Caste

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....ing back into distant antiquity, and dictating to every orthodox Hindu the rules and restrictions of all social intercourse and of which each has a name of its own and special customs that restrict that occupation of its members and their intercourse with the members of the other classes (3)(a): a division or class of society comprised of persons within a separate and exclusive order based vario....

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....ierarchicus is expected to be the central and substantive element of the caste/system which differentiate it from other social systems. The concept of purity and impurity conceptualises the caste system.... There are four essential features of the caste system which maintained its homo hierarchicus character: (1) hierarchy (2) commensality: (3) restrictions on marriage; and (4) hereditary ....

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....ny cases, and the members of particular caste were prohibited from engaging themselves in other types of callings, profession or occupations. Certain occupations were considered to be degrading or impure. The Oxford English Dictionary (Volume II): Caste (2) one of the several hereditary classes into which society in India has from time immemorial been divided; the members of each caste being so....

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....is defined in Encyclopedia Americana (5) thus: Caste is a largely, exclusive social class, membership in which is determined by birth and involves particular customary restrictions and privilegs. The word derives from the Portugues casta, meaning 'breed', 'race', or 'kind' and was first used to denote the Hindu social system of social distinctions (2) Hinduism, any o....