Practicing Success

Target Exam

CUET

Subject

Sociology

Chapter

Indian Society: Continuity and Change

Question:

Read the passage given below and answer the question.

The English word 'caste' is actually a borrowing from the Portuguese casta, meaning pure breed. The word refers to a broad institutional arrangement that in Indian languages (beginning with the ancient Sanskrit) is referred to by two distinct terms, varna and jati. Varna, literally 'colour', is the name given to a four-fold division of society into brahmana, kshatriya, vaishya and shudra, though this excludes a significant section of the population composed of the 'outcastes', foreigners, slaves, conquered peoples and other, sometimes referred to as the panchamas of fifth category. Jati is a generic term referring to species of kind of anything, ranging from inanimate objects to plants, animals and human beings. The most commonly cited defining features of caste are the following :

1. Caste is determined by birth

2. Membership in a caste involves strict rules about marriage.

3. Caste membership also involves rules about food and food-sharing

4. Caste involves a system consisting of many castes arranged in a hierarchy of rank and status.

The caste system can be understood as the combination of two sets of principles, one based on difference and separation and the other on wholism and hierarchy. The hierarchical ordering of castes is based on the distinction between 'purity' and 'pollution'

'Varna' is the name given to a:

Options:

Five-fold division of society

Six-fold division of society

Seven-fold division of society

Four fold division of society

Correct Answer:

Four fold division of society

Explanation:

Varna, literally ‘colour’, is the name given to a four-fold division of society into brahmana, kshatriya, vaishya and shudra, though this excludes a significant section of the population composed of the ‘outcastes’, foreigners, slaves, conquered peoples and others, sometimes refered to as the panchamas or fifth category.