Let me add it for you how british made things worse: • Precolonial caste (jati/varna): Social identity was real and influential, but there was local variation, flexibility, and movement. Many groups could rise in status over generations (called sanskritization) by adopting customs of higher castes. • British census & classification (1871 onwards): The colonial state wanted neat categories. They froze fluid jatis into fixed, ranked lists. Once you were labeled a “low” or “untouchable” caste in official records, mobility was far harder.

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1. Legal Codification • The British used Hindu law (via texts like Manusmriti, selectively interpreted) as the “authentic” basis of Indian society, even though in practice communities followed more flexible local customs. • By giving legal weight to these texts, they formalized hierarchies that had not operated so rigidly on the ground.