some scholars argue that what we know today as caste is more a product of colonialism than of ancient Indian tradition.

Counting and official recording of caste identities gave the institution a new life.

The institution became extremely flexible.

Government of India Act of 1935 was passed which gave legal recognition to the lists or ‘schedules’ of castes and tribes marked out for special treatment by the state. This is how the terms ‘Scheduled Tribes’ and the ‘Scheduled Castes’ came into being.