To find out what’s causing the trend, the news spoke with twelve such influencers on both sides of the caste divide and monitored 100 accounts.
A black-dressed figure comes into focus. Her hand is on the trigger of a weapon that she is pointing skyward.
“Who are you?” asks the voiceover that goes with it. “We are Brahmins,” somebody says. Two gunshots can be heard as the woman smiles.
Shivi Dikshit, a 24-year-old from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, has created hundreds of Instagram Reels in which she presents brief films about her Brahmin caste.
The highly hierarchical caste system of Hinduism, which has been in place for at least 3,000 years, places Dalits, or erstwhile untouchables, at the bottom and Brahmins, or priests, at the top.
Even though caste-based discrimination has been outlawed in India for many years, the 200 million Dalits who live there are nevertheless among the most marginalized members of society. In many parts of the country, caste continues to be a powerful identification marker in everyday life, notwithstanding reforms.
