Caste as Social Structure and Social Fracture: An Anthropological Examination of India’s Most Enduring Institution

Few social institutions in the world have shaped a civilisation as deeply as the caste system has shaped India. It is not merely a cultural practice or a religious belief but a comprehensive social structure that has historically governed occupation, marriage, ritual status, settlement patterns, and access to resources. For centuries, it structured Indian society with remarkable stability. Yet it simultaneously produced deep and enduring divisions. Anthropologists and sociologists have long argued that caste represents one of the most complex forms of social stratification ever documented.

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