The unheard angle of Caste System in India

India and its culture, particularly Hindu culture, are criticized for following a typical caste system. Not only outside the country but in India also 8 out of 10 people will stand to speak against the caste system and it's true that a large number of people have suffered due to this system.

But, let's toss the coin and find out is there an unknown side of the system that helped the nation to preserve its culture??

Caste has always been a part of Indian culture and the caste system today in India, was way different when compared to the ancient one. Now, it has become more like a source for fulfilling personal motives. India has faced a series of destructive bloody invasions, which was quite a challenge for us. According to historians, after 7 AD India witnessed invasions when Afghanistan's Hindu Kingdoms were invaded by the Arabs.  

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These Invaders were halted for about 2 centuries by Gujjar-Pratihars and the kingdoms of Kabul-Zabul but after two centuries, kingdoms of India finally saw a fall as the Afghan Hindus were converted to Islam. After the 10th Century AD, the bloody Raids to loot gold and women became a normal thing and Finally, after the 13th century, the Invaders who came to loot, rape and conquer this land stayed back to rule. Then came the colonizers: the Britishers who conquered the nation and ruled for years.

Yet facing all the atrocities, neither Single Invader nor Mughals and Britishers were able to conquer it entirely. The main reason was the sheer size of this land and the deep-rooted existence of Indian Civilization. There were historians who provided us with figures that show, despite the 400 years of bloody Islamic invasion i.e., Thirteenth-century to the seventeenth century,  80% of the population remained Hindu.

If compared with other parts of the world with Islamic invasions, the entire civilization was converted into Islam. For eg, Egyptians, Mesopotamia, Zoroastrians (Parsis), are quite old civilizations whose existence is very minimal and some have become extinct.

How did India survive in this race?

Maj Gen (ret) (Dr.) GD Bakshi's book Bose, or Gandhi, has an answer to this question. This book itself is the main source of this blog. He mentions, "India proved to be a weaker state but a stronger society. Once the Hindu state of India was militarily overrun by Islamic Invasion,  Indian society deliberately splintered itself into a plethora of castes of Jatis, Varna and caste. It was the caste that kept their people together through the severe threat of social boycott and ex-communication. Indian society threatened all who converted to Islam either by force or greed, will have to face Boycott and Excommuncation from the society via not marrying them, avoiding to eat, talk with that individual, or the family who converted." 

These were some desperate measures that were taken by the Indian society to preserve their local communities. Even though the Hindu political and ruling states were destroyed or conquered by Muslim armies, Natives Local groups held themselves into Caste and Jatis which helped them escape and preserve their communities from persecution and conversion. Thus, Caste was once the last line of defence for India. But today, unfortunately, we don't need the caste system as it is prevailing in India both on the political and societal level but it has been kept alive by our politicians. 

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