The Indian caste system is important to the cultural context of <em>Nectar in a Sieve</em>. The Indian caste system is a system of social stratification that has been used in India for centuries. This system provides a hierarchical structure in which all Hindu population can be classified. The social rank that a person enjoys in this system determines a lot of the characteristics of their lives, such as their partner, occupation and economic status. In this book, the lives of the characters are similarly determined to a large extent by their particular caste.
