The word caste derived from the Portuguese word for lineage, breed or race, “casta” and it served to describe a social division of Hindu society. Modern term stands for endogamous social groups specialized occupationally in highly stratified society with a very low social mobility. The caste system of India is based on the Varna division. There were four basic varnas called Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras. Indian texts also name the jatis which make further divisions of the varnas and mainly represent the professional occupation of the people. Each varna included certain characteristics and they were not defined by birth. The varna was defined by the Brahmans – the priest of the Brahmans varna and should have naturally corresponded the born abilities of the individual and let him take the right place the society where he would bring the most use. Each varna possed certain characteristics and people who belonged to it should responded to them. For example the representatives of the Brahman varna – the priest should have possessed such qualities as kindness and tolerance, the Kshatriya should have possessed nobleness and administrative qualities, etc. The situation was changed later when the varna system became fixed and all the chances to get to another varna were minimized. The varnas became fixed by birth and were meant to explain social injustice and suppress possible revolts. This way the castes appeared and the theory of division according to natural abilities became only the mean to maintain social injustice and fixed set of society. The ideas of the Reincarnation and the Karma served very well to maintain the varnas and later caste system in India as it helped everyone to believe that the person had to pass through all the stages of social ladder to work out the Karmas of past lives. Nowadays in India new laws are adopted which are to take the caste discrimination under control. In the economy and social institutions new system meant to support the people from the lower castes and to give them privileges and possibilities for personal growth is adopted. For example the government provides children from the lower castes with food during the time of their school education. It also reserves the places in higher educational institutions and job places for the people from lower castes. But despite all the actions of the government caste discrimination still exists in the society and it still exists in the minds of the people. Marriages between the people from different castes are often regarded as the breaking of the traditions. The castes division is not only the labor division; it includes also political, social divisions and limitations. Like other forms of discrimination, caste involves enclosing. Opening of the castes will break the caste system as being open the caste will not function as before. That is the reason the question of the marriages between the people from different castes is under such a focused attention in India.

So, as we could trace here both caste and racism include discrimination of human rights. That is the first thing that make them alike but there are much more characteristics which unite these two notions and separate them.

Let’s focus on the differences first. Caste is not based on the race or ethnicity and racism is based on the discrimination of one race by another which can be seen even from its name. The racism never or very seldom includes discrimination on the religions field and it’s seldom influenced or provoked by the religious authorities which is common for the caste discrimination.