Caste System Quotes

“We aren't human."

"Yes. We. Are." His voice turns fierce. "I don't give a shit what the something-somethingth council of big important farts decreed, or how the geomests classify things, or any of that. That we're not human is just the lie they tell themselves so they don't have to feel bad about how they treat us.”
― N.K. Jemisin, The Fifth Season

“Because even if I should speak, no one would believe me. And they would not believe me precisely because they would know that what I said was true.”
― James Baldwin

“बर्दाश्त कर लेने का इतना हौसला था कि आज मैं सोचता हूँ तो हैरान रह जाता हूँ। कितना कुछ छीन लिया है मुझसे इस बर्दाश्त कर लेने की आदत ने!”
― Omprakash Valmiki, जूठन: पहला खंड [Joothan]

“The cruel social arbiters of Indian society were denying individual merit. In their eyes, Ambedkar was simply a Mahar, and they could
not care less if his scholarship was as vast as the sky.”
― Omprakash Valmiki, Joothan: An Untouchable's Life

“I have discovered that some groups and castes are offered little to no opportunity to work in the public sector in Nepal.”
― Santosh Kalwar, Why Nepal Fails

“Feeling the inevitable claim of the this desert, he experienced a desire to throw off his civilized costume, hurl himself upon Josephina, either succumb, or return to Guadalajara, where men could only complain of having too many buttons to button or unbutton...”
― Warren Eyster, The Goblins of Eros

“Respect for all, reward for the worthy, reservation for none.”
― Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

“Nepal is confronted with many societal issues, including the caste system, child labor, illiteracy, gender inequality, superstitions, religious disputes, and a slew of other issues.”
― Santosh Kalwar, Why Nepal Fails

“I feel amazed when I look back on those days
and the things that I learned to tolerate. How much my ability to tolerate hurts flung at me has taken out of me!”
― Omprakash Valmiki, Joothan: An Untouchable's Life

“साहित्य में नरक की सिर्फ कल्पना है। हमारे लिए बरसात के दिन किसी नारकीय जीवन से कम न थे। हमने इसे साकार रूप में जीते–जी भोगा है। ग्राम्य जीवन की यह दारुण व्यथा हिन्दी के महाकवियों को छू भी नहीं सकी। कितनी बीभत्स सच्चाई है यह!”
― Omprakash Valmiki, जूठन: पहला खंड [Joothan]

“Literature can only imagine hell. For us, the rainy season was a living hell. The epic poets of Hindi have not even touched upon the terrible sufferings of the villages. What a monstrous truth that is.”
― Omprakash Valmiki, Joothan: An Untouchable's Life

“भारतीय समाज की क्रूर–व्यवस्था व्यक्ति की योग्यता को नकार रही थी। उनकी दृष्टि में डॉ. अम्बेडकर जन्मना महार थे। भले ही उनकी विद्वत्ता आकाश जितनी ऊँचाई पा जाए।”
― Omprakash Valmiki, जूठन: पहला खंड [Joothan]

“In the name of caste
they buried him alive
however, blood knows
no religion and
dying in the name of love
is still a victory
- humanity is greater”
― Jyoti Patel, ANAMIKA: BEYOND WORDS

“Christianity Confronts the Caste System in India By Cameron Hilditch
National Review, December 10, 2020

For those who don’t know, the caste system is a 3,000-year-old Hindu theological idea, according to which people are grouped into five rigid and hierarchical social groups. Brahmins are the cream of the crop, followed by Kshatriyas, who together make up the country’s ruling classes. Vaishyas form the middle class, Shudras the laborers, and Dalits (literally “outcastes”) are at the very bottom of the social hierarchy, mostly functioning as street sweepers, latrine cleaners, and the like. Caste is fixed at birth, determined by actions undertaken in a past life. Consequently, there’s little room for social mobility.”
― Cameron Hilditch

“Jim Crow laws and lynchings defined and enforced the racial caste system while letting the white man know that, no matter his class, he stood above black people. The bucket my have had spit in it, but at least it was yours”
― Connor Towne O'Neill, Down Along with That Devil's Bones: A Reckoning with Monuments, Memory, and the Legacy of White Supremacy

“STOP FINDING PRIDE FOR YOUR CASTE, BE THE PRIDE OF YOUR CASTE; LET YOU BE A HUMAN TRIBE OR A TRIBE OF THE HUMAN”
― P.S. Jagadeesh Kumar

