For thousands of years in ancient India, a person's social class was determined by birth. This process is the caste system. Caste members lived, ate, married, and worked with their own group. A person born into one caste rarely changed castes or mixed with members of other castes. Social rules defined how to behave within a caste and when in the presence of people from other castes. There were 5 caste sections, in which went in order from highest social class to lowest.

Caste System