I have recently uploaded my new article on origin of caste. It is basically a collection of quotes from authorities like Basham 1967 and Srinivas 1967, and also Romila Thapar 2002 (who had a change of mind at the end of her life).

The resoned view of these scholars is that caste and Varna are absolutely unrelated, and no attempt to fuse or confuse the two should be made.

I hope this will broaden our information about hisroy of caste.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/52693533/Origin-of-Caste

Post Script:
After reading this artiocle one of my friends asked “Can we ignre the Purusha Sukta?”
Some friends asked about Chandal in pre-Muslim periods.

Reply is :
We cannot and should not ignore the Purusha Sukta. That is about Varna. And we are talking about caste here, not varna. Caste is caste. And varna is varna.

Chandal was there at the time of Buddha, and Buddha died after eating uncooked pork at the hand of a Chandal. But authorities opine that Chandal cannot be equated with modern “untouchable” castes. Chandals were often those people who had been excommunicated from society because of some henious crime, like rape or murder etc. Other chandals were those who were excommunicated because they ate dog’s meat etc., or were violent people (Chand =cruel; in Persian Jallad is a cognate of Sanskrit Chandal).

But the untouchable castes of the modern times were untouchable by the reason of birth or heridity. This type of untouchability definitely started after 1000 AD. Basham clearly writes that Huen Tsang had not noted the type of caste system we see today. Megasthanese also has not mentioned such things.

Al-Biruni mentions caste system in Iran during Khusarow’s reign, who made it mandatory for everyone to follow the profession of the caste which one inherited from parents as a result of birth. Old Testament mentions divine orders, if one marries outside caste, one may be killed. Such caste system we never had in India. (Jat Panchayats have although done something like that recently).

We need to delink caste with varna in our minds, that is what the quoted scholars want to say. What Purusha Sukta says is about Varna, not caste.

Varna in not compasorily “endogamous” and “heriditary”, whereas “caste” by definition is an “endogamous heriditary” unit of society. Any class is not caste. Otherwise we can say that when we classify towns, we are talking about castes of town. Classes will always be there in all societies at all times. Varna was a term used for class in ancient India.

Manu also does not mention “jati”. To confirm this I went through all the verses of Manusmriti in original. The translations ahve however used the word “cast” for “varna” in English, something which has been considered wrong by Srinivas and Basham, and many more authorities.

It is interesting to note that while we get definite caste system only after Muslim arrival in India, such systems had been there in other nations long back. In Iran it had been there for at least since sixth century BC. When did it start in Japan, we do not know, but caste and untouchability persist even today in Japan, Sri Lanka and many other nations.

I do not wish to raise any finger on any other country or religion, because if I point one finger to others, the three fingers turn to me. Yet it is important that we should be aware of the fact that caste (especially untouchability ) has existed outside India much before it was noticed in India.

See Korean untouchability in this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baekjeong

And the famous Burakumin untouchable group in Japan. Caste system was banned in Japan by Meiji in 1871. Yet it exists.
http://www.iheu.org/untouchability-japan-discrimination-against-burakumin

http://www.suite101.com/content/burakumin-a88427

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burakumin

And in Sri Lanka:
http://asiarecipe.com/sricaste.html

In Thailand Buddhism, there is a different type of caste system. In that system, they have created a special paid class “Thai Brahmana Priest” who is responsible to perform ‘sanskaras’ in each individual’s life. These Brahmanas perform Vaidic rituals to the Buddhist householdersa, like death rituals etc.

http://www.mahidol.ac.th/thailand/brahmans.html

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/34596/blood-rites-spark-off-holy-row

http://cultureandreligionofthailand.blogspot.com/2007/09/kwan-duan-ceremony.html

And see how Thai Royal Family patronizes Hindu rituals and Brahmanas

http://www.earthportals.com/Portal_Messenger/chariotgalyani.html

All us know and understand that Varna as in Purushasooktha and in Dharmasastra is different from Jaathi, now called Caste.
Varna is by Guna and in-born desires and ability to do the kind of work in a division of labor. Caste is purely by birth.

Before all discussions, we must first understand the Hindu [Indian] Society from ancient times and how they were organized and divided through traditions.
We must read the new genetic theories of the Indian Society which shows that ALL Indians are genetically same, all men carry similar Y Chromosome,
as different from all communities outside India and have two types of female [Mitochondrial DNA distributed all over the sub-continent.

Now, the division of society is by: VARNA, JAATHI, KULA, GOTHRA, REGION OF RESIDENCE, SAMPRADHAYA, LANGUAGE [AS MOTHER TONGUE] AND FAMILY TREE.
Here varna and Jaathi are different. What we are talking about is Brahmana Kula with the few Jaathis in it and NOT Brahmana Varna. [I know I am confusing you].
We have tall people and short people, light colored and dark colored, brilliant and intelligent and dull ones, rich and poor in every group and every state and in every Kula & Jaathi.
While 70% may be poor in SC&ST, about 60% are poor among Brahmins and other “upper Classes” – or even equal. There are more poor ones among Brahmins in this subgroup.

The four Varnas are interchangeable by Guna, education and in-born qualities – and not by birth alone. All Varnas are of equal status, not one superior to other.
there was never a fifth [untouchable] but the kings punished some Brahmana and Kshatriya for disobedience. But Kulas go by sampradhaya, traditions and culture.
Among Jaathis, which is only birth based, we must feel all are of equal status, but within that Jaathi some may be higher than some in status by their education and achievement [individually -not as a family]

If you consider all these and feel that you are just equal to all other Indians, there will be no problem. Now, among the various segments of the Brahmana Kula [and jaathis]
if we all get together for common cause and support, there is nothing wrong with that. 60 years of independence and 100 years of reform movements have not eliminated the Jaathi problems in India
because people did not see this differences and unity at the same time. The problem is some felt superior to others and some felt insulted by that.
If you eliminate that all Jaathis and Kulas can survive well. This is an organization of a society that evolves over centuries and can not be erased.