The Formation of New Castes: A Probable Case from North India

There is a persistent notion in the literature on caste in India that new castes tend to develop within the caste system. Heretofore largely unsubstantiated, this notion receives support from the data of the present paper, which argues that a new caste is in the process of formation in an area of north India. The inevitability, given certain conditions, of new caste formation within an established caste system is posited, and such formation is hypothesized as both a reflection and one of the chief causes of the great stability of the Indian caste system.