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How long has the Indian caste system been around for?

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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. read more

The caste system was a convenient means of keeping society under control. The new findings published in the journal Nature indicate that, genetically at least, Indians had been divided long before the British arrived. read more

DNA evidence shows that caste system has been in existence for about 3000 years. They estimated this by estimating when the practice of endogamy started in the Indian Caste System. It has been observed that specific castes have not received any gene flow from outside the group for over 3000 years. read more

Susan Bayly, an anthropologist, notes that "caste is not and never has been a fixed fact of Indian life" and the caste system as we know it today, as a "ritualised scheme of social stratification," developed in two stages during the post-Mughal period, in 18th and early 19th century. read more

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