Would be very grateful for information, I've heard this is one of the better subs.
Historically (eg 18th and 19th century before equality laws) which of the four main varnas (Brahmin, Warrior, Artisan, Labourer) would a cook in a wealthy Brahmin household have been in? Brahmins, I heard, would not want to eat food prepared by a lower caste person, but would a Brahmin be a servant?
Also what caste would a house cleaner and a gardener be? What about a doctor?
Quite a few upvotes but not a lot of answers! Got a PM from a friend below, hope it's correct and useful to anyone interested.
A Brahmin servant would only work for another Brahmin. The reasons are primarily related to vegetarianism and "cleanliness". Generally, house cleaners and garbage sweepers are Shudra (the fourth varna). According to statistics, most Indian doctors are Brahmana.
18th and 19th century before equality laws
Funny, you mention that, because there is some scholarship that caste practices ossified under colonial britain (roughly that time frame) but allowed for inter and intra caste flexibility earlier. Outside mention of castes frequently miss that there were literally thousands of castes and caste communities as well as profession-communities in different geographies/regions, and try to bucket them all into 4 rigid categories.
There seem to be a number of ideas that would very quickly be modified/abandoned with a simple modicum of common sense and context.
Example: The outright misapprehension that a brahmin could not be a servant.
The second most common profession of a brahmin (after priesthood) was that of cook.
With so many daily rituals concerned with purification and food, the brahmin cook was commonly found not only in brahmin households, but for local chieftains, and even outsiders like jesuits.
The thought that brahmins would never work in a field (in a largely agrarian society; when even folk tales talk of same).
Re doctors: This quote (and the article) might help : "Originally the professions of Kayastha (scribe) and Vaidya (physician) were not restricted and could be followed by people of different varnas including the brahmanas. So there is every probability that a number of brahmana families were mixed up with members of other varnas in forming the present Kayastha and Vaidya communities of Bengal"
(Vaidya meaning doctor in Sankrit, forming a 'caste' in Bengal today; one can't take it to mean that other regions had no doctors or brahmins!)