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Mauritians of Indian origin

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Indo-Mauritians are Mauritians who trace their ethnic ancestry to the Republic of India or other parts of the Indian subcontinent in South Asia .

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92-515: During the administration of the French East India Company (until 1767) and subsequent French rule at least 12,000 workers arrived from India between 1721 and 1810 before the abolition of slavery . These first Indian immigrants came from various parts of India such as Pondicherry, Karikal, Yanaon, Bengal and others. They worked under contract as skilled stonemasons, blacksmiths, and carpenters although hundreds of them were slaves . After

184-551: A Sheikh priestly lineage assigned to the tribe. Pre-Islamic Sassanid society was immensely complex, with separate systems of social organisation governing numerous different groups within the empire. Historians believe society comprised four social classes , which linguistic analysis indicates may have been referred to collectively as "pistras". The classes, from highest to lowest status, were priests ( Asravan ), warriors ( Arteshtaran ), secretaries ( Dabiran ), and commoners ( Vastryoshan ). In Yemen there exists

276-497: A hereditary caste, the African -descended Al-Akhdam who are kept as perennial manual workers. Estimates put their number at over 3.5 million residents who are discriminated, out of a total Yemeni population of around 22 million. Various sociologists have reported caste systems in Africa. The specifics of the caste systems have varied in ethnically and culturally diverse Africa; however,

368-524: A higher caste if the terms of the marriage did not imply equality. However, men are systematically shielded from the negative implications of the agreement. Geographical factors also determine adherence to the caste system. Many Northern villages are more likely to participate in exogamous marriage, due to a lack of eligible suitors within the same caste. Women in North India have been found to be less likely to leave or divorce their husbands since they are of

460-593: A later volume by Dena Freeman writing with Pankhurst. In a review published in 1977, Todd reports that numerous scholars report a system of social stratification in different parts of Africa that resembles some or all aspects of caste system. Examples of such caste systems, he claims, are to be found in Ethiopia in communities such as the Gurage and Konso . He then presents the Dime of Southwestern Ethiopia, amongst whom there operates

552-675: A manner similar to castas in Spanish colonies such as Mexico , and caste system studies in British colonies such as India. In the Philippines, pre-colonial societies do not have a single social structure. The class structures can be roughly categorised into four types: During the period of the Yuan dynasty , ruler Kublai Khan enforced a Four Class System , which was a legal caste system. The order of four classes of people in descending order were: There

644-534: A member of the samurai class to marry a peasant, craftsman, or merchant, but this was done through a loophole in which a person from a lower class was adopted into the samurai class and then married. Since there was an economic advantage for a poor samurai class person to marry a wealthy merchant or peasant class woman, they would adopt a merchant or peasant class woman into the samurai class as an adopted daughter and then marry her. Japan had its own untouchable caste, shunned and ostracised, historically referred to by

736-400: A particular occupation, hold a ritual status observed within a hierarchy, and interact with others based on cultural notions of exclusion , with certain castes considered as either more pure or more polluted than others. The term "caste" is also applied to morphological groupings in eusocial insects such as ants , bees , and termites . The paradigmatic ethnographic example of caste is

828-460: A relatively lower caste system, and have higher restrictions on their freedoms. On the other hand, Pahari women, of the northern mountains, have much more freedom to leave their husbands without stigma. This often leads to better husbandry as his actions are not protected by social expectations. Chiefly among the factors influencing the rise of exogamy is the rapid urbanisation in India experienced over

920-404: A result of new sub-lineages arising and number of clans increasing over time due to division as Yazidis settled in different places and countries. Division could occur in one family, if there were a few brothers in one clan, each of them could become the founder of their own Pîr sub-clan ( Kurdish : ber ). Mirîds are the lay caste and are divided into tribes , who are each affiliated to a Pîr and

1012-488: A review of social stratification systems in Africa, Richter reports that the term caste has been used by French and American scholars to many groups of West African artisans. These groups have been described as inferior, deprived of all political power, have a specific occupation, are hereditary and sometimes despised by others. Richter illustrates caste system in Ivory Coast , with six sub-caste categories. Unlike other parts of