“How does Plato solve the problem of avoiding class war? Had he been a progressivist, he might have hit on the idea of a classless, equalitarian society; for, as we can see for instance from his own parody of Athenian democracy, there were strong equalitarian tendencies at work in Athens. But he was not out to construct a state that might come, but a state that had been—the father of the Spartan state, which was certainly not a classless society. It was a slave state, and accordingly Plato’s best state is based on the most rigid class distinctions. It is a caste state. The problem of avoiding class war is solved, not by abolishing classes, but by giving the ruling class a superiority which cannot be challenged. As in Sparta, the ruling class alone is permitted to carry arms, it alone has any political or other rights, and it alone receives education, i.e. a specialized training in the art of keeping down its human sheep or its human cattle.”
― Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies - Volume One: The Spell of Plato

“The communism of the ruling caste of his best city can thus be derived from Plato’s fundamental sociological law of change; it is a necessary condition of the political stability which is its fundamental characteristic. But although an important condition, it is not a sufficient one. In order that the ruling class may feel really united, that it should feel like one tribe, i.e. like one big family, pressure from without the class is as necessary as are the ties between the members of the class. This pressure can be secured by emphasizing and widening the gulf between the rulers and the ruled. The stronger the feeling that the ruled are a different and an altogether inferior race, the stronger will be the sense of unity among the rulers. We arrive in this way at the fundamental principle, announced only after some hesitation, that there must be no mingling between the classes.”
― Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies - Volume One: The Spell of Plato

“I suppose Epsilons don't really mind being Epsilons,' she said aloud.

'Of course they don't. How can they? They don't know what it's like being anything else. We'd mind, of course. But then we've been differently conditioned.”
― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

“Lower castes and other oppressed groups have less access to basic amenities and education and fewer prospects for social progress than their upper-caste counterparts.”
― Santosh Kalwar, Why Nepal Fails

“மேற்கத்திய நாடுகள் இதில் சிறப்பான முறையில் செயல்படுகிறார்கள். அதிலும் ஜெர்மன், ஆஸ்ட்ரியா, ஸ்பெயின், ஸ்விட்சர்லாந்து போன்ற நாடுகள் சிறப்பாக இருக்கிறார்கள்.”
― Perumal Murugan, மாறாது என்று எதுவுமில்லை [Maarathu Entru Ethuvumillai]

“Name My Caste

My mom who birthed me is one caste
My Dad who raised me another caste
The man I married whose heart I wed
Is from another caste, it's said.

I studied where the caste was cast out,
Where dreams and goals just carried out.
So now you ask, "Which caste are you?"
I ask right back, "Which caste are you?"

You name my caste? I’ll name yours too.
Let’s play this game, just us two.
Doctor, Lawyer, Judge, Police,
PhDs preaching caste, not peace.

You claim to lead, to lift, to guide,
Yet drag old chains you wear with pride.
You move ahead but think behind,
A forward world with backward mind.

I don’t belong to caste or clan,
I only belong to God’s own plan.
So mark me not by caste or past,
I am what God designed to last.”
― Luffina Lourduraj

“The American radical will fight privilege and power, whether it be inherited or acquired by any small group, whether it be political or financial or organized creed. He curses a caste system, aware that it exists despite all patriotic denials. He will fight conservatives, whether they are business or labor leaders. He will fight any concentration of power hostile to a broad, popular democracy, whether he finds it in financial circles or in politics.

The radical recognizes that constant dissension and conflict is and has been the fire under the boiler of democracy.”
― Saul D. Alinsky, Reveille for Radicals

“Definition of Dalits?
Many people mistakenly perceive the term Dalit as merely another caste label. In truth, it is a profoundly political and ideological identity—an umbrella term that encompasses historically marginalized and oppressed communities. To truly understand Dalit, we must recognize that language operates on two intertwined levels: the textual and the contextual.

Textually, every word carries both denotation—the literal, dictionary meaning—and connotation—the emotional, cultural, or symbolic resonance. For example, lily denotes a particular white flower, yet it connotes purity and fragrance. Similarly, rose refers to a specific botanical entity, while also symbolizing love and beauty.

