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Book: Hinduism in Five Minutes

Chapter: 13. Where Did the Concept of Caste Begin?

DOI: 10.1558/equinox.41680

Blurb:

“Caste,” an originally Portuguese word, masks a broad gamut of social attitudes in Hinduism through history. This chapter examines two early indigenous terms, varṇa and jāti, and points to the thick history of the idea of social hierarchy as well as its rejection.

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