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1104-819: A separate, untouchable category in Varna classifications. Scholars believe that the Varnas system was never truly operational in society and there is no evidence of it ever being a reality in Indian history. The practical division of the society had always been in terms of Jatis (birth groups), which are not based on any specific religious principle but could vary from ethnic origins to occupations to geographic areas. The Jātis have been endogamous social groups without any fixed hierarchy but subject to vague notions of rank articulated over time based on lifestyle and social, political, or economic status. Many of India's major empires and dynasties like

1196-507: A social classification. Marriage between certain classes was generally prohibited. In particular, marriage between daimyo and court nobles was forbidden by the Tokugawa shogunate because it could lead to political maneuvering. For the same reason, marriages between daimyo and high-ranking hatamoto of the samurai class required the approval of the Tokugawa shogunate. It was also forbidden for

1288-576: A supposedly 'egalitarian' ancient Tibetan society. In Japan's history, social strata based on inherited position rather than personal merit, were rigid and highly formalised in a system called mibunsei (身分制). At the top were the Emperor and Court nobles ( kuge ), together with the Shōgun and daimyō . Older scholars believed that there were Shi-nō-kō-shō ( 士農工商 , four classes ) of "samurai, peasants ( hyakushō ), craftsmen, and merchants ( chōnin )" under

1380-428: A system which Todd claims can be unequivocally labelled as caste system. The Dime have seven castes whose size varies considerably. Each broad caste level is a hierarchical order that is based on notions of purity, non-purity and impurity. It uses the concepts of defilement to limit contacts between caste categories and to preserve the purity of the upper castes. These caste categories have been exclusionary, endogamous and

1472-454: A third language at school ( French and English are already compulsory). The languages learnt in decreasing order are Hindi , Urdu , Tamil , Chinese , Marathi , Telugu and Bhojpuri . Mauritian Creoles can opt for Mauritian Creole as the third language. Choice is usually based on ethno-religious background with Hindi , Tamil , Telugu and Marathi chosen by Hindus who belong to the respective ethnicities and Urdu by Muslims from

1564-641: A total of 148 children fathered by Chinese men. These Chinese were mostly traders. Today the population consists of mainly Hindus with Muslim , Christian , Buddhist and Baháʼí Faith minorities. The mother tongue of almost all Mauritians is the Mauritian Creole , while a minority of Indo-Mauritians still use both their ancestral language and Creole at home. Indo-Mauritian use their ancestral languages mostly in religious activities, some of them include Bhojpuri , Tamil , Hindi , Marathi , Telugu and Urdu . As from age six, all Mauritian children must learn

1656-484: Is a theoretical four-part division, jāti (community) refers to the thousands of actual endogamous social groups prevalent across the subcontinent. The classical authors scarcely speak of anything other than the varnas , as it provided a convenient shorthand; but a problem arises when colonial Indologists sometimes confuse the two. Upon independence from Britain, the Indian Constitution listed 1,108 Jatis across

1748-524: Is assigned a heredity-based class and socio-political rank over which the individual exercises no control but which determines all aspects of his or her life." Called Songbun , Barbara Demick describes this "class structure" as an updating of the hereditary "caste system", a combination of Confucianism and Communism . It originated in 1946 and was entrenched by the 1960s, and consisted of 53 categories ranging across three classes: loyal, wavering, and impure. The privileged "loyal" class included members of

1840-580: Is first attested in English in 1613. In the Latin American context, the term caste is sometimes used to describe the casta system of racial classification, based on whether a person was of pure European, Indigenous or African descent, or some mix thereof, with the different groups being placed in a racial hierarchy; however, despite the etymological connection between the Latin American casta system and South Asian caste systems (the former giving its name to

1932-585: Is of Indo-Mauritian origin. French East India Company The French East India Company ( French : Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales ) was a joint-stock company founded in France on 1 September 1664 to engage in trade in India and other Asian lands. It competed with the English (later British) and Dutch trading companies in the East Indies . Planned by Jean-Baptiste Colbert , it

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2024-405: Is persistence of caste in Indian politics . Caste associations have evolved into caste-based political parties. Political parties and the state perceive caste as an important factor for mobilisation of people and policy development. Studies by Bhatt and Beteille have shown changes in status, openness, mobility in the social aspects of Indian society. As a result of modern socio-economic changes in