However, certain terms—like Purohita (Hindu priest)—cannot be fully grasped through textual analysis alone. Their meanings are shaped by the historical, religious, and cultural frameworks in which they function. A Purohita is not just a religious figure; he embodies the ritual authority, social hierarchy, and Brahminical dominance inherent in Hindu society.
Likewise, Dalit is not just a lexical item—it is a historically charged identity rooted in centuries of caste-based exclusion, violence, and resistance. It embodies the collective struggle against structural oppression and signals a radical assertion of dignity and justice. To engage with the term Dalit is to confront the lived realities of caste discrimination and to recognize its role as a political and cultural counter-narrative. Hence, Dalit must be understood not just linguistically, but through a deep sociopolitical lens that attends to the histories, struggles, and aspirations it signifies.”
― Dr.Thanigaivelan Santhakumar

“Why do we need reservation in Private sectors?
Private sector reservation is not just a matter of employment—it is a matter of democratic justice and representation in a society where caste continues to determine who gets hired, promoted, funded, and heard. Without reservation, Dalits remain invisible in boardrooms, media, law firms, tech companies, and startups. As Suraj Yengde points out in Caste Matters (2019), “In India's new economy, Dalits are the untouchables of the digital age. There is no Ambedkar in Silicon Valley.” Additionally, global capitalism in India benefits from caste-based cheap labor, while resisting caste-based equity, thus reproducing old hierarchies in new forms.”
― Dr.Thanigaivelan Santhakumar

“What is the Third-Class Degree and the Colonial Education Dilemma
The introduction of Macaulay’s Minute on Education in 1835, followed by Wood’s Despatch in 1854, laid the foundation for a British-style education system in colonial India. Designed to produce a class of Indians who were “Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect,” this system emphasized English-language education, liberal arts, and European epistemology, effectively displacing indigenous systems of learning rooted in Sanskrit, Persian, and Tamil traditions.
Initially, Indian universities (established in Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras in 1857) adopted a rigid system of academic classification, with students qualifying for a first class at 60%, and second class at 45%. This system quickly exposed disparities in performance, particularly among students from varied caste backgrounds. While upper-caste Brahmin communities had long-standing access to education—especially in Sanskritic traditions—they struggled with the new colonial syllabus and pedagogy, which emphasized logic, Western literature, and sciences.
By the late 19th century, British educators were alarmed by the high failure rates among Indian students, especially in South India, where Tamil Brahmins—despite their traditional academic roles—were not performing well under the British evaluative framework. In an effort to boost the number of graduates and maintain a steady supply of clerks and civil servants, British officials proposed the creation of a “third class” degree with a pass mark of 33%. This move was formalized in the Indian Universities Commission Report of 1902.
What is notable—but often underemphasized—is how upper-caste Hindus, especially the Dwija castes (Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas), rallied behind the idea of introducing this lower threshold. Many of these groups, who had historically benefited from hereditary access to religious and scriptural education, were now struggling to adapt to modern, secular, and English-language education. The third-class degree became a lifeline—ironically endorsed by the very castes that later would oppose caste-based affirmative action, arguing for "merit" as the only valid criterion.
The creation of a third-class degree, thus, serves as an early historical example of structural adjustment to accommodate dominant castes—a form of affirmative accommodation before the term “reservation” even entered Indian political discourse. While it was framed as a meritocratic concession to help Indian students succeed, it was in fact a policy born of practical necessity and caste-based pressure, aiming to preserve the hegemony of upper castes in the emerging modern bureaucracy.
This irony becomes even more stark when viewed against the later history of Dalit and Bahujan struggles for access to education, especially in the 20th century. Leaders like Jyotirao Phule, Periyar, and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar would go on to expose how education remained deeply caste-coded. For centuries, the Dalits (Scheduled Castes) and Shudras had been denied access to learning altogether. When reservations were introduced to level the field post-Independence, these very upper-caste communities began to resist them, invoking the rhetoric of "merit"—a notion that was conveniently malleable when they needed the third class to survive colonial assessments.
Thus, the colonial education system did not eliminate caste—it subtly reinforced it by repackaging privilege under new labels. The introduction of the third-class degree exemplifies how colonial policy was not caste-neutral but often aligned with the interests of dominant castes. It laid the groundwork for ongoing debates around meritocracy, reservation, and educational justice in India—a legacy that continues to shape the nation's politics and social dynamics well into the 21st century.”
― Dr.Thanigaivelan Santhakumar

