. C aste and the C aste S ystem Like any Indian, you already know that ‘caste’ is the name of an ancient social institution that has been part of Indian history and culture for thousands of years. But like any Indian living in the twenty-first century, you also know that something called ‘caste’ is definitely a part of Indian society today. To what extent are these two ‘castes’ – the one that is supposed to be part of India’s past, and the one that is part of its present – the same thing ?
This is the question that we will try to answer in this section.