The Relationship between Racial Discrimination and Social Stratification in India

At present, the cognition of Indian caste system in international academic circles is fundamentally different from our traditional cognition. For example, Susan Bailey believes that even in the upper reaches of the Ganges, the core of Hinduism in India, the "traditional" caste system only began to form in the post-Mughal era at the beginning of the18th century. In other words, the academic circles now tend to think that the Indian caste system is an imagination and construction of Indian society by British colonial rulers. However, once the caste system was established, it had a great influence on Indians' social consciousness and identity, and it has continued to this day. In daily life, the influence of caste system may not be as great as we think, but in social and political fields, its influence is enormous. Why? Because of India's "positive differential treatment" policy of caring for backward castes and classes after independence, this social policy tends to solidify caste system and consciousness (because there are practical benefits here). At the same time, after independence, India implemented electoral politics, and caste became a tool of political mobilization. However, I don't think this means that the actual social stratification in India is carried out according to the caste system. To a great extent, this is the result of the construction of modern politics and social identity. Therefore, India's modern caste system is modern in nature, not traditional. The traditional view that Indian caste system is regarded as a historical relic of Indian society has been questioned and denied by international academic circles.