2116-519: Is significant controversy over the social classes of Tibet , especially with regards to the serfdom in Tibet controversy . Heidi Fjeld has put forth the argument that pre-1950s Tibetan society was functionally a caste system, in contrast to previous scholars who defined the Tibetan social class system as similar to European feudal serfdom , as well as non-scholarly western accounts which seek to romanticise

2208-445: Is still a common practice in India and Hindu culture. Men are expected to marry within their caste, or one below, with no social repercussions. If a woman marries into a higher caste, then her children will take the status of their father. If she marries down, her family is reduced to the social status of their son in law. In this case, the women are bearers of the egalitarian principle of the marriage. There would be no benefit in marrying

2300-490: Is that of butcher. It originates in the Khitan invasion of Korea in the 11th century. The defeated Khitans who surrendered were settled in isolated communities throughout Goryeo to forestall rebellion. They were valued for their skills in hunting, herding, butchering, and making of leather, common skill sets among nomads. Over time, their ethnic origin was forgotten, and they formed the bottom layer of Korean society. In 1392, with

2392-555: The Tira of Sudan, the exclusionary principle has been driven by evolving social factors. Among the Igbo of Nigeria – especially Enugu , Anambra , Imo , Abia , Ebonyi , Edo and Delta states of the country – scholar Elijah Obinna finds that the Osu caste system has been and continues to be a major social issue. The Osu caste is determined by one's birth into a particular family irrespective of

2484-514: The 1901 Census of India led by colonial administrator Herbert Hope Risley, all the jātis were grouped under the theoretical varnas categories. According to political scientist Lloyd Rudolph , Risley believed that varna , however ancient, could be applied to all the modern castes found in India, and "[he] meant to identify and place several hundred million Indians within it." The terms varna (conceptual classification based on occupation) and jāti (groups) are two distinct concepts: while varna

2576-565: The Dutch East India Company , including more than 20 years in Japan , and Marcara Avanchintz , an Armenian trader from Isfahan , Persia . In 1604, King Henry IV of France authorized the establishment of the Compagnie des Indes Orientales ( East India Company ), granting the new firm a 15-year monopoly on French trade with the East Indies . This company was a precursor to a firm of

2668-650: The French Revolution , and on 3 April 1790 the monopoly was abolished by an act of the new French Assembly which enthusiastically declared that the lucrative Far Eastern trade would henceforth be "thrown open to all Frenchmen". The company, accustomed neither to competition nor official disfavor, fell into steady decline and was finally liquidated in 1794. Even as the company was headed consciously toward extinction, it became embroiled in its most infamous scandal. The Committee of Public Safety had banned all joint-stock companies on 24 August 1793, and specifically seized

2760-641: The Gupta Empire . From 1901 onwards, for the purposes of the Decennial Census , the British colonial authorities arbitrarily and incorrectly forced all Jātis into the four Varna categories as described in ancient texts. Herbert Hope Risley , the Census Commissioner, noted that "The principle suggested as a basis was that of classification by social precedence as recognized by native public opinion at

2852-603: The Indian Ocean . Colbert's obsession with VOC led to series of early letdowns. One of France's main aims was to establish a French entrepôt in Madagascar to rival the Dutch colony of Batavia. By the 1680s, the company went insolvent and they had little choice but to rent out its monopoly to a group of merchants. The Indian trade remained under the company for approximately thirty years. In 1716, Scottish financier John Law arrived at

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2944-524: The Indian Subcontinent . Indo-Mauritians have influenced Mauritian culture, dominating the economic, public sector and political faces of the island. Mauritian politics have been historically dominated by the Indo-Mauritian community due to their majority as a whole on the electoral platform. All presidents except Karl Offmann and all prime ministers except for Paul Berenger have been members of

3036-517: The Korean Workers' Party and Korean People's Army officers' corps, the wavering class included peasants, and the impure class included collaborators with Imperial Japan and landowners . She claims that a bad family background is called "tainted blood", and that by law this "tainted blood" lasts three generations. There are three hereditary groups, often called castes, in Yazidism . Membership in

3128-511: The Persian Gulf , Red Sea, and the northwestern coast of the Indian subcontinent . These accomplishments paled France in comparison with England and Dutch Republic . France's Atlantic ports pursued to compete and amalgamate with each other. The commercial and capital expertise was disbursed around the coastal regions of Brittany and Normandy . Like other nationally-chartered trading companies of

