course, there was a difference between the two. The varna or caste-based system was the social architecture designed by Brahmins. Muslim hierarchies evolved under the feudal system. When Sir Syed Ahmad Khan laid the foundation of Aligarh Muslim University (patterned on Cambridge) in the late nineteenth century, he was quite firm that it was a campus for the ‘Ashraf ’ or genteel, the well-bred elite. Below the Ashraf were ‘Ajlaf ’ or the Julahas (weavers) and ‘Arzal’, the menial class.
