Mani Duraisamy, An inquisitive Quoran, trying to learn more

Caste persists in India, because its an inherent part of Indian society and culture. Whatever its faults might be, inequality is a part of Nature. Its foolish to go against that force of Nature. Its tempting to assume that with the growth of science and atheism - caste system and identities should disappear.

But in realities- humans always form groups. Group ism is a trait which sets humans apart from other lesser animals. Any human being would want to look for a similar of his ilk. It would help him be in his comfort zone. It would help to have someone who matches your frequency, has your lifestyle and shares the same sympathies as yours. Caste is one of the attributes that helps in maintaining this bond.

There are three angles to this-Economic angle, political angle and cultural angle, which explains why caste system still persists in India

种姓制度在印度依然存在，因为它是印度社会和文化的固有部分。不管它有多少缺点，不平等就是自然的一部分。违背自然的力量是愚蠢的。人们很容易认为，随着科学和无神论的发展，种姓制度和身份应该消失。

但在现实中——人类总是会形成不同的群体。群体主义是人类区别于其他低等动物的一种特征。每个人都想找和他相似的人。这能帮助他找到舒适区。如果有人能和你相匹配，有着和你一样的生活方式，和你有着同样的慈悲，那是大有益处的。种姓是帮助维系这种联系的因素之一。

我们可以从经济角度、政治角度和文化角度三个角度解释种姓制度为何在印度依然存在

Economic angle:

Today this is not of much relevance, but if one were to observe Indian history (and even the civilizations like Rome and Egypt), they see that a certain level of social stratification is indeed necessary to maintain order. In a predominantly agrarian society like India, a lot of manual labor is inevitable. We need a lot of people to do the labor work- tilling the lands, disposing of waste, transporting the produce. Each activity would be the specialty of one group of people.

For the purpose of being unbiased, I am going to ignore the Indian context here, and show a pyramid of the Japanese system

经济角度:

今天，这个因素并没有太大关系，但如果你观察印度的历史(甚至像罗马和埃及这样的文明)，他们会发现一定程度的社会分层对于维持社会秩序确实是必要的。在印度这样一个以农业为主的社会里，大量的体力劳动是不可避免的。我们需要很多人来做体力活——耕种土地，处理垃圾，运输农产品。每群人都有自己的专长。

为了公正起见，我要跳出印度的背景，展示日本社会的金字塔 

You can see that there is only one emperor and shogun , but a lot of peasants and merchants. Thats because the job of a peasant is such that they require a lot of manual effort and lesser qualifications and lesser pay. Now apply the same logic to the Indian caste pyramid and you might understand how it made (note the past tense) economic sense for the caste system to have persisted for centuries.

你可以看到一个社会只有一个皇帝和幕府，但有很多农民和商人。这是因为农业活动需要大量的体力劳动，不太需要资历，工资也较低。现在把同样的逻辑应用到印度的种姓金字塔上，你可能就会明白它使(注意：是过去时态)种姓制度持续了几个世纪，有多大的经济意义。

Political Angle:

Next comes the political angle. This is pretty much relevant in today’s India. Democratic Indian political structure and our Constitution makes sure that each and every group irrespective of caste, creed , language, region and gender gets their voice heard. Article 15 and 16 states that the State shall not discriminate against any caste and will also provide reservations to the socially disadvantaged.

Caste becomes important here- because politicians representing a caste can de ocratically get elected by his caste/ community and work for their betterment. In a de ocracy, people listen to their voters. Be it upper-caste or Dalits, politicians are a reflection of the social structure of our society. If caste-based politics exst, its because that inequality is natural and someone is needed to represent their problems in the corridors of power.

政治角度:

接下来是政治角度。这在今天的印度社会非常有关系。民*的印度政治结构和我们的宪法确保每一个群体，不分种姓、信仰、语言、地区和性别，都能发出自己的声音。第15条和第16条规定，国家不得歧视任何种姓，并为处于社会劣势的人提供预留席位。

种姓在这里变得很重要——因为代表某个种姓的政治家可以通过他的种姓/社区得以民*地推选，为他们的进步而努力。在民*国家，人们听选民的话。无论是高种姓还是贱民，政客都是社会结构的反映。如果存在以种姓为基础的政治，那是因为不平等是自然的，需要有人在权力走廊内反应他们的问题。

Cultural angle:

I now come to the cultural angle. India might be a secular country on paper, but we are a highly religious one in reality. Caste has become an ID card of our culture. Discrimination is bad, but caste is not. The caste-based rituals may or may not make sense, but people dont want their way of life to die with them or get lost in the sands of time. Caste system plays an important binding role here.

Caste based symbols and practices are a remainder of our culture. Its a way of reminding ourselves that our culture is much older and the good things in it needs to be preserved. Caste adds to the diversity of Indian culture. It adds to the variety and sets unique groups apart.

