to grab their job opportunities n discriminate against them everywhere even if they r skilled n meritorius,humble n honest,compassionate n hardworking!!!we still always tries to say that there is a need of work monopoly or birth right over particular job n they cant even get government jobs according to their population proportions than that is ridiculous!!Becoz i think limited socialism is hundred times more better than those maoists n their strategy n tactics or over all plannings!!so i think we need to make it open class society nw n destroy this castiem of our hindu faith if we want to say that we are members of a true religion! Jai hind!