3220-558: The Seven Years' War the British were able to exert control over French territories in India. With the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the territories were returned to France. The company was not able to maintain itself financially, and it was abolished in 1769. King Louis XV issued a 1769 edict that required the company to transfer to the state all its properties, assets and rights, which were valued at 30 million livres. The King agreed to pay all of

3312-517: The Sunjata epic, led to the formation of blacksmith and bard castes among the people that ultimately became the Mali empire. As West Africa evolved over time, sub-castes emerged that acquired secondary specialisations or changed occupations. Endogamy was prevalent within a caste or among a limited number of castes, yet castes did not form demographic isolates according to Tamari. Social status according to caste

3404-598: The Tukulor , Songhay , Dogon , Senufo , Minianka , Moors, Manding , Soninke , Wolof , Serer , Fulani , and Tuareg . Castes appeared among the Malinke people no later than 14th century, and was present among the Wolof and Soninke , as well as some Songhay and Fulani populations, no later than 16th century. Tamari claims that wars, such as the Sosso-Malinke war described in

3496-478: The jonow slaves as inferior. Similarly, the Wolof in Senegal is divided into three main groups, the geer (freeborn/nobles), jaam (slaves and slave descendants) and the underclass neeno . In various parts of West Africa, Fulani societies also have class divisions. Other castes include Griots , Forgerons , and Cordonniers . Tamari has described endogamous castes of over fifteen West African peoples, including

3588-402: The sangmin ( 상민-常民 : literally 'commoner'), farmers working their own fields. Korea also had a serf population known as the nobi . The nobi population could fluctuate up to about one third of the population, but on average the nobi made up about 10% of the total population. In 1801, the vast majority of government nobi were emancipated, and by 1858 the nobi population stood at about 1.5% of

3680-443: The "Osus" people as "owned by deities" and outcasts. The Songhai economy was based on a caste system. The most common were metalworkers, fishermen, and carpenters. Lower caste participants consisted of mostly non-farm working immigrants, who at times were provided special privileges and held high positions in society. At the top were noblemen and direct descendants of the original Songhai people, followed by freemen and traders. In

3772-485: The British in the armed forces, police forces, as security personnel with a substantial portion of immigrants from Gujarat and Sindh arriving as traders, businessmen, and merchants. In the late 19th to early 20th century, Chinese men in Mauritius married Indian women due to both a lack of Chinese women and the higher numbers of Indian women on the island. The 1921 census in Mauritius counted that Indian women there had

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3864-487: The English, Portuguese and Dutch in establishing trade in India. On 4 September 1666, the French secured a royal mandate from Emperor Aurangzeb that granted them to trade on the port of Surat . By 1683, the French had directed their attention toward the prominent site of Pondicherry, however the shift did little to offset the company's chronic shortage of capital. By 1738, the company owned 1,432 slaves, 630 of whom resided in

3956-542: The French colony of Isle de France . Many slaves in the colony were imported by the company from the West African region of Senegambia ; these included laptots , African slaves who forcibly served onboard the company's ships. With the decline of the Mughal Empire, the French decided to intervene in Indian political affairs to protect their interests, notably by forging alliances with local rulers in south India. From 1741

4048-449: The French royal court. The French court were in deep misery and were impotent to cover their debts caused due to War of Spanish Succession . Law approached the Crown with a scheme to construct a national bank and introduce paper currency, which would facilitate France's shift to credit economy. The company failed to found a successful colony on Madagascar , but was able to establish ports on

4140-627: The French under Joseph François Dupleix pursued an aggressive policy against both the Indians and the British until they ultimately were defeated by Robert Clive . Several Indian trading ports, including Pondichéry and Chandernagore , remained under French control until 1954. France's main rivalry came from the British . As a result of constant wars in Europe, notably the War of the Austrian Succession and

4232-678: The Manjo were commonly referred to as hunters, given the lowest status equal only to slaves." The Borana Oromo of southern Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa also have a class system, wherein the Wata, an acculturated hunter-gatherer group, represent the lowest class. Though the Wata today speak the Oromo language , they have traditions of having previously spoken another language before adopting Oromo. The traditionally nomadic Somali people are divided into clans, wherein

