RAJA RAM MOHAN ROY ON CASTE SYSTEM
Raja Ram Mohan Roy's strongest objection to the caste system was on the grounds that it fragmented society into many divisions and subdivisions. Caste divisions destroyed social homogeneity and the integrated texture of society and weakened it politically. Caste divisions deprived the people completely of political feeling, i.e. the feeling of commanality, of soldidarity. A people so divided become incapable of undertaking any great task. Besides the divisive role of caste system, Roy was also critical about its discriminatory nature. He was against the inequitiesjnherent in the traditiopal caste hierarchy. He thought it to be illogical to assess the worth of an individual on the basis of birth and not on his, merits. He was in favour of intercaste and inter-racial marriages, which he thought, could effectively break the barriers of the caste divisions.
