3/31/2024 0 Comments Latest kannada books![]() These, though, are only partial truths, for history is replete with examples of the changeability of caste, and in practice there are thousands of castes. What exactly is caste? You might have heard somewhere (perhaps in a high school or college classroom) that there are four ancient and unchanging castes in India ranging from Brahmins at the top, through Kshatriyas and Vaishyas in the middle, to Shudras at the bottom, with a fifth group of so-called Untouchables-the preferred term now is Dalits-even further below. Even so I had to learn, and unlearn, many things about caste while completing my two most recent books: the novel Ghost in the Tamarind, which narrates an inter-caste romance between a Brahmin man and a Dalit woman against the backdrop of powerful anti-caste movements in southern India and a co-edited collection of academic essays on caste and life narratives. I grew up in India living the reality of caste every day. It is not just one of the most prominent social features of India it is at the heart of many of the past and present fissures of the country. Nevertheless, to understand India you have to understand caste, whose intricacies are unarguably difficult. Caste is not unique to India, and no country should be reduced to a single social category, no matter how intrinsic a part of its reality. ![]()
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