PATNA, May 21 -- The third edition of the Prof Surendra Gopal memorial lecture at Patna Museum on Wednesday stressed the need to confront caste-based discrimination as a structural and continuing form of marginalisation, with noted historian Sunita Sharma called for a historically informed and socially responsive understanding of caste in contemporary India. Delivering the keynote address on "The Caste System in Indian History", Prof Sharma, a former sectional president of the Indian History Congress and an author with a special interest in gender studies, said caste discrimination remained embedded in "graded hierarchies" that shaped access to dignity, resources and institutional power. "Constitutional equality cannot be achieved through context-blind neutrality in a society shaped by caste," she said, asserting that discrimination in the name of caste must be "ignored and defied with all vehemence" to build an egalitarian and emancipated society. She argued that caste disparities were "not incremental but exponential" and stressed the need to focus greater attention on marginalised sections. Sharma also said the central question was whether institutions and society responds when caste discrimination occurs, rather than merely debating definitional issues around caste. Former director, KP Jayaswal Research Institute, Bijoy Kumar Choudhary, traced the historical roots of the caste system using references from the Vedas. He underlined the factors behind the evolution of caste structures in India and argued that diverse sections of Indian society originated from a common stock. Choudhary traced the history of social inequality in Vedic times. He said Rigvedic society was rooted in egalitarian kinship sentiments, but during the later Vedic period, the four Varnas emerged, carrying certain elements of the caste system. However, he noted that the caste system in its full form evolved only during the early centuries of the Common Era. Chief guest Ratneshwar Mishra said caste was "almost universal" in India and difficult to fully comprehend, adding that even Islam in India had been affected by caste divisions. Tracing its origins, he said caste existed even before the Vedas in the form of occupation-based social organisation or "vyavsaay". In the contemporary context, he remarked, caste had assumed a "cancerous" form. "One who can renounce is above all - s/he is casteless," he said. The memorial lecture, held in honour of eminent historian Surendra Gopal, was attended by academicians, jurists, doctors and public figures. The event was conducted by noted gynaecologist Dr Pramila Modi, while Dr Kusum Kapoor, wife of late Surendra Gopal, welcomed the guests. Among those present were Justice Mridula Mishra (retd), Padmashree Shanti Roy, Padmashree Gopal Prasad Sinha, Manju Gita Mishra, AA Hai, Ravindra N Singh, UC Samal, Imtiaz Ahmad and Sumanta Niyogi. Prof Surendra Gopal (1936-2022), one of Bihar's foremost historians, taught at Patna University from 1958 and 1996. He authored several acclaimed works on medieval, colonial and modern Indian history, including "Patna in the 19th Century," and was considered an authority on Patna's modern history. His landmark 2008 work Stepping into Modernity: Patna in the Nineteenth Century remains essential reading on the transformation of urban Bihar under colonial rule....