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'

Caste system does not reflect :

linguistic separation

Caste system does not reflect linguistic separations.

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. . 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. Caste groups are “endogamous”, i.e. marriage is restricted to members of the group.
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.
5.        Castes also involve sub-divisions within themselves, i.e., castes almost always have sub-castes and sometimes sub-castes may also have sub-castes. This is referred to as a segmental organisation.
6. Castes were traditionally linked to occupations. A person born into a caste could only practice the occupation associated with that caste, so that occupations were hereditary