Arun Sociology Project on Caste System in India

Kroeber: He defined caste as “an endogamous and hereditary sub-division of an ethnic unit

occupying a position of superior or inferior rank or social esteem in comparison with other such sub-divisions”.1

Purity and Pollution Many status differences in Indian society are expressed in terms of ritual purity and pollution.  Notions of purity and pollution are extremely complex and vary greatly among different castes, religious groups, and regions. However, broadly speaking, high status is associated with purity and low status with pollution. Some kinds of purity are inherent or inborn; a member of a highranking Brahman or priestly caste is born with more inherent purity than a member of a lowranking Sweeper caste. Purity is associated with ritual cleanliness--daily bathing in flowing water, dressing in properly laundered clothes of approved materials, eating only the food appropriate for one's caste, refraining from physical contact with people of lower rank, and avoiding involvement with ritually impure substances. Contact with the products of death or violence are typically polluting and threatening to ritual purity. During her menstrual period, a woman is considered polluted and refrains from cooking, worshiping,  or touching anyone older than an infant. In much of the south, a woman spends this time "sitting outside," resting in an isolated room or shed. During her period, a Muslim woman does not touch the Quran. At the end of the period, purity is restored with a complete bath. Pollution also attaches to birth, both for the mother and the infant's close kin, and to death, for close relatives of the deceased. Members of the highest priestly castes, the Brahmans, are generally vegetarians (although some Bengali and Maharashtrian Brahmans eat fish) and avoid eating meat, the product of violence and death. High-ranking Warrior castes (Kshatriyas), however, typically consume non vegetarian diets, considered appropriate for their traditions of valor and physical strength. Shudra born of Shudra parents is considered to be born inherently polluted. The touch of his  body is polluting to those higher on the caste hierarchy than he, and they will shrink from his 1

David G. Madelbaun : Society In India Vol:1 6