Family and Community in Bama's Writings

Stratification of societies is a phenomenon known to all civilizations living as well as dead. The Varna system hierarchy in the caste system was introduced in the Vedic period along with the then existing dasa pratha. The four major varnas or castes are Brahmins (the priestly class), Kshatriyas (the warrior class), Vaisyas (the trading class) Sudras (the servants). The Dalits find no place in it under this name; they are referred as Avarna, Dasa and Dasyus. India is the largest democracy of the world but being caste structured society, there are certain classes of people which have been marginalized in history or altogether excluded from it. These are above mentioned Dalit people. The term Dalit in Sanskrit is both a noun and an adjective. As a noun, Dalit may be used for all three genders masculine, feminine and neuter. It has been derived from the root 'dal' which means to crack, open split and so on. When used as a noun or adjective, it means burst, split, broken or torn asunder, down trodden, scattered, crushed, destroyed.