Western Foundations of the Caste System: Discussion with Dr. Prakash Shah

Join Mukunda and Racchit, as we speak to Prof. Prakash Shah, Department of Law at Queen Mary University of London, about the Caste System and its conceptual foundations in the Western world. We discuss the idea of Caste and how much of it was developed through the lens of the West's engagement with India by imposing their ideas and concepts of what they thought was the social fabric of India was like into their own world views. Even today there is not an intelligible definition of what caste is or isn't, rather we assume it is a reality.

Let us put a caveat here, there is no disagreement or contention that violence between groups or social status between groups is a reality rather the point here is that the idea of Caste, itself, is a western invention and conceptual framework which is alien and unknown to India until the Western world began to interact and try to understand India. This is a controversial topic and in this podcast, we deal with it using nuance and critical thought.