Caste and class are two major axes of social stratification in India, and their relationship has generated extensive debates in sociology, political science and gender studies. While caste is primarily associated with birth, ritual status and social hierarchy, class is linked to economic position, ownership, occupation and access to resources. The Indian reality, however, demonstrates that caste and class frequently overlap and reinforce one another. The Marxist perspective interprets inequality largely through the relationship between economic classes. From this viewpoint, ownership of land, capital and productive resources creates divisions between dominant and subordinate classes. In India, class-based analysis has been useful in explaining agrarian relations, labour exploitation, poverty and economic inequality. However, its critics argue that class alone cannot adequately explain Indian society because caste continues to influence occupation, social status, marriage, political power and everyday social interaction even when economic conditions change. The caste-centred perspective, associated with thinkers such as B.R. Ambedkar, argues that caste is not simply a cultural or religious institution but a system of graded inequality and social exclusion. Ambedkar emphasised that caste reproduces hierarchy through