4324-664: The Mauryas, Shalivahanas, Chalukyas, Kakatiyas among many others, were founded by people who would have been classified as Shudras, under the Varnas system, as interpreted by the British rulers. It is well established that by the 9th century, kings from all the four Varnas, including Brahmins and Vaishyas, had occupied the highest seat in the monarchical system in Hindu India, contrary to the Varna theory. In many instances, as in Bengal, historically

4416-558: The Spanish colonised the New World , they used the word to mean a 'clan or lineage'. It was, however, the Portuguese who first employed casta in the primary modern sense of the English word 'caste' when they applied it to the thousands of endogamous, hereditary Indian social groups they encountered upon their arrival in India in 1498. The use of the spelling caste , with this latter meaning,

4508-586: The Yazidi society and a caste is conferred by birth. Pîrs and Sheikhs are the priestly castes , which are represented by many sacred lineages ( Kurdish : Ocax ). Sheikhs are in charge of both religious and administrative functions and are divided into three endogamous houses, Şemsanî, Adanî and Qatanî who are in turn divided into lineages. The Pîrs are in charge of purely religious functions and traditionally consist of 40 lineages or clans, but approximately 90 appellations of Pîr lineages have been found, which may have been

4600-485: The antiquated system of arranged endogamy. India has also implemented a form of Affirmative Action, locally known as "reservation groups". Quota system jobs, as well as placements in publicly funded colleges, hold spots for the 8% of India's minority, and underprivileged groups. As a result, in states such as Tamil Nadu or those in the north-east , where underprivileged populations predominate, over 80% of government jobs are set aside in quotas. In education, colleges lower

4692-531: The assets and papers of the East India Company. While its liquidation proceedings were being set up, directors of the company bribed various senior state officials to allow the company to carry out its own liquidation, rather than be supervised by the government. When this became known the following year, the resulting scandal led to the execution of key Montagnard deputies like Fabre d'Églantine and Joseph Delaunay , among others. The infighting sparked by

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4784-455: The colony operated on a plantation economy . The French economy crashed drastically in 1721 due to Law's reforms. Following this event, the company again started trading and settling in India. The reorganized corporation resumed its operating independence in 1723. The company's interest in the Mughal Empire was to prove no easier. The French arrived at the Indian subcontinent decades after

4876-549: The community. Most Hindu celebrations are public holidays. Indian influence is felt in religion, cuisine and arts. Indian influence is also felt on music wherein the island has its own groups of Bhojpuri and Tamil bands. Indian films are also widely popular. Due to local demographic realities, the Indian caste system was not directly implemented in the Mauritian context. Football is the most popular sport amongst Mauritians . Vikash Dhorasoo , who played for French football team ,

4968-517: The company's debts and obligations, though holders of company stock and notes received only an estimated 15 percent of the face value of their investments by the end of corporate liquidation in 1790. The company was reconstituted in 1785 and issued 40,000 shares of stock, priced at 1,000 livres apiece. It was given monopoly on all trade with countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope for an agreed period of seven years. The agreement, however, did not anticipate

5060-425: The country as Scheduled Castes in 1950, for positive discrimination . This constitution would also ban discrimination of the basis of the caste, though its practice in India remained intact. The Untouchable communities are sometimes called Scheduled Castes , Dalit or Harijan in contemporary literature. In 2001, Dalits were 16.2% of India's population. Most of the 15 million bonded child workers are from

5152-426: The country, India is experiencing significant changes in the dynamics and the economics of its social sphere. While arranged marriages are still the most common practice in India, the internet has provided a network for younger Indians to take control of their relationships through the use of dating apps. This remains isolated to informal terms, as marriage is not often achieved through the use of these apps. Hypergamy

5244-403: The daimyo, with 80% of peasants under the 5% samurai class, followed by craftsmen and merchants. However, various studies have revealed since about 1995 that the classes of peasants, craftsmen, and merchants under the samurai are equal, and the old hierarchy chart has been removed from Japanese history textbooks. In other words, peasants, craftsmen, and merchants are not a social pecking order, but

5336-516: The division of India's Hindu society into rigid social groups. Its roots lie in South Asia's ancient history and it still exists; however, the economic significance of the caste system in India has been declining as a result of urbanisation and affirmative action programs. A subject of much scholarship by sociologists and anthropologists, the Hindu caste system is sometimes used as an analogical basis for

