Separation of Power

Caste and social discrimination in India

Due to ethnic blending, geographical expansion, and the diversification of crafts, which gave rise to new occupations, the later-Vedic theory of the four-fold division of Hindu society was further fragmented into various sub-castes.

According to the Hindu chaturvarnashrama idea, a person's caste established the position and relative purity of distinct sections of the population. Caste regulated who could acquire education or own landed property, what kind of job one should pursue, and who one could dine with or marry. In general, a person's social affiliations were fixed even before birth. The caste component governed almost everything: clothing, food, place of habitation, sources of drinking water, and entry into temples.

The 'untouchables', later referred to as the Scheduled Castes or Dalits, were the hardest hit by this discriminatory institution. The handicaps imposed on them were humiliating, inhumane, and based on the notion of inequality by birth. These notes trace how such a rigid system slowly began to break down, and sit alongside our wider study notes library for students.

"A just society is that society in which ascending sense of reverence and descending sense of contempt is dissolved into the creation of a compassionate society." B.R. Ambedkar

Factors contributing to the decline of caste-based discrimination

1. British rule

British rule fostered conditions that eroded caste awareness to some extent, sometimes directly through administrative measures and sometimes indirectly through favourable conditions. Though many of these policies were harmful in other ways, some had an unintended good effect. For example, the establishment of private property in land and the free sale of land undermined old caste relationships. As the village oligarchy dissolved, the tight link between caste and vocation could not survive.

Furthermore, modern trade and industry gave rise to a variety of new economic channels, while growing urbanisation and modern transport increased people's mobility. The administration introduced the principle of equality before the law in a uniformly applied legal system, dealing a serious blow to social and legal inequities and removing the judicial powers of caste panchayats. Administrative services were opened to all castes, and the new school system was based on secular principles.

2. Social reform movements

Social reform movements sought to dismantle caste-based exploitation. From the mid-19th century onwards, organisations such as the Brahmo Samaj, Prarthana Samaj, Arya Samaj, Ramakrishna Mission, the Theosophists, and the Social Conference, along with many individuals, worked to spread education among the untouchables and to remove restrictions on their access to temples, ponds, and tanks. While several of them still defended the chaturvarna system, some openly questioned untouchability.

The reformers criticised the rigid hereditary basis of caste distinctions and the rule of karma, which had served as the religio-philosophical justification for an undemocratic, authoritarian institution. They urged people to work for improvement in the physical world they lived in, rather than only pursuing salvation after death. The Arya Samaj, for instance, campaigned against the breakdown of Hindu society into many sub-castes and defended the right of even the lowest castes to study the scriptures.

3. The national movement

The national movement was driven by the ideas of liberty and equality, in opposition to forces that sought to divide society. National leaders and organisations campaigned against caste privileges, fought for equal civic rights, and championed the free development of the individual. Caste differences were weakened, at least for a time, by mass participation in rallies, meetings, and satyagraha struggles. After 1937, Congress governments in several provinces did useful work for the upliftment of the depressed classes: some introduced free education for Harijans, and rulers of states such as Travancore, Indore, and Dewas took the initiative in opening state temples to all.

Gandhi was consistently focused on rooting out untouchability. His thinking was centred on humanism and reason. He argued that the Shastras did not endorse untouchability, and that even if they appeared to, they should be disregarded, since truth cannot be confined to the pages of a book. He founded the All India Harijan Sangh in 1932.

4. Self-consciousness among lower castes

With the spread of educational opportunities and a general awakening, there were stirrings within the lower castes themselves. This awakening grew into a powerful movement for the defence of their rights and resistance to upper-caste persecution. Jyotiba Phule, born into a low-caste Mali family in Maharashtra, led a struggle against the brahminical oppression of Hindu society.

In 1873, Phule founded the Satyashodhak Samaj (Truth Seekers' Society), led by members of the backward castes. He placed a high premium on education for lower castes, and especially for girls, for whom he established several schools.

