Which of the following are not the features of caste system?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 1

The correct answer is Option (1) → Achievement and exogamy

Option (1) Achievement and exogamy — Not features of caste (Correct). Caste is determined by birth, not by what a person achieves; one can never change one’s caste. Exogamy means marrying outside one’s group, while caste groups are endogamous: marriage is restricted to members of the group. Both terms describe the opposite of caste.

Option (2) Ascription and endogamy — Features of caste (Incorrect). A person’s social position is ascribed: children assume the social positions of their parents, and within the caste system birth dictates occupational opportunities. This is reinforced by endogamy, marriage within the same caste.

Option (3) Hierarchy and inequality — Features of caste (Incorrect). Caste involves many castes arranged in a hierarchy of rank and status; each caste occupies an ordered rank in a ladder-like arrangement from highest to lowest, so castes are unequal to each other.

Option (4) Purity and Pollution — Features of caste (Incorrect). The hierarchy rests on the distinction between ‘purity’ and ‘pollution’: castes believed to be ritually pure are ranked high, and those considered less pure or impure are ranked low.

NCERT (2025-26): “3.1 Caste and the Caste System … The most commonly cited defining features of caste are the following: 1. Caste is determined by birth – a child is ‘born into’ the caste of its parents. Caste is never a matter of choice. One can never change one’s caste, leave it, or choose not to join it, although there are instances where a person may be expelled from their caste.”

“2. Membership in a caste involves strict rules about marriage. Caste groups are ‘endogamous’, i.e. marriage is restricted to members of the group.…”

“…4. Caste involves a system consisting of many castes arranged in a hierarchy of rank and status. In theory, every person has a caste, and every caste has a specified place in the hierarchy of all castes. While the hierarchical position of many castes, particularly in the middle ranks, may vary from region to region, there is always a hierarchy.…”

“The hierarchical ordering of castes is based on the distinction between ‘purity’ and ‘pollution’. This is a division between something believed to be closer to the sacred (thus connoting ritual purity), and something believed to be distant from or opposed to the sacred, therefore considered ritually polluting. Castes that are considered ritually pure have high status, while those considered less pure or impure have low status.…”

“…2. Social stratification persists over generations. It is closely linked to the family and to the inheritance of social resources from one generation to the next. A person’s social position is ascribed. That is, children assume the social positions of their parents. Within the caste system, birth dictates occupational opportunities. The ascribed aspect of social inequality is reinforced by the practice of endogamy. That is, marriage is usually restricted to members of the same caste, ruling out the potential for blurring caste lines through inter-caste marriage.”