5428-484: The episode also brought down Georges Danton and can be said to have led to the downfall of the Montagnards as a whole. Caste system A caste is a fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification : a caste system . Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste ( endogamy ), follow lifestyles often linked to

5520-500: The following features are common – it has been a closed system of social stratification, the social status is inherited, the castes are hierarchical, certain castes are shunned while others are merely endogamous and exclusionary. In some cases, concepts of purity and impurity by birth have been prevalent in Africa. In other cases, such as the Nupe of Nigeria, the Beni Amer of East Africa, and

5612-623: The foundation of the Confucian Joseon dynasty , Korea systemised its own native class system. At the top were the two official classes, the Yangban , which literally means "two classes". It was composed of scholars ( munban ) and warriors ( muban ). Scholars had a significant social advantage over the warriors. Below were the jung-in ( 중인-中人 : literally "middle people"). This was a small class of specialised professions such as medicine, accounting, translators, regional bureaucrats, etc. Below that were

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5704-511: The harbor of Port-Louis. Mauritius thus became the British colony's largest recipient of indentured migrants. Indentured labourers were mostly brought from the Bhojpuri speaking regions of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh , with a large number of Tamils , Telugus and Marathis amongst them. The descendants of these indentured labourers make up two-thirds of the island's current population. As free immigrants, these later arrivals were commonly employed by

5796-571: The insulting term eta , now called burakumin . While modern law has officially abolished the class hierarchy, there are reports of discrimination against the buraku or burakumin underclasses. The burakumin are regarded as "ostracised". The burakumin are one of the main minority groups in Japan , along with the Ainu of Hokkaidō and those of Korean or Chinese descent. The baekjeong ( 백정 ) were an "untouchable" outcaste of Korea. The meaning today

5888-543: The kings and rulers had been called upon, when required, to mediate on the ranks of Jātis , which might number in thousands all over the subcontinent and vary by region. In practice, the jātis may or may not fit into the Varna classes and many prominent Jatis , for example the Jats and Yadavs, straddled two Varnas i.e. Kshatriyas and Vaishyas, and the Varna status of Jātis itself was subject to articulation over time. Starting with

5980-443: The last century. It is well known that urban centers tend to be less reliant on agriculture and are more progressive as a whole. As India's cities boomed in population, the job market grew to keep pace. Prosperity and stability were now more easily attained by an individual, and the anxiety to marry quickly and effectively was reduced. Thus, younger, more progressive generations of urban Indians are less likely than ever to participate in

6072-420: The latter), it is controversial to what extent the two phenomena are really comparable. Modern India's caste system is based on the superimposition of an old four-fold theoretical classification called varna on the social ethnic grouping called jāti . The Vedic period conceptualised a society as consisting of four types of varnas , or categories: Brahmin , Kshatriya , Vaishya and Shudra , according to

6164-716: The legislative changes of 1767 these Indian immigrants were allowed to start businesses, buy land and own slaves. Following the November 1810 British Invasion from the northern coast, the island came under British rule . With the liberation of about 65,000 African and Malagasy slaves after the 1833 abolition of slavery the Franco-Mauritian plantation owners and sugar oligarchs resorted to indentured labourers , or Coolies , from various parts of India to work in their fields. Between 1834 and 1920, nearly 700,000 Indian indentured laborers arrived at Aapravasi ghat, an embankment located in

6256-408: The lowest castes. Independent India has witnessed caste-related violence . In 2005, government recorded approximately 110,000 cases of reported violent acts, including rape and murder, against Dalits. The socio-economic limitations of the caste system are reduced due to urbanisation and affirmative action . Nevertheless, the caste system still exists in endogamy and patrimony , and thrives in

6348-552: The marks necessary for the Dalits to enter. The Nepali caste system resembles in some respects the Indian jāti system, with numerous jāti divisions with a varna system superimposed. Inscriptions attest the beginnings of a caste system during the Licchavi period. Jayasthiti Malla (1382–1395) categorised Newars into 64 castes (Gellner 2001). A similar exercise was made during the reign of Mahindra Malla (1506–1575). The Hindu social code

