Wikipedia: Definition of Caste
English word Caste comes from Spanish /Portuguese word Casta which is defined as race, lineage or breed. Portuguese started
using the word Casta when they encountered Hindu social groups when they came to India. From there, it was transferred to English.
The word Caste today is being used imprecisely to denote varNa and jAti. Caste should refer only to jAti. Caste should not be used to refer to varNa once we understand the true meaning of varNa. In this article we will only use the word varNa as we discussing how the concept was used in the scriptures.
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