the 'new' colonialism

[Ulhas Joglekar]

Yoshie:
> According to Susan Bayly, however, India's caste system, too, is of
> the modern origin:
>
> *****   Caste, Society and Politics in India: From the Eighteenth
> Century to the Modern Age
>
> Susan Bayly

As far as I know, Indian castes are usually described as a system of
hierarchical endogamous social division. Prohibition on intermarriages
between members belonging to different castes in a tribal society has been
taken as the essential nature of caste system. Indian caste system has
undergone changes in different epoches (feudal, colonial and contemporary
India) and has been put to different uses, but castes seem to have
originated in Ancient times. See Marxist historian D.D. Kosambi's work, The
Culture and Civilization of Ancient India in Historical Outline.

Ulhas