6440-410: The more numerous Hutu and the least numerous Twa regarded, by birth, as respectively, second and third in the hierarchy of Rwandese society. These groups were largely endogamous, exclusionary and with limited mobility. In Ethiopia, there have been a number of studies of castes. Broad studies of castes have been written by Alula Pankhurst has published a study of caste groups in SW Ethiopia . and

6532-415: The most common surname and its bongwan in the local area. Along with this example, activists within and outside the Korean government had based their visions of a new relationship between the government and people through the concept of citizenship, employing the term inmin ("people") and later, kungmin ("citizen"). The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea reported that "Every North Korean citizen

6624-498: The nature of the work of its members. Varna was not an inherited category and the occupation determined the varna. However, a person's Jati is determined at birth and makes them take up that Jati's occupation; members could and did change their occupation based on personal strengths as well as economic, social and political factors. A 2016 study based on the DNA analysis of unrelated Indians determined that endogamous jatis originated during

6716-540: The nearby islands of Bourbon and Île-de-France (today's Réunion and Mauritius ). By 1719, it had established itself in India , but the firm was near bankruptcy . In the same year the Compagnie des Indes Orientales was merged under Law's direction with other French trading companies to form the Compagnie Perpétuelle des Indes . This merger resulted in the company being involved in importing slaves to Louisiana , as

6808-593: The old registration system signified household members according to their hierarchical social status, the new system called for an occupation. While most Koreans by then had surnames and even bongwan , although still substantial number of cheonmin , mostly consisted of serfs and slaves, and untouchables did not. According to the new system, they were then required to fill in the blanks for surname in order to be registered as constituting separate households. Instead of creating their own family name, some cheonmins appropriated their masters' surname, while others simply took

6900-493: The politics of democracy, where caste provides ready made constituencies to politicians. The globalisation and economic opportunities from foreign businesses has influenced the growth of India's middle-class population. Some members of the Chhattisgarh Potter Caste Community (CPCC) are middle-class urban professionals and no longer potters unlike the remaining majority of traditional rural potter members. There

6992-495: The present day, and manifesting itself in the facts that particular castes are supposed to be the modern representatives of one or other of the castes of the theoretical Indian system." Varna , as mentioned in ancient Hindu texts, describes society as divided into four categories: Brahmins (scholars and yajna priests), Kshatriyas (rulers and warriors), Vaishyas (farmers, merchants and artisans) and Shudras (workmen/service providers). The texts do not mention any hierarchy or

7084-487: The religion practised by the individual. Once born into Osu caste, this Nigerian person is an outcast, shunned and ostracised, with limited opportunities or acceptance, regardless of his or her ability or merit. Obinna discusses how this caste system-related identity and power is deployed within government, Church and indigenous communities. The osu class systems of eastern Nigeria and southern Cameroon are derived from indigenous religious beliefs and discriminate against

7176-563: The same name founded Jean-Baptiste Colbert , though the first business was not a joint-stock company , and was funded by the French Crown. The seventeenth century saw several French efforts to trade with the East Indies. They were influenced by the successful business ventures of the Dutch East India Company . Between the 1630s and early 1660s, French efforts were smaller in scale, but they enjoyed some success. French merchant ships traversed

7268-466: The same time, the baekjeong began to resist open social discrimination. They focused on social and economic injustices affecting them, hoping to create an egalitarian Korean society. Their efforts included attacking social discrimination by upper class, authorities, and "commoners", and the use of degrading language against children in public schools. With the Gabo reform of 1896, the class system of Korea

7360-585: The social identity inherited. Among the Kafa , there were also traditionally groups labelled as castes. "Based on research done before the Derg regime, these studies generally presume the existence of a social hierarchy similar to the caste system. At the top of this hierarchy were the Kafa, followed by occupational groups including blacksmiths (Qemmo), weavers (Shammano), bards (Shatto), potters, and tanners (Manno). In this hierarchy,

7452-552: The study of caste-like social divisions existing outside Hinduism and India. In colonial Spanish America , mixed-race castas were a category within the Hispanic sector but the social order was otherwise fluid. The English word caste ( / k ɑː s t , k æ s t / ) derives from the Spanish and Portuguese casta , which, according to the John Minsheu 's Spanish dictionary (1569), means "race, lineage, tribe or breed". When

