The use of the term caste in relation to the social order of South Asia dates back to the early 16th century, when Portuguese travelers to India began to use the word casta (from Latin castus, ‘pure,’ ‘chaste’), borrowed from Spanish, to refer to certain groups within the indigenous population [3] (see below, 2.1.). At first, it was applied relatively indiscriminately to a wide range of large groups differentiated by religion, ethnicity, or social status. Its exclusive app…