Relationship of Caste System with Measured Intelligence and Academic Achievement of Students in India

Abstract

C aste system is one of the institutions peculiar to India. Because of its relationship with religion, the orthodox Hindus believe that society has been divinely ordained on the basis of a hierarchy of four castes; the Brahmin, the Kshatriya, the Vaish and the Sudra. The system separates people belonging to different castes by rules limiting contacts or enjoining avoidances, such as restrictions on marriage and limitations on eating together. In ancient times, the Brahmins were considered to be the custodians of religious scriptures and they held monopoly over the teaching profession. The low caste people, called Sudras, were subjected to various disabilities and were not considered worthy of participating in religious sacrifices or reciting Vedas. They were referred to as Ekjati (once born) and were categorically denied the right of initiation and consequently the first stage of life, the studentship.1 Conditions have since changed. Industrialization, spread of education, and democratization of political structure have resulted in considerable modification and relaxation of some of the rigidities of the caste system. Greater work opportunities are being created with a growth of various new occupations. Selection for type of work now depends upon individual achievement rather than the caste or the ancestral occupation. Gist, in his study of caste differentials in South India,2 observed that people were no longer forced to follow their heriditary occupations and many of them were taking up new types of work. Similar phenomena are also at work in Northern India. Economic developments during the 14 years since the Gist study have resulted in further relaxation of the caste customs, and the principle of hereditary functions is no longer universally recognized as binding. The name Sudra, because of its association with the rather humiliating position of low castes in ancient times, has been discarded. A list of lower castes has been prepared by the governnment of India and people belonging to the castes included in this list are now called Caste people. Special provisions have been made by the government for their uplift and education. However, India is still a quite immobile, localistic, agricultural country of great size, where castes are still struggling to maintain their isolation. Bernard Barber observed that even in cities, so influential are the caste norms that they are still struggling to maintain themselves and are keeping intact their essential prohibitions such as those on intermarriages and other forms of intimate contacts with members of inferior castes.3 Mashruwalla4 observed that as yet very few people are free from its influence. In a recent study of prejudices, Dr. Mathur5 has observed that 32 percent of the respondents in his sample believed that government was simply wasting money on the schemes for the uplift of the Scheduled