The caste system in South Asia — which rigidly separates people into high, middle and lower classes — may have been firmly entrenched by about 2,000 years ago, a new genetic analysis suggests.

The caste system in South Asia — which rigidly separates people into high, ... By about 3,000 years ago, the texts mention a fourth, lowest class: the Sudras.

Many authorities hold that the caste system arose from racial differences, long since obliterated by the gradual downward mixture of blood, — and, no doubt, by some upward mixture too, — and ...

“Was the caste system flexible during the period when Valmiki’s Ramayana was written? Shambuka, a Sudra saint, was killed for meditating, something not allowed for Sudras. Was the system flexible ...