VARNA AND JATI

There are four varnas (Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras), and hundreds of caste groups called jatis. There are many Brahmin jatis, for example. Theoretically, each jati belongs to a particular varna. Some jatis misperceive their varna or do not know which particular varna the jati belongs to. Many lower castes identify themselves as Kshatriyas.

The four varnas are loose configurations with little organizational structure. Jatis are better organized; jati associations are more common. When Mohandas Gandhi decided to study in England in 1889, he was chastised by leaders of his Modh Bania jati in Bombay, not the Vaishya varna. The Caste rules prohibited crossing "the black waters." Gandhi ignored the protest and booked his steamship passage.

Jatis vary by region and state. Chetiars are found in the southern states and Marwaris in Rajasthan; both are mercantile communities. Jatis are communities by birth and practice endogamy (marriage within a particular jati). Jatis constitute a "marriage circle." The marriage circle of a Brahmin jati mayconsist of some 500 families spread over some 50 or 60 villages within a given state.

CASTE WITHIN CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS

Christians and Muslims in India do not escape caste divisions. Both communities are divided into a number of subcastes. Christians include Syrian Christians, Catholics, Protestants, Goan Christians, Adivasi Christians and are also divided by state and region. A Tamil Christian may have little in common with his compatriot in neighboring Kannada, much less in Delhi or Calcutta. Muslims are even more divided: Sunnis, Shias, Bohras, Khojas, Ismailies, Ahmediyas,Wahabis and so on. Christian and Muslim caste groups practice endogamy-Bohras would marry among Bohras and Catholics among Catholics. Admittedly, these practices are being eroded under urban and modern influences. The following description of Muslim division is taken from Imtiaz Ahmed's book, Caste and Social Stratification among Muslims in India, South Asian Books, 1978, p. 142:

While there can be little doubt that the Koran recommends the egalitarian principle, actual practice among Muslim communities in different parts of the world falls short of the Koranic ideal. Particularly in India and Pakistan the Muslim society is clearly stratified. First, there is a line which divides the Ashraf from the Ajlaf: the former are high and the latter low. The Ashraf are further divided into four ranked subgroups: Sayyad, Sheikh, Mughal and Pathan. Some would regard Muslim Rajputs as a fifth subgroup of the Ashraf. The Ajlaf are similarly sub-divided into a much larger number of groups. All these groups, the Ashraf and the Ajlaf, are endogamous. Furthermore, they are hierarchically arranged in relation to one another, the Sayyads occupying the highest and the Sweepers the lowest position.