[1][2][3][4] Beginning in ancient India, the caste system was originally centered around varna, with Brahmins (priests) and, to a lesser extent, Kshatriyas (rulers and warriors) serving as the elite classes, followed by Vaishyas (traders, merchants, and farmers) and finally Shudras (labourers).

[18] After achieving independence in 1947, India banned discrimination on the basis of caste and enacted many affirmative action policies for the upliftment of historically marginalised groups as enforced through its constitution.

[55] Arvind Sharma, a professor of comparative religion, notes that caste has been used synonymously to refer to both varna and jati but that "serious Indologists now observe considerable caution in this respect" because, while related, the concepts are considered to be distinct.

While British colonial authorities had portrayed it as a uniform, rigid system fundamental to Indian society, studies showed that caste's significance and structure varied considerably between regions.

In the context of politically active modern India, where job and school quotas are reserved for affirmative action based on castes, the term has become a sensitive and controversial subject.

[79] Susan Bayly summarises that Manusmriti and other scriptures helped elevate Brahmins in the social hierarchy and these were a factor in the making of the varna system, but the ancient texts did not in some way "create the phenomenon of caste" in India.

[81] Susan Bayly, on the other hand, suggests that the jati system emerged because it offered a source of advantage in an era of pre-Independence poverty, lack of institutional human rights, volatile political environment, and economic insecurity.

Evidence shows, according to Eaton, that Shudras were part of the nobility, and many "father and sons had different professions, suggesting that social status was earned, not inherited" in the Hindu Kakatiya population in the Deccan region between the 11th and 14th centuries.

[124] In the Tamil Nadu region of India, studied by Leslie Orr, a professor of religion, "Chola period inscriptions challenge our ideas about the structuring of (south Indian) society in general.

In contrast to what Brahmanical legal texts may lead us to expect, we do not find that caste is the organising principle of society or that boundaries between different social groups is sharply demarcated.

Historically speaking, the alliance and the open status group, whether war band or religious sect, dominated medieval and early modern Indian history in a way descent and caste did not.

[134] According to Padmanabh Jaini, a professor of Indic studies, in Jainism and Buddhism, the Adi Purana text states "there is only one jati called manusyajati or the human caste, but divisions arise on account of their different professions".

[151] Eaton states that, "Looking at Bengal's Hindu society as a whole, it seems likely that the caste system—far from being the ancient and unchanging essence of Indian civilisation as supposed by generations of Orientalists—emerged into something resembling its modern form only in the period 1200–1500".

[152] With the Islamic Mughal empire falling apart in the 18th century, regional post-Mughal ruling elites and new dynasties from diverse religious, geographical and linguistic background attempted to assert their power in different parts of India.

[153] Bayly states that these obscure post-Mughal elites associated themselves with kings, priests and ascetics, deploying the symbols of caste and kinship to divide their populace and consolidate their power.

[164] The colonial era census caste tables, states Susan Bayly, "ranked, standardised and cross-referenced jati listings for Indians on principles similar to zoology and botanical classifications, aiming to establish who was superior to whom by virtue of their supposed purity, occupational origins and collective moral worth".

[204] While the notion of hereditary criminals conformed to orientalist stereotypes and the prevailing racial theories during the colonial era, the social impact of its enforcement was profiling, division and isolation of many communities of Hindus as criminals-by-birth.

[206][208] Khushwant Singh, a Sikh historian, and Tony Ballantyne, a professor of history, state that these colonial-era laws helped create and erect barriers within land-owning and landless castes in northwest India.

[229] Government policies aim at reducing this inequality by reservation, quota for backward classes, but paradoxically also have created an incentive to keep this stratification alive according to sociologist Arvind Shah.

Opposition to intercaste marriage also remains widespread, with Pew polling indicating that over 3 in 5 Indians agree that it is "very important" to stop both men and women from marrying outside of their castes.

Examples of crimes punishable under the Act include "forcing victims to eat or drink obnoxious substances; dumping excreta, sewage, carcasses into their homes or compounds; land grabbing; humiliation; sexual abuse".

Based on the consultation the government decided that "the best way to provide the necessary protection against unlawful discrimination because of caste is by relying on emerging case law as developed by courts and tribunals".

[citation needed] There is substantial debate over the exact number of OBCs in India; it is generally estimated to be sizable, but many believe that it is lower than the figures quoted by either the Mandal Commission or the National Sample Survey.

As a result, there have been campaigns to include the Muslim untouchable and lower castes among the groups eligible for affirmative action in India under SC and STs provision act [268] and have been given additional reservation based on the Sachar Committee report.

[284] Barth identifies the origin of the stratification from the historical segregation between pak (pure) and paleed (impure)—defined by the family's social or religious status, occupation and involvement in sexual crimes.

[307][non-primary source needed] In 2014 KK Sarachandra Bose went on a 40-day Bharat Yatra (Indian journey) of almost 14,000 kilometres (8,700 mi) from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi along with over 30 volunteers to campaign for the end of the caste system.

[313] On the other hand, the Hindu right has also at times courted controversy over its own caste-based appeals, for example in 2020 when BJP MP (Member of Parliament) Pragya Singh Thakur came under fire for comments she made about Shudras during an address to a caste body called the 'Kshatriya Mahasabha'.

[327] Sociologists Kevin Reilly, Stephen Kaufman and Angela Bodino, while critical of caste system, conclude that modern India does not practice apartheid since there is no state-sanctioned discrimination.

In fact, untouchables, as well as tribal people and members of the lowest castes in India benefit from broad affirmative action programmes and are enjoying greater political power.

Every social group cannot be regarded as a race simply because we want to protect it against prejudice and discrimination",[332] and that the 2001 Durban conference on racism hosted by the U.N. is "turning its back on established scientific opinion".