Babasaheb Ambedkar, who had faced the most severe casteist discrimination in his own youth, campaigned against upper-caste tyranny throughout his life. In the 1920s he began publishing a fortnightly newspaper, Mooknayak (Leader of the Voiceless), arguing that a genuine national consciousness could not grow while class and caste divisions were ignored. He founded the Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha in 1924 with the motto "educate, agitate, and organise", with a strong emphasis on public mobilisation, and launched Bahishkrit Bharat in 1927 to promote the rights of the oppressed classes. He set up the All India Scheduled Castes Federation in 1942, and denounced the hierarchical, closed caste system in its entirety, arguing that caste had to be abolished for true national progress.

Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar organised the Mahad Satyagraha in March 1927 to protest against the practices of caste Hindus. He stressed the importance of erasing ideas of 'high' and 'low' and building self-elevation through self-help, self-respect, and self-knowledge.

The Self-Respect Movement

E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker launched this movement in the mid-1920s. Its central goal was to reject the brahminical religion and culture that he saw as the main tool for exploiting the lower castes. To undercut the status of brahmin priests, he formalised weddings conducted without them.

The Temple Entry Movement

Sree Narayana Guru and N. Kumaran Asan had already made significant progress along this path, opening up questions of temple access and dignity for lower castes in southern India.

Why it still matters

The reformers, thinkers, and leaders in these notes were fighting a system that has not fully disappeared. Caste still shapes real decisions about jobs, education, and representation in India today, which is exactly why it keeps returning to the front pages.

Here is a live example. In April 2025, the Union Cabinet decided that the next Census of India will count every person's caste, not just those belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. This is a big deal because the last time a regular Census recorded caste for the whole population was all the way back in 1931, nearly a hundred years ago. Supporters argue that you cannot plan welfare or education fairly for groups you have never properly counted.

State-level surveys hint at what such a count might reveal. In October 2023, Bihar released its own caste survey and found that the Other Backward Classes and Extremely Backward Classes together make up roughly 63 percent of the state's people, with Scheduled Castes (Dalits) at about 19.65 percent and Scheduled Tribes at about 1.68 percent. Figures like these feed straight into present-day debates about reservation, government spending, and political representation. They are the modern chapters of the very story that Phule and Ambedkar began. You can see how a topic like this connects to wider ideas of the world on the Learnacy Hub, or read more notes in Indian Polity.

Conclusion

Indian society was long plagued by caste-based disparities that produced widespread discrimination. The struggle against it gathered strength under British rule, which created a new awareness of the ills of caste, and was carried forward by social reformers who questioned irrational beliefs.

Leaders such as Ambedkar and Phule were central to this shift, awakening consciousness among the lower strata of society. It came to be recognised that the idea of a united India could not exist without social democracy, and that cohesion within society is necessary for real harmony. The framers of the Constitution carried the same inheritance forward when they prohibited untouchability and enshrined equality, work that continues in policy debates to this day.

Sources

1. Prime Minister's Office: Cabinet approves caste enumeration in the upcoming Census
2. Wikipedia: Caste census (India), on the April 2025 decision and the 1931 count
3. Wikipedia: 2022 Bihar Caste-Based Survey, population figures released October 2023

Key takeaways

• The caste system in later Vedic India evolved from four main varnas into numerous sub-castes due to occupational diversification and social changes.
• Caste determined a person's social position, education, property ownership, occupation, and basic social interactions like dining and marriage.
• The Dalits (formerly 'untouchables') faced the most humiliating discrimination, with restrictions on clothing, food, habitation, water access, and temple entry.
• British rule unintentionally weakened caste structures through private property in land, modern trade, urbanisation, and equality before the law.
• Social reform movements, the national movement, and lower caste leaders like Phule and Ambedkar all contributed to challenging caste-based discrimination.

Test yourself

What organisation did Jyotiba Phule found in 1873 to challenge caste oppression?

Phule founded the Satyashodhak Samaj (Truth Seekers' Society) in 1873, led by members of the backward castes.

What three principles guided Ambedkar's Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha?

The motto was 'educate, agitate, and organise', with strong emphasis on public mobilisation.

How did the British administration undermine the link between caste and occupation?

The establishment of private property in land and free sale of land undermined old caste relationships, causing the village oligarchy to dissolve and breaking the tight link between caste and vocation.