Caste

n.	1.	One of the hereditary classes into which the Hindu are divided according to the laws of Brahmanism.
	2.	A separate and fixed order or class of persons in society who chiefly hold intercourse among themselves. The tinkers then formed an hereditary caste. - Macaulay. To lose caste to be degraded from the caste to which one has belonged; to lose social position or consideration.

Noun	1.	caste - social status or position conferred by a system based on class; "lose caste by doing work beneath one's station"
	2.	caste - (Hinduism) a hereditary social class among Hindus; stratified according to ritual purity
	3.	caste - a social class separated from others by distinctions of hereditary rank or profession or wealth

ashram, blood, body, bracket, branch, clan, colony, commonwealth, commune, community, condition, division, echelon, economic class, endogamous group, estate, extended family, family, footing, gens, group, grouping, head, heading, hierarchy, kin, kinship group, label, level, moiety, nuclear family, phratria, phratry, phyle, pigeonhole, place, position, power structure, precedence, predicament, race, rate, rating, rubric, section, sept, settlement, social class, society, sphere, stage, standing, strain, stratum, subcaste, subdivision, subgroup, suborder, title, totem