- Rajesh Tyagi/ 27.11.2014
As world capitalism approached Indian sub-continent, it
found its society, at least in its mainlands, stagnant, inert and deeply
divided from inside into a torrent of castes. These castes, presented
themselves into an integrated social ladder, divided into innumerable steps from
lowest to highest, with specific occupations assigned to each of them,
according to their status in this hierarchy.
Castes at upper echelons, the superior (sawarn) castes,
were repository of all land and wealth and performed social functions of higher grade,
while those at lower echelons, the inferior (avarn) castes, possessed neither
land nor wealth and were obliged to perform the functions of lowest grades and
were declared untouchable. This system of apartheid was systematically
perpetuated through binding each one to a caste in which he or she was born and
would be married. The cages of castes, that were home to millions, together
constituted the very skeleton of the society, that emerged out of the Asiatic
modes of production, and was ruled by Asiatic despotism. No real social force
existed inside it, capable to dissolve or even destabilize this society.
