Merits of Caste System

Caste system has been termed as fountain head of social evil in our society. Despite the criticism, it still continues in the Indian society and many favor it. Its advocates point out certain merits whereas its critics cite many demerits. These are being pointedly discussed below:

Merits of Caste System

1. Fixed Social Environment: It has been emphasized that caste system provides a fixed social environment to each individual. In the words of Hutton, “He is provided in this way with a permanent body of association which controls almost all his behavior and contacts. His caste channelizes his choice in marriage acts as his trade union, his friendly or beneficent society, his state club, and his orphanage, it take the place for him of health, insurance, and if need be provided for his funeral.”
2. Sense of Co-operation: Caste system promotes the spirit of co-operation and fellow feeling among members of the same caste.
3. Defines Occupation: Caste system tells the economic pursuit of the individual. There is an occupation pertaining to every caste so that the child’s future is not only carved out already but also a proper place of apprenticeship is provided. Ancient India was a land provided with generations of craftsmen and soil cultivators who were extremely skillful in their vocation. In one way it helped in the specialization of skill.
4. Racial Purity: The supporters of caste system emphatically state that this system has held in preserving racial purity of the higher castes by forbidding indiscriminate inter-caste marriage, and has greatly fostered the habits of cleanliness by insisting on ritual purity.
5. Impresses upon the Intellectual Make-up: Caste system has been able to influence the intellectual make-up of an individual. Since the caste dictates to each member customs to be observed in the manner of diet, the observance of ceremonies and whether he many marry a widow, his view on the social and political matters and bound to be influenced by his caste customs.
6. Integration of the Country: The advocates of this system argue that caste system, ‘develops class consciousness without breeding class struggle. It has created an efficient organization of Hindu society without giving any chance to class frictions and factions. It has the best device to organize with one society, people of different castes with different cultural levels. It prevented the country from splitting up into warring racial units. It is argued that the ‘caste system has integrated Indian society into one caste and variegated community and provided the county with a sure basis of security and continuity whereby a stable and orderly organization of society could be possible.
7. Defines Functions: The caste system, it is stated, provides for the various functions necessary to social life- “Functions ranging from education to scavenging, from government to domestic service of the most menial kind, and it makes this provision under the sanction of a religious dogma, the belief in Karma, which renders the superficiality inequitable distribution of functions, acceptable as being part of the divine order of the universe.”
8. Cultural Diffusion: One of the merits of caste system has been its ability to promote the cultural diffusion within the group. The caste customs, beliefs, skill, behavior, the trade secrets are passed on from generation to generation.
9. Segmentation of social Life from Political Life: It is said that caste system has been able to maintain its own religious system by providing the worship of the caste Gods and Goddesses. It has made the social life independent from the political influence. S.C.Hill says, “His intimate life, the life which to the Hindu really matters is altogether independent of the political conditions, which happen to prevail.”