Fact checked by Suzanne Kvilhaug Reviewed by Andy Smith The Caste System: An Overview Discrimination against individuals ...

More than 240 million people in South Asia live a precarious existence, shunned by much of society because of their ranks as untouchables or Dalits at the bottom of a rigid caste system.

India's caste system is among the world's oldest forms ... is generally accepted to be more than 3,000 years old. Manusmriti, widely regarded to be the most important and authoritative book ...