In his writings (Complete Works), Vivekananda gives examples of people whose caste has changed. Vivekananda said it was possible in 3 ways:
- Another caste offers and accepts you as a member of their caste. This is done when the members of the caste think it will bring prestige to their caste to have a particular person a member of their caste. This is a group decision.
- A caste decides as a group to change their caste. The whole caste changes caste as a group, not an individual.
- Finally, it is possible for a Brahmin to lose his caste. If a Brahmin accepts work that is not fitting for a Brahmin then he and his family lose their caste and assume the caste of the work they are doing. I think that Vivekananda said it was 16 years of non-Brahmin work. There is an example of this in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna also.
You may look in The Laws of Manu. He may have something on this.
Can't give exact passages for the above, it would take too much time to scour through to find and the question is not worth the time.
manpreet![Tuteehub forum best answer]()
Best Answer
2 years ago
Each person born as a Hindu has some caste attached to him. As per my understanding he remains in the same caste throughout his life. Currently, I don't think anybody can change his/her caste, but was it possible in the early days of civilization?
Also, Hinduism is a open religion. It allows you to choose your favorite God, the way you want to worship, the custom you want to follow. You can even be an atheist while following Hinduism. Then why is Hinduism so strict with the caste system?