Caste, while being one of the dominant socio-economic institutions in Indian and Sri Lankan societies is also one of the more complicated because of its multiple ramifications. This study offers a substantial detour into the operational aspects of the system, and its main focus lies in the historical reconstruction from the pre-colonial period. 

Speaking to both the victims and the perpetrators reveals that the caste system is a contemporaneous and existing situation. Thiruchandran dives into the modes of caste operations in three regions in Northern Sri Lanka, and how the anti-caste resistance was utilised by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who believed in “the principles of equality between men and women and between all the Tamil people of Eelam.