The caste system goes back centuries. But it originally developed as a way to organize society by occupational status. It was never as insidious as it became after Britain took control of the country. The English needed a way to exert their control over the country, so they codified it and enforced it and it became much more odious.

In addition, India never engaged in commercial trade to go to a foreign continent to hunt down a race of people like animals to be enslaved, because they were seen as less than human. American slavery and racism takes the cake in terms of depravity.