Registration Regime Theory and the Indian Caste System: Varna, Jati, and the Temporal Fixation of Social Hierarchy

This paper applies Registration Regime Theory (RRT) to the Indian caste system, analyzing Varna and Jati not as purely cultural or religious categories, but as historically layered registration regimes that fix social hierarchy across time. The study argues that caste persistence is rooted in the temporal stabilization of identity through ritual classification, legal codification, colonial census practices, and contemporary bureaucratic and digital records. By reframing caste as a regime of record rather than a belief system alone, the paper shows how social hierarchy becomes durable through inscription, inheritance rules, and administrative continuity. This approach contributes to comparative caste and class theory, political ontology, and the study of registration regimes by demonstrating how temporal fixation through record-making produces enduring social stratification.