[haltingproblem]

You are conflating caste with varna and jati. Caste is a British invention though not nefarious just a product of their times.

My grandparents were farm labor, their children were merchants, and their grandchildren are professors and scientist. What caste are we?

If you misunderstand the problem - conflate caste with varna and jati - you will never understand or solve it.

[furyroad]

Lets keep aside trivial semantic nuances and get to the core point. When I say caste system, I mean the practice of segregation and discrimination of people based on birth, ancestry or profession. Are you denying the existence of such a system in India before the Europeans arrived?

There are countless references both in Hindu scriptures and social practices to prove that a rigid caste system was the basis of Indian society for millennia.

[haltingproblem]

Again you are conflating jati and varna and no they are not trivial semantic nuances. These divisions persisted everywhere in far more rigid fashion - Western Europe, Japan, Russia, Korea......

Look for my earlier comment in this thread. When the British codified jati+varna into Caste they acknowledge that there was mobility at the bottom though not at the top. The Census of Indian in the 90s acknowledged the same thing. This is not and never has been as rigid as you think.