Britain had dominated India since the 1750s and remained involved in the country for almost two centuries. The British people became known as the Raj in India. The Raj held India under strict bureaucratic control in the beginning. The closer India got to independence, the more lax British rule got, which led to India’s total freedom in the 20th century. The religion of India was primarily Hindu and was brought to the country by Ram Mahun Roy. Because of the amount of colonization in India, the culture has been saturated with influence from other places. India quickly became among the most ethically and religiously diverse countries. A social hierarchy outlined Indian culture. This became known as the caste system, which was divided into four groups, the Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and the Shudras. When the British established roots in India, many married Indian women. This is significant for “The Half-Caste” because Zillah is a woman of British- Indian descent. Her lineage is vague and does not provide much information about her family, other than the fact that she has Indian blood in her.

“What Is India's Caste System?” BBC News, BBC, 19 June 2019, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35650616.

McNamara, Robert. “How Colonial Rule Defined India in the 1800s.” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 30 June 2018, https://www.thoughtco.com/timeline-of-india-in-the-1800s-1774016.

“When and Why Did the British First Choose to Invade India?” India Today, Living Media India Limited, 26 Aug. 2019, https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/when-....

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