This is a great piece but I think it could benefit from a global comparison.
You mention in passing anti-discrimination legislation and reservations in India - the very fact that there are reservations is remarkable on a comparative level and they have actually made a difference. The situation of the Dalit in India has improved. Take for example the situation of minorities in the Muslim world post-WWII, which has deteriorated almost everywhere.
While untouchability (and certainly caste) are embedded in many Hindu texts, there is also a history of Hindu rejection of the idea of untouchability and caste. There's Basava and even before that others who interpret Brahminism as defined by deeds, not acts. In other words, you could take these concepts out of Hinduism and it would still be Hinduism. It's worth comparing it to anti-Jewish hate in Christianity and Islam. Christianity and Islam both define themselves as the "true" Jews in a sense, adopting Jewish ideas but rejecting Jews themselves. Therefore taking out the antisemitic content would require taking out the Jewish content - and would empty Christianity and Islam of meaning. To put it in fancy academic language - antisemitism is constitutive to Christianity and Islam in a way that untouchability is not to Hinduism.
Finally, at least in India (not so in Pakistan) the laws are there but lack of enforcement is a huge issue. The United States created a huge legal apparatus after the civil rights movement in order to see justice done. India needs something similar (among other things).
You are absolutely correct. Historically, the existence of caste as a stratified social structure as we understand it is likely post-Vedic phenomenon and untouchability, particularly is of far more recent(relatively speaking) origin. There is enough ambiguity, explicit critique in many Hindu texts and epics that allow Hinduism to exist without caste, in fact, as fervently anti-caste. The medieval poets, for instance, in Bengal i.e. the Bauls and the fakirs, and in Odisha, the "panchasakhas" were explicitly anti-caste and rituals in these states are often organized around a rejection of caste i.e. Lakshmi Puja in Odisha. The Bhakti movement too and the lingayats that you mention. The Upanishadic philosophy also does not require caste. The Lingayats and the Shaivaite movements that you alluded to is also another example. So caste without Hinduism can exist and does exist in the practice and interpretation of many Hindus. I agree with your last point. India needs something akin to civil rights laws and not just for caste but also for gender, religion, dietary practices etc.
Caste system is the longest running apartheid like system ,institutionlaised and internalised , in the world and the reason for many woes of the country.
Great article
This is a great piece but I think it could benefit from a global comparison.
You mention in passing anti-discrimination legislation and reservations in India - the very fact that there are reservations is remarkable on a comparative level and they have actually made a difference. The situation of the Dalit in India has improved. Take for example the situation of minorities in the Muslim world post-WWII, which has deteriorated almost everywhere.
While untouchability (and certainly caste) are embedded in many Hindu texts, there is also a history of Hindu rejection of the idea of untouchability and caste. There's Basava and even before that others who interpret Brahminism as defined by deeds, not acts. In other words, you could take these concepts out of Hinduism and it would still be Hinduism. It's worth comparing it to anti-Jewish hate in Christianity and Islam. Christianity and Islam both define themselves as the "true" Jews in a sense, adopting Jewish ideas but rejecting Jews themselves. Therefore taking out the antisemitic content would require taking out the Jewish content - and would empty Christianity and Islam of meaning. To put it in fancy academic language - antisemitism is constitutive to Christianity and Islam in a way that untouchability is not to Hinduism.
Finally, at least in India (not so in Pakistan) the laws are there but lack of enforcement is a huge issue. The United States created a huge legal apparatus after the civil rights movement in order to see justice done. India needs something similar (among other things).
You are absolutely correct. Historically, the existence of caste as a stratified social structure as we understand it is likely post-Vedic phenomenon and untouchability, particularly is of far more recent(relatively speaking) origin. There is enough ambiguity, explicit critique in many Hindu texts and epics that allow Hinduism to exist without caste, in fact, as fervently anti-caste. The medieval poets, for instance, in Bengal i.e. the Bauls and the fakirs, and in Odisha, the "panchasakhas" were explicitly anti-caste and rituals in these states are often organized around a rejection of caste i.e. Lakshmi Puja in Odisha. The Bhakti movement too and the lingayats that you mention. The Upanishadic philosophy also does not require caste. The Lingayats and the Shaivaite movements that you alluded to is also another example. So caste without Hinduism can exist and does exist in the practice and interpretation of many Hindus. I agree with your last point. India needs something akin to civil rights laws and not just for caste but also for gender, religion, dietary practices etc.
Caste system is the longest running apartheid like system ,institutionlaised and internalised , in the world and the reason for many woes of the country.