Caste

by

Isabel Wilkerson

The varnas are the four major traditional castes in India’s caste system: the Brahmin, the Kshatriya, the Vaishya, and the Shudra. Based on ancient definitions of caste, the Untouchables—now known as the Dalit—existed outside of the caste system until about the 20th century.

Varna Quotes in Caste

The Caste quotes below are all either spoken by Varna or refer to Varna. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Caste, Race, and Social Division in the U.S.  Theme Icon
).
Pillar Number One Quotes

The United States and India would become, respectively, the oldest and the largest democracies in human history both built on caste systems undergirded by their reading of the sacred texts of their respective cultures. In both countries, the subordinate castes were consigned to the bottom, seen as deserving of their debasement, owing to the sins of the past.

Related Characters: Isabel Wilkerson (speaker)
Page Number: 104
Explanation and Analysis:
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Caste PDF