“The abolition of caste in India is impossible without dismantling the entrenched economic and land-based power structures that uphold it. As Dr. B.R. Ambedkar forcefully argued, caste is not merely a division of labor, but "a division of labourers" (Annihilation of Caste 17), where the hierarchical allocation of work is inherited and enforced through socio-economic mechanisms. Historically, caste has operated as a system of economic exploitation, wherein dominant castes consolidated power through control over land, knowledge, and religious institutions, relegating Dalits and other oppressed groups to landless labor and degrading occupations. Ambedkar contended that “caste is not just a social institution, it is also an economic one” and warned that “you cannot build anything on the foundations of caste. You have to blow it up” (Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Ancient India 23).”
― Dr.Thanigaivelan Santhakumar

“How next generation can become casteless?

Educating the next generation for a caste-free society requires more than tokenistic inclusion; it demands a pedagogical revolution rooted in equality, empathy, critical thinking, and epistemic justice. The present educational system, as Ambedkar noted in Annihilation of Caste, is complicit in “manufacturing obedient caste minds” that naturalize hierarchy rather than challenge it. Therefore, education must first deconstruct the hidden curriculum of caste—the ways in which textbooks, classroom practices, language, and institutional norms reinforce dominant caste narratives while marginalizing Dalit-Bahujan voices. Schools must be restructured as spaces of liberation, not discipline, by incorporating the writings, histories, and philosophies of Ambedkar, Savitribai Phule, Ayyankali, Periyar, and other anti-caste thinkers into core curricula, not just as electives or afterthoughts. Pedagogy must shift from rote memorization to dialogic, experiential learning that cultivates empathy and reflexivity in students. Teachers themselves must be sensitized through anti-caste training, and diversity in teaching staff—especially Dalit and Adivasi educators—must be actively pursued through affirmative hiring. Importantly, education should challenge caste not only intellectually but institutionally, through caste-free hostels, fair admissions, and safe grievance mechanisms. As Paulo Freire argued in Pedagogy of the Oppressed, “education is either a practice of freedom or a practice of domination”—and in caste society, it has largely been the latter. The next generation must be trained not just to understand caste, but to actively dismantle it, through critical consciousness, solidarity practices, and ethical citizenship. Only when children are taught that caste is not cultural heritage but a violation of human dignity—and are given the tools to resist it—can education become the foundation of a truly egalitarian India.”
― Dr.Thanigaivelan Santhakumar

“The Classic Question: The Paradox of The Majority or Bahujen.

The term Bahujan refers to India’s demographic majority—Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes—constituting nearly 70% of the population. Yet this numerical strength has not translated into structural empowerment, giving rise to what scholars call the Bahujan paradox: the tension between political visibility and persistent social marginality.
Historically, caste society imposed graded inequality (Ambedkar), ensuring that even among oppressed groups, internal hierarchies prevented unity. Despite the promise of democracy, land ownership, wealth, education, and cultural capital remain concentrated in upper-caste hands. This creates the first axis of the paradox: majority in numbers, minority in power.
The second dimension lies in politics versus structure. From the 1980s, the rise of the BSP, SP, RJD, DMK, and others marked a political awakening. Bahujan leaders captured state power in several regions, but institutions like the bureaucracy, judiciary, and media remained dominated by elites. Electoral success has thus not dismantled systemic dominance.
Third is the tension between unity and fragmentation. Kanshi Ram envisioned solidarity across SCs, STs, and OBCs, yet rivalries and caste sub-identities often splinter this bloc, weakening collective bargaining.
Fourth, policy gains contrast with social realities. Reservations and welfare have created upward mobility for a small segment, but caste violence, everyday discrimination, and failed land reforms persist.
Finally, there is empowerment without emancipation. Leaders once rooted in radical anti-caste thought often compromise with dominant caste and capitalist frameworks. Cultural icons like Ambedkar and Phule are celebrated, but frequently co-opted by parties unwilling to confront caste hierarchies.
In essence, the Bahujan paradox reveals a striking contradiction: India’s majority commands votes but not full dignity, wielding political clout without achieving structural transformation.”
― Dr.Thanigaivelan Santhakumar

“Chaturvarna system... is the foundational bureaucracy of Indian humiliation.”
― Anurag Minus Verma, The Great Indian Brain Rot : Love, Lies and Algorithms in Digital India