文化角度:

现在我想从文化的角度来谈谈。理论上印度可能是一个世俗国家，但实际上我们是一个高度宗教化的国家。种姓已成为我们文化的一张身份证。歧视是不对的，但种姓制度却不是。以种姓为基础的宗教仪式可能有道理，也可能没有道理，但人们不希望他们的生活方式与他们一起消亡，或迷失在时间的沙漠中。种姓制度在这里起着重要的约束作用。

基于种姓的习俗是我们文化的一部分。这是一种提醒我们自己，我们的文化更为古老，其中的精华需要被保留的方式。种姓制度增加了印度文化的多样性。它增加了多样性，并将独特的群体区分开来。

In summary- Caste system persists because humans almost always classify themselves according to some trait. They look for commonalities. Japan destroyed its caste system thanks to its Meiji reformation. In India, no such reformation exsts and is systematically opposed by corrupt rulers.

总而言之，种姓制度之所以存在，是因为人类总是根据某种特征来划分自己。他们寻找共同点。由于明治维新，日本摧毁了它的种姓制度。在印度，这种改革根本不存在，而且还遭到腐败统治者的有组织的反对。

Dinesh B, why to try when destiny is predetermined

I grew up mostly in tier II or tier I cities and belong to Open category.

During my first job 2011/12, I met love of my life X.Sharma, she is a Brahman from Rajasthan state. We had wonderful time together and were looking forward to get married and convince parents.

As usual her family objected. Only objection was me being a non-brahman and south Indian. Her family got her engaged to someone from their community two weeks back so my 5 year relationship comes to an end because of my birth (caste & location). Still going through depression and using quora a source to vent out my frustration.

我主要在一、二线城市长大，属于开放类。

在我2011/12年的第一份工作中，我遇到了我生命中的最爱X.夏尔马，她是拉贾斯坦邦的婆罗门。我们在一起度过了美好的时光，我们期望能结婚并说服父母。

不出意外，她的家人反对我们的事。他们提出的唯一异议就是我不是婆罗门，也不是南印度人。她的家人两周前让她和同一社区的人订了婚，我这5年的感情因为我的出身(种姓和出生地)而结束。我现在还很难过，只能通过quora等网站发泄我的失望情绪。

Future: This is the biggest irony, I am 27 now and when my family wants to get me married they will also look for a girl from our community so I will also become pawn in this caste system. As long as this happens caste system will persist.

PS: In India being an upper caste wont be sufficient you have to belong to their particular sub caste again to get married. So good luck changing anything in our country.

The only reason I am not mention my caste is not to propagate it.

未来：这是最大的讽刺，我现在27岁了，当我的家人想让我结婚的时候，他们也会从我们的社区里物色一个女孩，所以我也会成为这个种姓制度的人质。只要这种情况继续发生，种姓制度就会继续存在。

补充：在印度，身为高种姓也是不够的，你还得属于他们特定的次等种姓才能顺利结婚。祝你们好运，希望你们能改变我们的国家。

我不提及我的种姓的唯一原因是不想宣扬。

Sasi Kanth, Curious about our Universe, Philosophy and Mathematics

Being an Indian, am ashamed to tell that several Indians still follow the caste system very blindly. We might not notice it on a day to day basis but the caste feeling comes out in open when it comes marriages.

Parents against Inter-caste Marriages:

Situation is changing in the cities but the rural areas didn't. We do hear of "Honour Killings" when a family member kills the person who got married to someone from a different caste. Its disgusting but true!!

Even if the parents are favorable for inter-caste marriage, the relatives come into picture and put severe pressure on them. Parents are ready to get their girl married to some one unknown guy from the same caste rather than the guy she likes.

作为一个印度人，我很羞愧地告诉大家，一些印度人仍然非常盲目地遵循种姓制度。我们可能不会在日常生活中注意到它，但是一旦涉及到婚姻时，这种种姓的思想就出现了。

父母反对跨种姓婚姻:

城市的情况正在改变，但农村地区还是一样。我们都听说过“荣誉处决”，就是家庭成员杀死了跨种姓结婚的人。这很恶心，但却是真事!!

即使父母赞成跨种姓婚姻，亲戚们也会掺和进来，对他们施加巨大压力。父母们都愿意让他们的女儿嫁给来自同一种姓的陌生人，而不是她喜欢的人。

Caste based politics:

Politicians even today play the caste card in order to gain votes. Nominating a guy from the majority caste in his constituency is very common in India. Even several people in rural areas vote to a candidate purely based on the caste.

Reservations based on Caste:

Reservation system is another problem where a certain percentage government jobs or university seats have been reserved for a particular caste. Jobs/Education has to be earned with merit and not because of caste.

I hope to see a change in my life time !!

基于种姓的政治：

即使在当今社会，政客们也会为了赢得选票而利用种姓制度。在印度，提名选区内的大种姓的人是很普遍的。农村地区，甚至有人纯粹根据种姓来给候选人投票。

基于种姓的预留制：

预留制度是另一个问题，一定比例的政府职位和大学席位都被预留给特定种姓了。工作/教育机会应该靠才学来争取，而不是靠种姓制度。

我希望在我有生之年能看到改变!!