7544-521: The textbook jāti system found in India. Ancient Sri Lankan texts such as the Pujavaliya, Sadharmaratnavaliya and Yogaratnakaraya and inscriptional evidence show that the above hierarchy prevailed throughout the feudal period. The repetition of the same caste hierarchy even as recently as the 18th century, in the Kandyan-period Kadayimpoth – Boundary books as well indicates the continuation of

7636-519: The time, the Company was based on a mercantilist model of trade, and complemented a colonialist foreign policy. The initial capital of the revamped Compagnie des Indes Orientales was 15 million livres, divided into shares of 1000 livres apiece. Louis XIV funded the first 3 million livres of investment, against which losses in the first 10 years were to be charged. The initial stock offering quickly sold out, as courtiers of Louis XIV recognized that it

7728-730: The total population of Korea. The hereditary nobi system was officially abolished around 1886–87 and the rest of the nobi system was abolished with the Gabo Reform of 1894, but traces remained until 1930. The opening of Korea to foreign Christian missionary activity in the late 19th century saw some improvement in the status of the baekjeong . However, everyone was not equal under the Christian congregation, and even so protests erupted when missionaries tried to integrate baekjeong into worship, with non- baekjeong finding this attempt insensitive to traditional notions of hierarchical advantage. Around

7820-469: The tradition right up to the end of Sri Lanka's monarchy. Balinese caste structure has been described as being based either on three categories—the noble triwangsa (thrice born), the middle class of dwijāti (twice born), and the lower class of ekajāti (once born), much similar to the traditional Indian BKVS social stratification — or on four castes The Brahmana caste was further subdivided by Dutch ethnographers into two: Siwa and Buda. The Siwa caste

7912-595: The world, mobility is sometimes possible within sub-castes, but not across caste lines. Farmers and artisans have been, claims Richter, distinct castes. Certain sub-castes are shunned more than others. For example, exogamy is rare for women born into families of woodcarvers. Similarly, the Mandé societies in Gambia , Ghana , Guinea , Ivory Coast , Liberia , Senegal and Sierra Leone have social stratification systems that divide society by ethnic ties. The Mande class system regards

8004-572: Was chartered by King Louis XIV for the purpose of trading in the Eastern Hemisphere . It resulted from the fusion of three earlier companies, the 1660 Compagnie de Chine , the Compagnie d'Orient and Compagnie de Madagascar. The first Director General for the Company was François de la Faye , who was adjoined by two Directors belonging to the two most successful trading organizations at that time: François Caron , who had spent 30 years working for

8096-661: Was in their interests to support the King's overseas initiative. The Compagnie des Indes Orientales was granted a 50-year monopoly on French trade in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, a region stretching from the Cape of Good Hope to the Straits of Magellan . The French monarch also granted the company a concession in perpetuity for the island of Madagascar, as well as any other territories it could conquer. The company possessed greater resources and better political banking than France's previous ventures in

8188-600: Was inherited by off-springs automatically; but this inheritance was paternal. That is, children of higher caste men and lower caste or slave concubines would have the caste status of the father. Ethel M. Albert in 1960 claimed that the societies in Central Africa were caste-like social stratification systems. Similarly, in 1961, Maquet notes that the society in Rwanda and Burundi can be best described as castes. The Tutsi , noted Maquet, considered themselves as superior, with

8280-597: Was later set up in the Gorkha Kingdom by Ram Shah (1603–1636). McKim Marriott claims a social stratification that is hierarchical, closed, endogamous and hereditary is widely prevalent, particularly in western parts of Pakistan. Frederik Barth in his review of this system of social stratification in Pakistan suggested that these are castes. The caste system in Sri Lanka is a division of society into strata, influenced by

8372-518: Was officially abolished. Following the collapse of the Gabo government , the new cabinet, which became the Gwangmu government after the establishment of the Korean Empire , introduced systematic measures for abolishing the traditional class system. One measure was the new household registration system, reflecting the goals of formal social equality , which was implemented by the loyalists' cabinet. Whereas

8464-411: Was subdivided into five: Kemenuh, Keniten, Mas, Manuba and Petapan. This classification was to accommodate the observed marriage between higher-caste Brahmana men with lower-caste women. The other castes were similarly further sub-classified by 19th-century and early-20th-century ethnographers based on numerous criteria ranging from profession, endogamy or exogamy or polygamy, and a host of other factors in

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