Rooted in religion and based on a division of labor, the caste system, among other things, dictates the type of occupations a person can pursue and the social interactions that she may have. Castes are an aspect of Hindu religion. Other religions in India do not follow this system.
-istan is a suffix in the Persian language (Farsi), denoting a place. Thus, Pakistan means place of the pure (pak=pure). It does not just refer to geographical areas, as in bimarestan=place of the sick=hospital. The suffix is widespread in Eurasia because of Persian influence (the Mughals of India for example used Farsi).
Pakistan (/ËpÃ¦káµ»stÃ¦n/ or /pÉËkáµ»ËstÉËn/; Urdu: Ù¾Ø§Ú©Ø³ØªØ§Ùâ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a federal parliamentary republic in South Asia on the crossroads of Central Asia and Western Asia. It is the sixth-most populous country with a population exceeding 200 million people. In terms of area, it is the 33rd-largest country in the world with an area covering 881,913 square kilometres (340,509 square miles).