CUET Preparation Today
Consider the following statements:
Which pair of statements is incorrect? |
1 and 2 2 and 3 2 and 4 3 and 4 |
1 and 2 |
The correct answer is Option 1: 1 and 2 Statement 1: The four-varna classification is commonly regarded as roughly two thousand years old. — Incorrect. The commonly accepted view is that the four-varna classification is roughly three thousand years old. Statement 2: The caste system in every historical period operated exactly as it does today. — Incorrect. The caste system represented different social arrangements in different historical periods and did not remain unchanged. Statement 3: The earliest phase of the caste system consisted of only four major divisions. — Correct. In its earliest phase, it was essentially a varna system with four major divisions. Statement 4: Social mobility appears to have been possible during the late Vedic period. — Correct. Movement across categories appears to have been possible and even common. NCERT: "Opinions also differ on the exact age of the caste system. It is generally agreed though, that the four varna classification is roughly three thousand years old. However, the ‘caste system’ stood for different things in different time periods, so that it is misleading to think of the same system continuing for three thousand years. In its earliest phase, in the late Vedic period roughly between 900 — 500 BC, the caste system was really a varna system and consisted of only four major divisions. These divisions were not very elaborate or very rigid, and they were not determined by birth. Movement across the categories seems to have been not only possible but quite common. It is only in the post Vedic period that caste became the rigid institution that is familiar to us from well known definitions. ". |
